Inspired by Ron Zaraza's use of his disaster simulation project in Portland, OR, I set off to develop a final exam like no other. I wanted to prove to my students that the skills they had spent the semester learning, would be useful in other fields, and might even help them later in life. They were given the choice of a traditional research project with a paper, or to participate in a 26 hour disaster simulation.

"But Ms. Mahony, what will we do for 26 hours?" I told them that to truly get the most out of the experience they would need to go in cold. They had all of the skills necessary and would be able to fill in their gaps of knowledge. Twenty-two of my 24 students participated in the simulation which began January 17, 2002. Students filed in, dropping their bags and guessing at what was ahead for them. At 1:00 p.m. I told them, "There is an unconfirmed case of smallpox in Chittenden County. This is your disaster, good luck."

Pandemonium did not exactly break out. I actually got a lot more confused looks than anything else. Slowly that changed as the task dawned on them. To give the students a "real world" feel, I designated them the Emergency Response Team for the State of Vermont. Preparatory phone calls to local health organizations, rescue squads and news crews allowed the students an opportunity to call on them for research. I also invited members of those agencies to come in and role play.

Every two hours or so, the students would receive a CDC update with a little more information to either throw them a lifeline when they were stuck, or to complicate things when they were overconfident. The final update came at 2 a.m. and was met with a very tired "You know, I really do hate you right now."

Throughout the project the students used a basic disease model and expanded upon it to show their control strategies and specifics for the situation. At the end of the 26 hours, the students had projected the likely spread of the disease if unchecked, and the success of their plan. The use of modeling tools for the project was essential. Student assumptions were easily challenged and new insight gained due to their ability to 'play' with different options or combinations thereof.

The students surprised themselves over and over again with their clarity of thought and ability to problem solve in a high stakes situation. Their plan to house infected patients in an unused dormitory of a local college was an inspiration for the local hospital's smallpox preparedness plan. After the project was over, the Vermont State Department of Health requested a copy of their report.

A year later, I used the same disaster simulation premise in a project with my ninth graders. While some of the logistics were different, 2 ½ days of in school time as opposed to 26 hours straight and using SARS as the disease, the results were surprisingly similar. Students took a hard look at a serious "real world" problem and used systems thinking tools and STELLA to find workable solutions.

This project has become one of my favorites for many reasons. Students interact with each other, sharing ideas and knowledge while also demonstrating to others and most importantly, themselves, that they are capable and contributing members of society now, not just in the future. The students themselves feel that while the level of tension and stress can get a bit high at times, the overall experience was one they would not forget.