What is the Barrow County mystery disease?

Answer 1

The Barrow County mystery disease refers to an illness that affected a group of people in Barrow County, Georgia, in the 1950s. The symptoms included muscle weakness, paralysis, and respiratory failure. The cause of the illness was never definitively determined, but it is believed to have been caused by a toxic substance in the local environment.

Answer 2

Since I wrote the book, I can answer the question, but that would defeat one of the purposes of Problem Based Learning. Even at the end of the unit, when one of my students asks, "So Mr. Bohland, what really caused the disease?" my answer is "What did you say caused it?"

When a teacher from another state calls to ask what the "real" answer is (I did not include one in the teacher's manual) my reply is the same.

"What do your students say is the real answer?"

Problem based learning is not about the teacher "giving the answer," rather it is about teaching students to be independent-cooperative learners.

Mark Bohland, M.Ed., M.Photog.

Mystery Disease and Mystery River are available from Prufrock Press, the nation's leading publisher of material for gifted students, their parents, and their teachers.