Health and Human Values

This lesson was developed for undergraduate students in the HNRS 250, many of whom are STEM students being introduced to humanistic scholarship. Over the course of two class sessions, students will learn to analyze primary sources then use them to make an argument. The first session, an active learning-based session introduces students to primary sources related to models of disease from the 1860s to 1920s. Through document analysis, students practice critical thinking and work individually and then collaboratively to compare sources around disease. This exercise is facilitated by the instructor and archivist, who guide students with contextual questions about the content, intended audience, purpose, and author of their documents. In the second session students will use the sources to debate from the perspective of the different models of disease as to why their approach is better for protecting the public’s health today. 

• Students will assess and analyze primary and secondary sources to identify ideas of disease causality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and how diverse historical actors interpreted their implications for individuals and society. 

• Students will be exposed to using textual and visual historical primary sources. 

•  Students will analyze primary sources. 

• Students will collaborate with their peers in their analysis of primary sources. 

• Students will develop skills to critically examine, interpret, and evaluate historical evidence. 

• Students will annotate and summarize sources. 

• Students will compare the perspectives of the sources. 

Discipline(s)

Honors College, Health and Human Values minor

Time Needed

2 class periods (75 minutes) for 30 students. 

Day 1: groups of 2 students

Day 2: 3 groups of 10 students

Original Course

HNRS 250: Methods in Health and Human Values

Lesson Plan Created By

Dr. Victor Braitberg, W.A. Franke Honors College, and Lisa Duncan, University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections