Health Detectives

Starting point: In the past, epidemiological studies often focused on understanding and predicting time- lines to identify peaks in disease spread. However, the spatial componentwhere (in which geographic region) a peak is expectedwas mostly overlooked. Therefore, epidemiology is increasingly dealing with the analysis of spatial-temporal patterns of infectious diseases, especially supported by digital data sources such as social media, mobile phone data, remote sensing data, or digital wearable devices. Goals: The WKP-project Health Detectives provides basic knowledge in the area of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for spatial-temporal pattern recognition of disease spread. Like this, participants develop problem-solving approaches for real-world epidemiological case studies. This is achieved through simple, self-conducted, and guided data analyses on complex questions. Experience-oriented teaching and direct engagement with current research results generate awareness and sustainable interest in the fundamen- tal geo-social dynamics of epidemics and public health. What to expect: Health Detectives combines scientific approaches and research findings with real-life ex- amples in a playful learning experience. Detective-adventure scenarios, which include "Serious Play" and gamification elements, offer an immersive experience through real and virtual components. While the "Detective Academy" teaches basics of spatial-temporal social media analysis in epidemiology, "Escape Room Detectives" allows for collaborative interactive tasks to be solved in order to manage a fictional pandemic. "Detective Cases" teaches participants detective skills to independently conduct low-key data analyses with AI in a participatory format. Why it`s important: Health Detectives connects to the real-life experiences of participants, thereby reduc- ing apprehension towards digital AI methods. The playful approach awakens a sustainable interest in the analysis of digital and social media while simultaneously fostering awareness of how to interact with social media. Experiencing science as an adventure encourages and inspires to engage with critical questions afterward. Target audience: 1.) Secondary school students (ages 10-19) and teacherseaching students, and 2.) in- terested groups from the public, especially through the offering of an "Escape Room" (Offer 2) with an innovative puzzle character. S. 1 /