Are you teaching about epidemics vs pandemics? If so, take a look at this post. If not, save this post for later. You may teach it one day!
This can actually be a pretty sensitive topic. You are dealing with actual illnesses that have plagued our world and our very own countries.
Some have even been recent and are fresh on our minds; however, it’s important to share, first, historic epidemics and pandemics in our world, and then look at these two things in relation to spread, treatment, and prevention of disease. Students can learn a lot from the past to help shape their future!
In this post, I share some WOW Factor ideas. First, I share how you can bring the WONDER to your students. This allows them to get excited about learning and become internally motivated to learn. Second, I share an interactive lesson that goes over the difference between epidemics vs pandemics and more! Finally, I share some WIDEN activities that allow students to extend their knowledge on this intriguing subject!

Bring the WONDER Before Teaching Epidemics vs Pandemics
One of the biggest challenges that teachers face in the middle school science classroom is student apathy. Either they are just going to sit there and not care, or we can try to make it interesting (which it already is!), but we want to help them become internally motivated to learn more.
Here are some ideas to get students excited to learn more about epidemics vs pandemics!
Be Sure to Cover Pathogens and Diseases
Before students learn about past epidemics and pandemics, along with other information, they must understand what infectious diseases are. They need to learn about bacteria, viruses, fungi, and even parasites!
Here are some WOW Factor ideas for teaching infectious diseases. One of my favorite WONDER activities is using Glo Germ™. This is a great way for students to see how quickly germs can spread. Learn more about that WONDER strategy here.
After you have covered pathogens and diseases, you can try some other WONDER strategies to get your students more excited to learn about epidemics vs pandemics.

Bring in the Theming!
I think you can make any lesson exciting just by bringing it props, food, clothing, and/or music that relates to the lesson.
You can do as little or as much as you want.
- Props: For props, you can have students wear gloves as a part of their mission to learn about the spread of disease. You can also bring in objects such as puzzles to remind students that sometimes, learning about this topic is like putting together pieces of a puzzle.
- Clothing: If you have lab coats, you can wear one, or your students can. This is to simulate the scientists working in the field. You can also wear safety goggles too.
- Music: Anytime you are learning about a topic, you can always play a song in the background to remind students of what they are learning! Want to annoy your middle school students with a cheesy song (that they’ll secretly love)? Play Cocomelon’s “Wash Your Hands Song” on repeat!
- Food: Although some diseases can come on you no matter what you do, you can help build your immune system with certain foods. Bring in some healthy snacks such as oranges, almonds, and yogurt!
Just a little something extra before teaching the content (or during the teaching of the content) can go a long way!
Watch a Documentary
There is nothing better than helping your students relate to the content by connecting it to real-life situations. Unfortunately, epidemics and pandemics are a part of real-life, and it’s super unfortunate that the majority of your students have already had to deal with a pandemic in their lifetime.
One that they may not be familiar with is The Polio Epidemic in the United States. This documentary, The Polio Crusade, does a great job explaining what occurred during that time, and it is very intriguing! There is a lot of stuff that, before watching, I didn’t realize had happened.
In reality, this was not so long ago!
This is a great watch before diving into the content to help your students become internally motivated to learn even more!
Epidemics vs Pandemics Interactive Lesson
Once students are excited about learning more, you can dive more into the content and more details. Interactive lessons are special because they use the 7 steps to help students retain information.
The strategies used in these lessons help students to actually remember the information. They help to reduce student cognitive load. If students are overwhelmed with too much information at one time, they end up not learning anything at all.
These lessons help students slow down and process the information before moving on.
An example of this is the segmented information. Students are given some text to read, then they have some sort of activity to help them reflect on that text and assess their knowledge. This is just one of the 7 strategies!

In this Spread of Disease Interactive Lesson, students will learn all about outbreaks, how diseases are spread, epidemics, pandemics, how they differ, and more!
The embedded activities that are included are a KWL, exploring outside resources, type-in-the-text-box questions, vocabulary matching, and more!
Of course I love these, but don’t just take my word for it!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ “Highly engaging, easy to use. It was a great change of pace.” – Kimberly S. (TPT Reviewer)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐” My students loved this. It was a great resource for my kids.” – Thea C. (TPT Reviewer)
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ “This was a great interactive resource to use to help the students understand the topic. The kids were engaged. Thank you for this great time saving resource!” – Sara P. (TPT Reviewer)
WIDEN Student Knowledge on Pandemics and Epidemics
At this point, students have learned so much! Once students have the basics down, it’s time to explore more. Here are three WIDEN ideas you can try in your classroom.
Solve the Outbreak
CDC has a fun interactive where students can become disease detectives. They will get clues, solve the scenario, and save lives! They have to determine what is best for each situation.
- First, students select Level 1 and then choose a mission that interests them.
- Students will be given clues and answer questions based on the clues.
- Students can choose to solve multiple missions if they wish!
There are a wide variety of missions inspired by real-life outbreaks such as those linked to contaminated food, waterborne outbreaks, spread by respiratory droplets, and more!
It’s perfect for middle school students.
Epidemic or Pandemic Cut and Glue
Next thing I want to share is an exclusive assignment inside of the Bright in the Middle Membership.
In this activity, students will “analyze and interpret data to explain the difference between epidemic and pandemic as it relates to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease”. They will review facts for diseases, decide if it’s an epidemic or pandemic, then cut and glue the correct term. They will then provide a brief explanation of their reasoning based on the facts provided.
The disease facts are based on real epidemics and pandemics.
The name of the epidemic and pandemics are listed on the answer key as well if you’d like to further discuss these.
Don’t want to cut and glue? You can have students write down epidemic or pandemic in the blank.
Research and Poster
Last, but not least, you can have students take a deep dive look at past epidemics and pandemics.
- You can give them a list of epidemics and pandemics and have them to research on one they are interested in.
- You can give them particular websites to explore or even books. This book, “Outbreak!”, has been recommended although, disclaimer, I haven’t read it myself.
- Once they have researched, they can create a poster to present to the class.
- Some of the information on the poster can include:
- How it spread
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Other information
- Dates it occurred
- and more!
I hope you have found something helpful for you epidemics vs pandemics lesson!
Bright in the Middle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
[…] Epidemics and Pandemics […]