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. 2019 Mar 7;11(3):231.
doi: 10.3390/v11030231.

Educational Material about Influenza Viruses

Seema S Lakdawala  1 , Naina Nair  2   3 , Edward Hutchinson  4
Affiliations

Educational Material about Influenza Viruses

Seema S Lakdawala et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

To supplement a special edition of the journal Viruses, entitled "What's New with Flu?", influenza virus researchers have worked together to generate simple educational material to communicate their science to school students. Educational materials suitable for a range of ages are included, from coloring exercises for younger students through to explanations of cutting-edge science in straightforward language for older students. This article contains a handout with influenza facts, a coloring page, a glossary and word find and a connect-the-dots exercise explaining the ideas behind recently published scientific papers. Together, these materials are intended to make research on influenza viruses more accessible to students and teachers.

Keywords: STEM; coloring; educational material; influenza virus; word find.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Influenza virus factsheet. A collection of basic facts about influenza viruses with links to further resources (a mini-review at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2018.05.013, a short article at https://theconversation.com/flu-lasts-for-more-than-an-hour-in-air-and-on-surfaces-why-cleaning-can-really-help-97823 and free educational resources at https://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/iii/cvr/events/public%20engagement/resources/).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Influenza virus coloring page. A detailed composite image of an influenza virion (virus particle) and its component parts (below and right) with low-resolution images of the packaging of the viral genome (top right) and the filamentous virions seen in natural infections (left). PB1, PB2: basic polymerase subunits 1 and 2; PA: acidic polymerase subunit; HA: hemagglutinin; NP: nucleoprotein; NA: neuraminidase; M1, M2: matrix proteins 1 and 2; NS1: non-structural protein 1; NEP: nuclear export protein; vRNA: viral ribonucleic acid (genome). See text for further details.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Viral epigenetics word find. See text for definitions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Two models for the binding of vRNA to proteins when assembling the influenza virus genome. See text for details.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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