Plague! Problem Studies for One Unit

About this curriculum

Plague!  is based on the plague that devastated Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. The child, in the role of a local government official, must decide what to do to keep the town’s residents safe as the Black Death marches toward them. Children who work through this unit must assess the level of risk the townspeople face, determine when the plague might arrive in the town, consider what might happen if it does, and decide what to do to try to prevent that from happening. Plague!  is the adaptation of  Black Death  for a single student. It takes the same problem but alters the PBL experience so that an individual child can participate in the process of learning about the issues involved in trying to save a town from the devastating effects of a lethal disease through discovery, research, and higher-order thinking. Plague!  is based on the plague that devastated Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. The place is the northern Italian town of Lucca, and the year is 1348. Reports of the Black Death have reached Lucca. It has been marching north through Italy, laying waste to one community after another…