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Children are among the highest-risk populations for contracting a tick-borne disease. This is because they spend more time outdoors playing in areas where ticks may be. To prevent tick bites, children need to learn how to identify a tick, and how to prevent tick bites. Ticks in Virginia is working to develop evidence-based tick-borne disease prevention education resources for children, teachers, and schools. We have partnered to conduct studies with health and physical education teachers, create a Fight the Bite, Virginia curriculum for elementary students, and implement a theory-based Teaching Tick-borne Disease Prevention training. We also just released a new Tick Safety Activity Book.
New Resource for Teaching Tick Safety!
New Resource for Teaching Tick Safety!
We created a Tick Safety Activity Book with over 40 fun activities to learn about ticks and tick safety. Activities include mazes, I-See-a-Tick games, Tick-Not-a-Tick challenges, coloring, word scrambles, code breakers, matching, and more. Through the activities, children learn how to identify a tick, types of tick habitats and host animals, what to include in a tick safety kit, and ways to prevent tick bites. Purchase a copy on Amazon or wait a few weeks for our new and improved edition.
Health & Physical Education Teacher Study & Fight the Bite, Virginia Prevention Curriculum
Health & Physical Education Teacher Study & Fight the Bite, Virginia Prevention Curriculum
In the fall of 2022, 40 Central Virginia health and physical education (HPE) teachers participated in a survey about their knowledge and awareness of tick-borne diseases and their willingness to implement a curriculum in the future. Results showed that 90% of participants had never incorporated tick-borne disease information into their curriculum. Two-thirds stated they would be willing to implement a TBD curriculum, and preferred a website with downloadable resources for accessing a curriculum. In response, a Fight the Bite, Virginia curriculum was developed for 3rd-5th graders and is available for free download through GoOpenVA.
This study was led by Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Jenny Hall and Dr. Katherine Bowman (pictured), Assistant Professor of Health & Physical Education from the University of Lynchburg. Dr. Bowman led the curricular design and alignment of the Fight the Bite, Virginia curriculum with Virginia's Standards of Learning in Health Education.
We are currently assessing the effectiveness and implementation of a two-hour Teaching Tick-borne Disease Prevention Training and a three-activity Fight the Bite, Virginia lesson.
Our efforts to advance evidence-based tick-borne disease prevention education support Virginia House Bill HB 850, passed by the Virginia Legislature in 2022. This bill requires the Secretary of Education, in collaboration with the Secretary of Health and Human Resources and the Secretary of Natural Resources, to help school boards and local and regional public libraries establish an education and awareness program to protect children from Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases by 2028.
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