# Natural Disasters & HealthNDH will inspire and inform middle school students about life-threatening health effects of natural disasters. Students role-play scientists in 90-min live simulations.

> **NIH NIH R25** · WHEELING JESUIT UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $270,000

## Abstract

Natural Disasters & Health (NDH) will inspire and inform middle school students about
the life-threatening health effects of natural disasters as a way to stimulate their interest in
science. The goals of NDH are to improve student scientific literacy of human body systems
using natural disasters; develop student critical thinking, collaboration and communication
skills to identify and effectively respond to problems; promote community involvement, career
awareness, and diversity of participants; and perform a robust evaluation of the sim and explore
its socioscientific impact. Over the last few years, millions of Americans have lived through
hurricanes, blizzards, floods, droughts, earthquakes and even volcanic eruptions. Natural
disasters have become common and personal – kids can bring their lived experiences to
classroom discussions. NDH will provide disaster health education in live, 90-minute video
conferenced, role-playing simulations incorporating gamification. Students act as medical
responders using body systems knowledge to make critical decisions about emergency
treatment. They triage survivors, diagnosis injuries and determine treatment options. Following
the sim, a teacher can invite local public health or emergency management officials to talk to
their classes about historic and likely future natural disasters at that location. A Teachers Panel,
as used to develop this proposal, will meet periodically throughout the project to ensure
that NDH matches the needs of middle school teachers and students. All NDH activities will be
supported by professional development, and a NDH Resource Center will include curricula on
body systems and disasters, with career information integrated into the sim and all curricula. A
robust randomized block design will test the effectiveness of the sim. The NDH research
component explores two questions: first, we examine how adding an emphasis on socioscientific
issues influences middle school students' attitudes about science, its relevance, and its relation
to ordinary life. The second question investigates the behavioral impacts of NDH on middle
school students and their families at various intervals in the year following their participation in
the program.
!

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9980473
- **Project number:** 5R25GM132909-02
- **Recipient organization:** WHEELING JESUIT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Charles Arthur Wood
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $270,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-18 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9980473

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9980473, Natural Disasters & HealthNDH will inspire and inform middle school students about life-threatening health effects of natural disasters. Students role-play scientists in 90-min live simulations. (5R25GM132909-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9980473. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*