This high school curriculum explores drug abuse-related issues that are relevant to high school students, while simultaneously developing their understanding of the science of epidemiology. The goals of the curriculum, called Exploring Drug Abuse through the Science of Epidemiology (EDASE), are to improve high school students':
Knowledge of drug abuse,
Knowledge of epidemiology,
Fundamental abilities in Science as Inquiry,
Fundamental abilities in Science and Technology, and
Scientific literacy
The curriculum was created by following curriculum design principles advocated by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their text Understanding by Design. Their contention is that effective curricula are created by identifying enduring understandings and essential questions. Enduring understandings are the big ideas that reside at the heart of a discipline and have lasting value outside the classroom. The essential questions are the questions that, when answered, create the enduring understanding in the first place. The curriculum developer's task is to create lessons that develop students' abilities to answer the essential questions and, in doing so, develop the their own enduring understandings.
