Interactive Case Study for Virus Hunter: Monitoring Nipah Virus in Bat Populations

This interactive video explores how scientists identify which bat populations are infected with Nipah virus and could transmit the virus to humans. 

The video follows the research of Jonathan Epstein and his colleagues at EcoHealth Alliance, who are monitoring Nipah virus in wild populations of fruit bats in Bangladesh. As students watch the video, they are prompted to answer questions that require them to predict steps in the research process and interpret data. Students also make connections to their own experiences and to other infectious diseases.

The “Student Worksheet” lists the questions embedded in the video. The “Educator Materials” document provides implementation tips from educators who have used interactive case studies in their classroom. It also provides additional discussion questions and guidance on assessing students’ responses.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.