How you can use this game

The need to recruit the next generation of public health professionals has never been greater. This interactive game provides a fun and challenging way to introduce students to the field of public health. Possible audiences and uses:

• High school guidance counselors or undergraduate advisors who want to guide students with an interest in science and/or health careers to explore their options for further education;
• Students who want to know more about the field of public health and other health careers;
• Science teachers who want to introduce students to the basic principles used to investigate disease outbreaks; and
• As a means for students to develop their verbal or written communication skills (e.g., draft press releases about the outbreak or stage a mock press conference), to explore laboratory processes (e.g., discuss how specimens are collected, stained, and categorized to identify the etiology of a disease), or to explore environmental health issues (e.g., how environmental contamination occurs and what steps communities can take to prevent this).

Game players will:

• Apply their investigative skills to discover the source of the outbreak and stop it before more Watersedge residents get sick;
• Learn how public health professionals investigate disease outbreaks;
• Discover how the roles of public health professionals promote health and prevent illness.

Goals and Objectives

The overall goal of this game is to:

• Introduce the player to various professional roles within the field of public health;
• Expose the player to basic epidemiological principles and methods of investigation, data gathering, data interpretation, and point source contamination; and
• Provide the player with resources to further explore the field of public health.

By playing this game, the student will be able to:

• Identify specific jobs within the career field of public health; and
• Locate resources for further exploration of this prospective area of study.

Roles Introduced

• Epidemiologist
• Environmental Health Specialist
• Health Educator
• Microbiologist
• Public Health Nurse
• Public Health Information Officer
• Health Planner

Age range

This game is appropriate for any player who is old enough to be considering career choices or who has an interest in solving mysteries.

Other Formats

This game is also available in a CD format. To request a CD, please contact 612-626-4515.