The SCRUB curriculum and activities link hands-on learning with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. They incorporate science into fun activities to engage youth in grades 6 - 12 who have an existing interest in animal science.
This curriculum comes with an instructor guide and offers inexpensive hands-on activities.
Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about the SCRUB curriculum and activities.
Goals for the SCRUB Curriculum
Teaches youth about farm animal biosecurity because they take their animals places to exhibit them.
Helps learners to see real life examples of the importance of biosecurity measures and compliance.
Complements the Biosecurity Learning Modules to instill the importance and habit of biosecurity on the farm and at farm events.
SCRUB Activities and Instructions
Click on each tab below to view a quick glance of activities for the SCRUB curriculum's modules. Click on a tab again to close it.
Download and print the entire SCRUB curriculum by clicking on the last tab entitled, "Download the SCRUB Curriculum."
Activity A: Effective Hand Washing
Activity Objective
Participants will experience and evaluate their hand washing effectiveness and compare and understand methods of handwashing practices with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
Total Time Approximately 30 minutes | Preparation: 5 minutes Active: 25 minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Easy | Suggested Group Size Class |
Materials
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit
- 1 bottle of Glo Germ™ lotion or gel
- 2 UV light
Additional Items Needed
- Access to a sink.
- Access to a darkened area (to see UV light).
Activity B: Facility Sanitation Challenges
Activity Objective
Through this activity, participants will compare the ease (or not) and completeness of removal of contamination from various materials. Participants will relate their findings to the sanitation of various surfaces in facilities holding animals from multiple farms.
Total Time Approximately 40 minutes | Preparation: 20 minutes Active: 20 minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Intermediate | Suggested Group Size Five per group |
Materials
Teacher
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit
- Powder Glo-Germ™
- 3 Popsicle sticks (to mix soil and glo-germ powder
- 2 spoons
- Potting soil
- 1 bowl to mix soil
- Paper towels
- 2 UV lights (from Module 1-Activity A: Handwashing)
Additional Items Needed
- Water
Students (divide between 5 groups)
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit
- 5 small bar/chunk of Soap
- 5 plastic backed tablecloths
- 25 disposable bowls (cleaning vessels)
- 5 foam pieces (e.g. playroom flooring) simulating rubber mat flooring
- 5 flexible plastic cutting board mat simulating glass
- 5 treated wood pieces simulating walls/fencing
- 5 tile pieces simulating flooring in human areas
- 5 Large scrub brushes
- 10 small scrub brushes (fingernail brushes)
Additional Items Needed (for each group)
- 1 gallon of water (helps them think critically and plan their methods when resource is limited)
Activity C: Cleaning and Disinfecting
Activity Objective
Through this activity, participants will learn and apply the principles of building an incubator and use that to test the outcome of various combinations of cleaning and disinfecting “dirty” items, using proper and improper techniques. Participants will determine the best protocol based on microbial growth on agar plates.
Total Time Approximately 55 minutes + a 5-day, 1.5 hour wait | Preparation: 20 minutes + 24 hour wait Active: 35 minutes + 90 minute wait Wait: 4 days for bacterial growth | Difficulty Level Intermediate | Suggested Group Size Five per group Total of five groups |
Materials
Teacher
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit
- 30 sterile petri dishes
- 1 jar with premeasured agar powder
- Gloves
- Sharpie (for labeling petri dishes)
Students (divide between 5 groups)
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit – some materials will need to be reused from cooler building lab
- 5 boxes (12”x12” to serve as incubator/cooler)
- 2 rolls Duct tape (to seal box and secure bulb and thermometer)
- 30 Styrofoam pieces (serve as insulting walls in box)
- 5 indoor/outdoor thermometers
- 20 AAA batteries (for thermometer)
- 5 socket/plug for light bulb
- 5 extension cord
- 5 light bulbs
- 20 swabs (to collect and plate boot bottom or other item samples)
- 20 agar plates
- 1 bottle disinfectant
- 1 garbage bag – to dispose of used agar plates
Additional Items Needed (for each group)
- 4 “dirty” items to disinfect (e.g. boots/shoes/cleaning tools/etc.)
Notes
- If your classroom/facilities already have an incubator (for animal reproduction, hatching eggs, or growing bacteria), you can use that instead of making the incubator.
- This activity is relatively easy to implement, but additional time for constructing the incubator will need to be
- Instructor should allow 2 to 24 hours prior to lab activity for plate
- Materials from building the incubator (boxes and styrofoam) are used in both this activity and Module 3 - Vaccines and Proper Handling Activity B - Cooler Building Lab. In order to use the materials for both activities Module 3 - Activity B should be done first to prevent contamination from the agar plates.
Activity A: Disease Transfer Lab
Activity Objective
To help students understand the ease of which an infected animal (with no visible signs) can transfer diseases to other animals with minimal contact or effort. In this case, the students can “become” the animals mingling together and unknowingly sharing “disease” with their peers. After they (their cups) get tested, then they can learn how to trace back to identify the original diseased animals based on common contacts.
Total Time Approximately 45 minutes | Preparation: 30 minutes Active: 15 minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Easy | Suggested Group Size Class |
Materials
Teacher
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit
- 2 stirrers/popsicle sticks and 1 spoon for preparation
- Povidone/Iodine solution (generic Betadine)
- Cornstarch
- Powered Milk
Additional Items Needed
- Water
Activity A: Importance of Vaccines and Proper Handling Activity Objective
- Identify which animal diseases of importance have vaccines and which do.
- Identify what types of vaccines are.
- Understand how handling affects vaccines.
Total Time Approximately 30 minutes | Preparation: 0 minutes Active: 30 minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Easy | Suggested Group Size Individual, Small Group, or Class |
Materials
- Provided supplemental materials and/or internet
Activity B: Cooler Building Lab
Activity Objective
- Understand how handling affects vaccines.
- Be able to create appropriate coolers suitable for housing vaccines out of common household.
Total Time Approximately 25 hours, 40 minutes | Preparation: 15 minutes Active: 25 minutes Wait: 25 hours | Difficulty Level Intermediate | Suggested Group Size Five per group Total of five groups |
Materials
Items to Purchase or Included in Kit (divide between 5 groups)
- Some materials will be reused in incubator building activity:
- 5 boxes (@12”x12”x12”)
- 2 rolls Duct Tape
- 30 Styrofoam pieces
- 10 additional cardboard pieces
- 5 indoor/outdoor thermometers
- 20 AAA batteries (for thermometer)
Additional Items Needed
- 6 to 10 - 16.9 oz. frozen water bottles per group (put in freezer at least 24 hours ahead to be completely frozen).
- “Vaccine” – the internal thermometer or test strip will be placed where a fake vaccine would be; instructors can use a vial/syringe etc. as the vaccine.
Activity C: Design a Vaccination Protocol (optional)
Activity Objective
- Identify animal diseases of importance to your species or geographic.
- Identify what types of vaccines are available for those.
- Create a vaccination plan for their species of.
Total Time 30 to 45 minutes | Preparation: 0 minutes Active: 30 to 45 minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Intermediate | Suggested Group Size Small Group |
Materials
- Internet access.
Activity A: Contamination from Another Angle
Activity Objective
Students will be able to identify different types of contaminants and methods of transmission between animals (and/or humans).
Total Time Approximately 45 minutes to 1.5 hours | Preparation: 30 minutes if scheduling guest speakers. Active: 15 minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Easy | Suggested Group Size Class (or small groups) |
Materials
Items to purchase or provide
- Internet access for youth/students.
- A list of 5 to 10 different disease agents for youth to research transmission mechanisms (you can use Appendix A).
- AND/OR Local experts (veterinarians, public health officials, etc.) join the class for a discussion.
Activity B: Evaluating the Biosecurity of Facilities
Activity Objective
Students will be able to identify areas of concern for disease transmission in small or large facilities by analyzing building locations, traffic patterns, animal shared spaces, availability of quarantine space, locations of, and access to, feed, water, hay, shavings, bedding, and manure storage, etc.
Total Time Approximately 90 minutes Could be a multi-day project depending on level of difficulty and engagement. | Preparation: 30 minutes Active: 60+ minutes Wait: 0 minutes | Difficulty Level Medium to advanced | Suggested Group Size Class, small groups, or individual |
Materials
Items to purchase or provide
- Facility printouts from binder/online resource
For hands-on application
- Glue or tape
- Scissors
- Colored pencils/crayons/markers/expo markers
- Butcher paper (cut to 11”x17” for each facility) or white board
For computer generated application
- Use desired programs (e.g. Prezi, Powerpoint, )
- Internet access
Download the full SCRUB Curriculum in PDF format.
- SCRUB curriculum (113 pages).
The document includes:
- Activity shopping list and contents.
- A quick glance at all activities.
- Full sets of instructions with:
- Key concepts
- Learning objectives
- Discussion questions
- Summaries
- Student handouts
- Example animal diseases
- Stories of diseases
- DIY agar plate instructions
- Helpful video links