Students investigate how unequal access to health resources shapes bodies, families, and communities across time by combining biology, math, English, and history inquiry. They analyze real health datasets, historical accounts, and scientific literature on epidemiology, genetics, and epigenetics, then use simulations and “What If?” story design to test how different conditions produce different outcomes. Working with a community clinic or federally qualified health center and a university biology or public health partner, they create evidence-based mini-films that connect lived experience, quantitative analysis, and possible responses to health inequities. The learning experience builds students’ skill in research, data analysis, collaboration, and communication while preparing them to share their findings with community audiences at a public showcase.

Students will analyze real health datasets and historical accounts to identify patterns in unequal access to care, ask significant questions, and build evidence-based claims about health inequities across time and generations. They will apply biology concepts including DNA to protein function, inheritance, epigenetics, homeostasis, systems in multicellular organisms, and human impacts on biodiversity to explain how health conditions and environments shape outcomes for individuals and communities. They will design and evaluate “what if” scenarios using simulations, data visualizations, and trade-off analysis, then craft science-based narratives and mini-films that communicate multiple points of view with accuracy and empathy. They will collaborate with community health and university partners, use feedback to strengthen research and storytelling, and present clear, well-supported recommendations to an authentic audience.

Students will create ongoing products including annotated dataset investigations, CER analyses, epigenetics and body-systems models, historical research notes, and character/timeline storyboards built from “What If?” scenario dice rolls. They will also produce science-based narrative drafts, data visualizations, and simulation outputs that test how changes in access to care affect families, communities, and biodiversity-related health conditions across generations. With feedback from a community clinic or federally qualified health center panel and a university biology or public health partner, teams will refine a short mini-film that weaves together historical accounts, health data, and personal narrative. The culminating products are a public mini-film showcase, booth displays featuring evidence and design choices, and a brief audience-facing call to action or solution proposal grounded in trade-offs, constraints, and community impact.

Open with a “What If? Story Lab” in which students rotate through stations featuring a short clip from The Deep or a related text excerpt, public health datasets, historical accounts of unequal care, and case examples introduced by a community clinic or federally qualified health center speaker panel. In teams, students roll scenario dice to generate alternate futures such as no prenatal care, no vaccines, or universal healthcare, then use the evidence at each station to build a first claim about how access to health resources shapes families and communities across generations. A university biology or public health partner helps students interpret sample epidemiology and epigenetics data so they can connect DNA, homeostasis, environmental factors, and health outcomes to their scenario. Close with a gallery walk where teams pitch a one-minute concept for a science-grounded mini-film and identify the questions they need to investigate next.

Host a public Mini-Film Showcase in the school forum, where student teams premiere their “What If?” films about unequal access to healthcare for classmates, families, community clinic staff, and university biology or public health partners. Pair each screening with a booth display featuring the team’s dataset visuals, CER analysis, historical context, and character timeline/story design so audiences can see how math, biology, history, and English informed the film. Include a post-film discussion panel in which students answer questions about epigenetics, public health trade-offs, and the historical roots of present-day health inequities, using evidence from their research and simulations. Invite community partners to table at the event so the exhibition also connects student learning to real local health resources and action pathways.