The ToxRAP™ Middle School Module (grades 6-9), "Mystery Illness Strikes the Sanchez Household," can be taught at any time of the year. The lessons for "Mystery Illness Strikes the Sanchez Household" are described below.

Lesson One
Students read a case study about the Sanchez household in the form of a newspaper article. Members of the household are experiencing health problems. Students become environmental health scientists and begin to investigate the health problem(s) following the investigative guidelines used in all of the lessons, called the ToxRAP™ Map and Framework.

Lesson Two
Students identify possible health hazards and their sources in the Sanchez home by playing the "Hazard Game." Then, they compare the Sanchez family's health problems to the health effects information learned in the game and from the supplied reference "Hazard Information" sheets. From this comparison, the students generate a detailed list of questions that they would like to ask the Sanchez family to gather additional information.

Lesson Three
Students interview the Sanchez family (role-played by other students, school staff or guests) to elicit additional information regarding their home, the signs and symptoms they have experienced, lifestyle habits and the sequence of events. Students build on the information they have gathered from the role-play and previous lessons to develop a hypothesis about what hazard is causing the Sanchez family's health problems.

Lesson Four
Students identify missing information that is needed to help solve the mystery. They decide which environmental sampling and medical testing should be conducted to help answer some of the questions. This testing is essential in confirming if hazards are present in the environment and if people have been exposed to the hazards.

Lesson Five
Students learn more about environmental sampling, how it is done and how it would help determine what hazard is responsible for causing the Sanchez family's health problems. They follow established protocols adapted for the classroom setting to simulate how an industrial hygienist would collect environmental samples for laboratory analysis.

Lesson Six
Students investigate different units of measurement commonly used to estimate concentrations of "sample" contaminants. They prepare or estimate concentrations of sampled contaminants to illustrate the size of different units of measurement commonly used in this type of scientific investigation. Students may conduct up to four different activities that relate to the following measurement units: _g/ft² (dust), ppm (soil), _g/m³ (air) and/or _g/L (water).

Lesson Seven
Students review results from the environmental samples and medical tests that they requested in Lesson Four. They then refine their hypothesis about what hazard is affecting the Sanchez household and investigate any unanswered questions about exposure pathways and length of exposure. Through math and hands-on activities, students discover how hazards in our environment can get into our bodies and cause health problems. In addition, students learn what the Sanchez family members were doing at home on a typical day. This information helps explain why some of the family members have more severe health problems.

Lesson Eight
Students test their hypothesis and reach a conclusion using a weight-of-evidence approach commonly used by environmental health scientists. Using answers to questions from the ToxRAP™ Framework as a way to support their conclusions about what hazard is causing the health problems, students link the "Health Problem," the "Hazard" and the "People" who are exposed following the points of the triangle of the ToxRAP™ Map. Finally, students conduct a risk ranking activity to determine which family members had the greatest risk of harm from exposure to the hazard.

Lesson Nine
Having reached a conclusion about what hazard is causing the health problems, students use experiments with vanilla extract to illustrate hazard control methods. They continue their investigation by carrying out a simulated chemistry experiment to learn how hazards that get into the body might be medically treated. After a discussion about the many different ways hazards can be controlled, students select what they think are the best control methods and write a letter with their recommendations to the Sanchez family.

Lesson Ten
Students apply what they have learned about the ToxRAP™ Map and Framework to a new health problem. First, they read a newspaper article from The New York Times concerning several babies whose lungs were bleeding. Then they use the ToxRAP™ Map and Framework to determine what additional information is needed in order to scientifically conclude what hazard in the environment might be responsible for the reported health problem.