Yesterday, December 1, 2010, was World AIDS Day.
The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988. “Many people were very concerned at this time, especially since people who got HIV usually died within a year,” states Sparta high school science teacher Donna Kemp.
One way Donna Kemp is trying to get kids aware of HIV/AIDS is by incorporating activities in her classes. Yesterday, Anatomy students participated in an activity that replicated how fast AIDS can spread. Each student received a test tube, which contained water. However, what they didn’t know was that one student had sodium hydroxide in his/her test tube. The students then had to go around the room and mix their solution with three other people. Once this was done, Kemp added Phenolphthalein to the solutions. If Phenolphthalein detected sodium hydroxide, it would show up pink in the students’ test tubes. “I wanted to make my students aware of the fact that HIV can be spread without the knowledge of the person who has it,” adds Kemp.
According to aids.gov, an estimated 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV, and one out of five doesn’t know it. “These numbers seem pretty realistic. People wouldn’t know they have HIV unless they were sick or got tested. I am even surprised that the numbers aren’t higher,” said Kemp.
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