Diseases and Infections · SHS3 Biology

Lesson notes

Learning Objectives

Indicator: 3.3.3.LI.2 - Research on other diseases of plants and animals and suggest steps to prevent their spread.

By the end of the lesson, learners can:

Describe the causes, symptoms and transmission routes of at least four common plant diseases (blight, wilt, rust, and mosaic virus) and four common animal diseases (brucellosis, tuberculosis, foot-and-mouth disease, and Newcastle disease).
Differentiate between bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic causes of plant and animal diseases using specific examples from Ghanaian farms and livestock centres.
Investigate how diseases spread from infected plants or animals to healthy ones, including vectors, contaminated tools, infected feed and water, and animal-to-animal contact.
Propose practical prevention strategies for plant and animal diseases that can be applied on a typical Ghanaian farm, including sanitation, vaccination, quarantine, and resistant crop varieties.
Assess the economic and social effects of plant and livestock diseases on farmers, families and the nation, and justify why prevention is better than treatment (building on the Level 3 and 4 depth-of-knowledge expectations).

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Curriculum details

Strand: Diversity of Living Things and Their Environment (Strand 3)
Sub-strand: Diseases and Infections (3.3)
Content standard: 3.3.3.CS.1 - Explore some emerging diseases and infections and show their prevention methods. 3.3.3.LO.1 Examine and explain emerging diseases and infections and suggest how they can be prevented
Indicator: 3.3.3.LI.2 - Research on other diseases of plants and animals and suggest steps to prevent their spread.
Suggested placement: Semester 2, Week 8 (Week 28 of the year)
Our suggestion, laid out in curriculum order across three terms of twelve weeks. NaCCA does not fix the week, so follow your school's scheme of learning.
Curriculum reference: NaCCA curriculum document, p. 110

Exemplars (from the NaCCA curriculum)

Field-Based Learning Approach (Experiential): learners are taking out on a farm plantations and livestock centres within the community to observe some common diseases of plants (e.g., blight and wilt diseases by bacteria) and animal-rearing centres to observe and study animal diseases (e.g., brucellosis, tuberculosis, etc.): learners are put into mixed-ability, all-inclusive groups to prepare group presentations. Learners obtain real world scenarios of lessons learnt in class, thereby boosting their morale.
Collaborative Learning: learners discuss in mixed-ability, all-inclusive groups the transmission, symptoms and effects of common diseases of plants livestock; learners, through education, obtain the requisite knowledge to educate learners, thereby being self-assured through self-confidence. Learners also learn from one another.
Talk for Learning: in mixed-ability, socially-inclusive groups, learners engage in timed sessions on the prevention and cure of plant and livestock diseases; learners learn from one another through the discussions. Members in groups are socially and emotionally connected to support one another to achieve the set target within the timeframe.
Teaching and Learning Materials:
- * Simulations * Videos and documentaries on emerging diseases.
Assessment (3.3.3.AS.2). The document marks these depth-of-knowledge levels for this indicator: Level 1 Recall; Level 3 Strategic reasoning; Level 4 Extended critical thinking and reasoning.