The Volunteers

1. Set Focus 
Pose this essential question: What motivates people to take risks to help their communities? 

2. Read and Discuss 
Have students read the article, marking key ideas and questions. Then ask them to answer the following questions, citing text evidence:

• What are some of the reasons teens are volunteering for the trials? (Reasons include: to end the pandemic, to help science, to say thank you to the frontline workers who are keeping us healthy, to have a good story to tell grandchildren, and to ensure that people of different ages and races are represented in the vaccine trials.)

• How do the teen trials differ from the adult trials? (The teen trials are much smaller than the adult trials, with 2,000 to 3,000 subjects each instead of 30,000. The teen trials may also be less diverse because the adult trials saw no discernible difference in outcome by race. In addition, up to two-thirds of the teens are being offered the actual vaccine. In the adult trials, about 50 percent of the participants got the real vaccine. And so far, the teen trials are showing an even higher efficacy rate.)

• Why was Sam happy he felt side effects after getting the trial shot? Would you also have felt happy? Explain. (Sam was happy he felt side effects because it meant he had received the real vaccine and not a placebo. Students’ responses about how they would feel will vary.)

3. Core Skill Practice
Assign, print, or project the activity Tying Texts Together. Have students use it to synthesize information from this article and the article “The Race for a Vaccine” in the September 21, 2020, issue of the magazine.

4. Writing Prompt
Research another statistic to add to the sidebar “By the Numbers.” Write one paragraph to explain why you chose this statistic.

5. Classroom Debate
Should children 15 and under be allowed to participate in vaccine trials?

6. Quiz & Skills
Assess comprehension with the quiz.