Interdisciplinary learning offers students opportunities to gain a broader perspective of a general topic leading to a deeper understanding of a specific course of study. The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts offers its students several courses that combine various disciplines, allowing faculty members from various departments to combine their areas of expertise in one class.
Infectious Diseases brings together biology and history instructors to explore both the life and social sciences aspects of diseases throughout humanity’s existence. ASMSA offers the course each spring semester.
“It is a true interdisciplinary class,” said Ron Luckow, a history instructor at ASMSA. He co-teaches the course with Dr. Whitney Holden, a life sciences specialist. “We look at the historical and cultural impacts of diseases going all the way back to the ancient world. For example, we studied how malaria impacted hunter-gather societies before the establishment of civilizations.”
Holden leads the discussion on the biological side of the diseases, including their specific epidemiology, historical treatments, preventative measures that have been developed, and how they are transmitted among other information.
“We focus a good deal on development of treatments and preventative measures,” Holden said. “We also look at what point education played a role in the reducing of the spread of diseases. We learn about antibiotics and how resistances have built over time to them. These are things they can take away for their lives. They understand that antibiotics should not be abused and are not affective for viral diseases. They can apply what they learn to their family’s health.”
Both educators said without one discipline that the course would not be as effective.
“I think the culture side is completely essential,” Holden said. “It’s one of the things makes class unique and impactful. They learn about things that may have been eradicated in the U.S. that they may encounter in another country to which they travel.”
Holden said class discussions have focused on how something like plague that is thought of as a medieval disease recently had a breakout in a remote village in Madagascar. It included considering what would happen if an outbreak occurred in an urban center where people are packed together with infrastructure problems, such as a city with slum sections.
“It gives them a better appreciation of not only modern health care but also that not everyone has access to that kind of thing,” she said.
Luckow stressed the course as it is designed provides students a more comprehensive view of the subject.
“So often the traditional way to teach subjects is in a vacuum,” Luckow said. “They learn about literature here, science there, history over there. They are almost taught to think they are all separate. This is a more sophisticated way to teach the subjects.
“They are interconnected and equally significant. You can’t learn about the science and leave out history and vice versa and gain a full understanding.”
Isha Patel, a junior from White Hall, said she doesn’t consider herself a “science person” but that she has long been interested in diseases.
“For me it was a way for me to learn the history of diseases which sounds so cool,” she said. “I’m more of a history person, but the science side shows the medical reasons why the diseases happen. The history side shows how diseases have changed populations and empires. It’s pretty important that you have a sense how dangerous and effective a disease is.”
Yasmean Dehaghani, also a junior from White Hall, is friends with Patel. She said the course provides them a unique connection.
“I want to go into the medical field. Isha wants to go into computer science. This is something both of us can bond over. It’s not just history, and it’s not just biology. It’s an interesting course that everyone can enjoy learning about,” Dehaghani said.
The coincidence that this year’s course began around the same time that global news began to break about COVID-19 is not lost on the instructors or students. During the first week of class, Holden asked the students if they had heard about this new coronavirus that was infecting people overseas.
At least once a week, they would have a class discussion about the progression of the coronavirus — ranging from visual guides from the Centers for Disease Control showing its impact to major headlines including vaccine trials, travel restrictions, the spread of the disease on cruise ships and satellite images showing improved air quality during lockdowns among other things, Holden said.
“We tried to discuss the trends as well as the examples of impacted individual humans,” she said. “We read the diary of someone who had been locked down in Wuhan (China). We discussed the ethical implications of a quarantine — the benefits and the harms. An example was a teenage boy with a severe disability whose primary caregiver was quarantined. India locked down people with about a four-hour notice, and we talked about the difficulties that creates.
“We’re always looking to show both sides of the picture including the impact on the economy and on peoples’ lives in different situations.”
Luckow said the course is about to begin a section on diseases of globalization. That includes the 1918 flu pandemic which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States, with almost 500 million people infected with the virus globally, according to the CDC.
“What we are doing now is very similar to what was done then with social restrictions and social distancing,” he said.
The class will study different factors such as the steps various U.S. cities and states took to self-isolate or quarantine and institute social-distancing methods. They will also discuss how better diagnostics available today affect the overall numbers.
Holden said the current outbreak can be compared to the 1918 flu in cultural terms as well. The 1918 outbreak is often referred to as the Spanish flu although it didn’t originate in that country.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian-Americans have been targeted in some communities although they have no connection to China personally, Luckow said. It’s similar to the same stigmas related to diseases such as leprosy or HIV/AIDS that can cause a person to be treated differently in society, leading to ostracism and discrimination.
“We pulled up a news story online about Asian-American businesses being boycotted in California. Just because someone is of Asian descent does not mean they are carriers of COVID-19. That’s an issue of a social stigma related to the disease,” he said.
One of the important discussions that have been held is about why young people such as the students should be concerned about the coronavirus, Holden said.
“This is a class of 17- and 18-year-olds who are in an age group where many think that it can’t happen to me,” she said. “They might say, ‘I’m not in an at-risk population, so why can’t I go to the movies?’
“We discussed about being part of a larger group, of a community, part of a country where they could be around people at risk. They may be around a student who is immunocompromised for other reasons. There may be people with underlying conditions all around them and that their actions impact everyone in that community.”
Yug Shah, a junior from Marion, said those discussions have been important for several reasons, including helping educate family members about the disease.
“For me personally it has made me more aware of how a disease spreads,” Shah said. “My family members hear a lot of rumors on how the disease is spread. I let them now that everything on the news isn’t necessarily true.
“I can apply what I’m learning in school to real world events. I can understand it on a much deeper level and relate that to real world experiences.”