Teach a 5-year-old what a virus is

[dann]

This Easter weekend we had another one of those Trump moments where you think to yourself: Is this the dumbest man alive? Why does he pretend to know stuff when he makes it so obvious to (almost) everybody that he doesn't?

49 sec:"The germ has gotten brilliant" Donald Trump

He is certainly the most powerful man alive, he has the most brilliant scientific advisers that money can buy, and yet they haven't even been able to teach him the difference between bacteria and virus and why antibiotics are useful against one but useless against the other.

I don't think that the scientists are to blame for this, but leaving Trump's attention deficit and narcissism aside, how would you explain to an actual 5-year-old what the difference is between virus and bacteria?
After all, this forum is the successor of the James Randi Educational Foundation, so is anybody up to the challenge?

 

[dann]

It occurred to me that in order to get through to a five-year-old, visualization will probably help a lot. I took a look at what YouTube has to offer in this respect:


Viruses and Bacteria: What's the difference and who cares anyway? - Plain and Simple (8 min.)

Plain and simpe? Yes, but no, not really. Sentences and words are too long and complicated:
”Bacteria are cellular creatures of microscopic size; most of their bodies consist of cytoplasm, a gooey organic substance, in which a bunch of biochemical processes take place.”
In spite of the appeal of ”gooey substances”, any five-year-old (or somebody with the mentality of a five-year-old), will have left the room by now.


Why You Shouldn’t Take Antibiotics for a Cold or Virus (1 min.)

It's not wrong as instruction, but you don’t really get to know what the two things are, so you also won't really know what the difference between the two things is.


Virus vs Bacteria (3 min.)

This one is also very instructional: How does it feel? And what do you do? But you won't really understand why it is so.


Bacterial vs. Viral Infections - Dr. Andreeff, CHOC Children's (4:25 min.)

I had high hopes for this one because of "CHOC Children's", but it's an instructional video for parents, not for children, and I'm not sure how much parents will understand if they don't already know what the difference between bacteria and virus is.


Bacteria and viruses - What's the difference? (3:20 min.)

This one isn't bad and could be used by a parent to tell a child about the two thing, but it would probably need a bit of elaboration along the way.


Good Germs vs. Bad Germs (3 min.)

This one is probably the best. I think it gets some very important messages across to its viewers, five-year-olds as well as some adults, I suppose. It has very childish cartoons, but explains the difference between bacteria and virus as well as the difference between malicious and benevolent bacteria, that antibiotics don't work against virus, and that using them frivolously may even cause some bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics.
But sentences like these probably makes parental guidance necessary: "Viruses, on the other hand, are tiny pieces of genetic code that literally hacks cells and reprogram them to make more viruses."

So good luck, Dr. Fauci! We don't envy the job you've taken upon yourself to do!

 

[alfaniner]

...
But sentences like these probably makes parental guidance necessary: "Viruses, on the other hand, are tiny pieces of genetic code that literally hacks cells and reprogram them to make more viruses."

So good luck, Dr. Fauci! We don't envy the job you've taken upon yourself to do!

Bacteria are apps. They can be good or bad.
Viruses are hackers. They can cause a little mischief, or crash the system.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

Another analogy could be something along the lines of a door.

Antibiotics are a door that will keep a dog out of the pantry, but it does nothing to stop ants.

*edited to add*
you could even expand that to explain antibiotic resistance, some dogs learn how to use doorhandles.

 

[Planigale]

Bacteria are apps. They can be good or bad.
Viruses are hackers. They can cause a little mischief, or crash the system.

Viruses are viruses. Bacteria are computers (or cells are computers). Viruses (bacteriophages) can infect computers, they can use the computer hardware to reproduce themselves and send out multiple copies to other computers the infected computer comes in contact with. (One can then introduce the concept of USB drives as vectors if discussing arboviruses.)

Humans are then like the world wide web / internet. They consist of millions of servers / computers (cells). If only a few are infected by a virus then things go on pretty much the same. But if a lot get infected then the internet / www crashes.

 

[sphenisc]

Viruses are viruses. Bacteria are computers (or cells are computers). Viruses (bacteriophages) can infect computers, they can use the computer hardware to reproduce themselves and send out multiple copies to other computers the infected computer comes in contact with. (One can then introduce the concept of USB drives as vectors if discussing arboviruses.)

Humans are then like the world wide web / internet. They consist of millions of servers / computers (cells). If only a few are infected by a virus then things go on pretty much the same. But if a lot get infected then the internet / www crashes.

And 5G helps the viruses spread faster! I knew it!

 

[dann]

Viruses are viruses. Bacteria are computers (or cells are computers). Viruses (bacteriophages) can infect computers, they can use the computer hardware to reproduce themselves and send out multiple copies to other computers the infected computer comes in contact with. (One can then introduce the concept of USB drives as vectors if discussing arboviruses.)

Humans are then like the world wide web / internet. They consist of millions of servers / computers (cells). If only a few are infected by a virus then things go on pretty much the same. But if a lot get infected then the internet / www crashes.

I'm sure most five-year-olds would appreciate this comparison!
And I can see that we have now come full circle: Early versions of malware were described using the analogy virus, and now computervirus is used as an analogy to explain actual virus!
(By the way, I'm pretty sure that "viruses (bacteriophages)" cannot infect my computer!)

I'm not too fond of analogies when trying to explain things to five-year-olds. They often make things more complicated than they need to be, in particular when you have to explain the analogies.

 

[dann]

Another analogy could be something along the lines of a door.

Antibiotics are a door that will keep a dog out of the pantry, but it does nothing to stop ants.

*edited to add*
you could even expand that to explain antibiotic resistance, some dogs learn how to use doorhandles.

Wouldn't it be easier to explain actual virus evolution instead of comparing it to learning? Bacteria are as incapable of learning as LEGO bricks.
I think that a five-year-old could understand that:
'bacteria are these little creatures that sometimes make you sick, and they can be killed with pills or injections called antibiotics. But if you don't use enough to kill all of them, the ones that survive can reproduce, and in the end they get better and better at surviving and reproducing in spite of the antibiotics. We say that they have become resistant to antibiotics.'

It might be necessary to explain that, unlike virus, bacteria have a kind of metabolism and can therefore be attacked in ways that virus can't be:

Antibiotics fight bacterial infections either by killing bacteria or slowing and suspending its growth. They do this by:
- attacking the wall or coating surrounding bacteria
- interfering with bacteria reproduction
- blocking protein production in bacteria
How do antibiotics work against bacteria? (Healthline)

I would probably try to find another way of describing "protein production". Five-year-olds are usually familiar with the idea that when we eat and digest, the food is turned into stuff that the body needs.
So, in principle, when we fight bacteria with antibiotics, we can stab them, we can castrate* them, and we can starve or poison them!

* In Denmark, five-year-olds are familiar with the concept of human (and animal) reproduction. If they aren't where you live, you should consider explaining it to them as part of the preparations for a pandemic!
Anyway, human reproduction is one of the few things that Dr. Fauci probably won't have to explain.

 

[dann]

PS

Another analogy could be something along the lines of a door.

Antibiotics are a door that will keep a dog out of the pantry, but it does nothing to stop ants.

*edited to add*
you could even expand that to explain antibiotic resistance, some dogs learn how to use doorhandles.

The last video on my list above, Good Germs vs. Bad Germs, also uses the learning analogy: 1:35 ff:

Like I said, parental guidance (and elaboration!) is necessary when watching it. It cannot stand alone. Otherwise, the childish mind will make mistakes like the one we've already heard: "The germ has gotten brilliant."

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

Wouldn't it be easier to explain actual virus evolution instead of comparing it to learning? Bacteria are as incapable of learning as LEGO bricks.
I think that a five-year-old could understand that:
'bacteria are these little creatures that sometimes make you sick, and they can be killed with pills or injections called antibiotics. But if you don't use enough to kill all of them, the ones that survive can reproduce, and in the end they get better and better at surviving and reproducing in spite of the antibiotics. We say that they have become resistant to antibiotics.'

It might be necessary to explain that, unlike virus, bacteria have a kind of metabolism and can therefore be attacked in ways that virus can't be:



I would probably try to find another way of describing "protein production". Five-year-olds are usually familiar with the idea that when we eat and digest, the food is turned into stuff that the body needs.
So, in principle, when we fight bacteria with antibiotics, we can stab them, we can castrate* them, and we can starve or poison them!

* In Denmark, five-year-olds are familiar with the concept of human (and animal) reproduction. If they aren't where you live, you should consider explaining it to them as part of the preparations for a pandemic!
Anyway, human reproduction is one of the few things that Dr. Fauci probably won't have to explain.

My experience as a teacher is that 15 year olds who chose biology and chemistry as subject in high school barely understand how basic genetics work, and get metabolism and the actual mechanics of reproduction wrong.

If you know a five year old that would actually understand what you said, kudos to them. You asked for a way which would make it understandable and I gave an analogy that might trigger them by linking it to daily subjects.
Of course they'll also be interested in it for 2 seconds and then be talking about a different subject given a five year olds usual attention span.

 

[dann]

I know about the attention span of five-year-olds - and the attention span of people with the minds of five-year-olds. This is why I think that a three-minute-long video supplied with a few elaborations from a parent or a teacher might do the trick. I don't expect them to get more than the most basic idea of the evolution of germs, but I would still prefer that to computer analogies.

As a high-school English teacher, I sometimes discussed creationism with my students and often ended up playing the devil's advocate when I noticed that they had accepted the idea of evolution without really understanding it. I used the evolution of the eye as my example, a favourite of creationists, and the first time I did so, I was astonished to see them accept my argument, which went something like this:

'Well, you know, it's easy to see how legs might have evolved: Fish living in very shallow waters might have sometimes used their pelvic fins to push themselves forward. (And we know that fish like that actually still (or again) exist.) So if the ones with stronger pelvic fins stood a better chance of surviving, that would be a step on the ladder of evolution eventually leading to legs. So even 'half a leg' would be useful.
But what would be the use of half an eye? An eye is too complicated. You need the photoreceptive cells, the nerves connecting them to the brain, the lens, the muscles to point the eye in different directions etc., and all these things have to work together. Half an eye would obviously be no use at all to any creature.
So how can the eye have come into being when the eye cannot possibly be the result of evolution?'

I never failed, not even once. I always managed to persuade them of this - before showing them a short YouTube video about the actual evolution(s) of the eye(s)!

We have to make the job of being a creationist much more difficult than it is now. It is much too easy. We have to start early. And we have to make sure that children's understanding of evolution evolves to the point where they actually understand the reality of evolution.
Pence could probably convince Trump of creationism if he ever seriously took it upon himself to try.

'Let us all kneel and pray to God that he makes the virus devolve and stop being so damn brilliant.'

 

[dann]

Because I was so preoccupied with the backstory of germs in general and the difference between virus and bacteria, I didn't search for children's videos about the coronavirus specifically, but there are some of those, too:

What is coronavirus? Explained for kids (2 min.)

Sticklers will probably complain that it calls the virus, instead of the disease, Covid-19. Personally, I don’t care.
The video primarily instructs children about what to do (like washing your hands); there is very little about what a virus is.


What is Coronavirus? An explainer for children (2:30 min.) March 20, 2020.

This one has an absurd approach to storytelling, in my opinion. I’m not adverse to the idea of turning the coronavirus itself into first-person narrator, but it’s a literary tool that should be used with some caution. In this case, it makes me wonder: What was the intended purpose of making the coronavirus so damn cute? In particular, when we are also told that it “can make some people very sick. But I don’t hang around for long and almost everyone gets better.”
Isn't that awfully nice?
To me, that doesn’t sound like something (someone) to be afraid of, and I can see why you wouldn’t want to scare children too much, but in this version the coronavirus sounds more like a wonderful playmate to keep you company in times of quarantine when there aren't too many playmates around; something that it might even be fun to share with your grannies instead of trying to kill her with soap!
However, towards the end it does say that sharing it with your grandparents is not a good idea!


The Coronavirus explained to children (3 min.)

Even though it leaves out bacteria, evolution and antibiotics, this one is probably my favourite because it works well as a way of giving children an idea of why it’s important for them to wash their hands etc. – and how it may not affect children much, but is a much more serious illness for teachers, parents and grandparents.


And then there is this one, which is not specifically about the coronavirus, but considering the date, I find it hard to believe that they didn't have it in mind:
How does your immune system work? (6 min.) April 10, 2020!!!

It's much longer than the others, but it also deals with more information than those.
However, I think it complicates things too much with too many details and concepts:
“lymph nodes, lymph vessels, lymphocytes, white blood cells, bone marrow, skin and much more. (...) “white blood cells, also called leucocytes” (...) “phagocytes and lymphocytes” “macrophages and dendridic cells” "T-cells".
I don't think that children will remember half of those anyway. I don't!
But it contains this gem that I think Dr. Fauci could use, and I am sure that Trump would appreciate it:
”Our body has developed a high-tech, super-advanced defense mechanism called the immune system to protect you from this unwanted infectious guest and keep you safe and healthy.”

I will build a high-tech, super-advanced defense wall to keep out unwanted infectious 'guests'!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Bacteria are apps. They can be good or bad.
Viruses are hackers. They can cause a little mischief, or crash the system.

Considering the 5 yr old in question, this seems like you are going in the wrong direction assuming he understands anything about the internet except Twitter.

 

[dann]

Something about retweeting malignant tweets might get through to him!

 

[Beelzebuddy]

If you have Netflix, the "Why do we get sick?" episode of Ask the Storybots is a top-notch primer.

 

[dann]

I don't have Netflix. Do you mean this one?

It appears to be more entertaining than educational, but it could probably be used as a starting point for a discussion about germs and the immune system.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

I don't have Netflix. Do you mean this one?

It appears to be more entertaining than educational, but it could probably be used as a starting point for a discussion about germs and the immune system.

You just saw a macrophage presenting antigens to a T helper cell, kicking off an immune response. They didn't say "kids, this is how it happens," but that's how it happens. They keep going through the immune system, working in an Attack on Titan parody along the way.

Also wash yer hands, ya filthy little animals.

 

[Planigale]

You just saw a macrophage presenting antigens to a T helper cell, kicking off an immune response. They didn't say "kids, this is how it happens," but that's how it happens. They keep going through the immune system, working in an Attack on Titan parody along the way.

Also wash yer hands, ya filthy little animals.

Unlike flu we can't blame covid on the filthy little mammals.

 

[alfaniner]

Unlike flu we can't blame covid on the filthy little mammals.

As points of transmission? I think we can.

 

[Elagabalus]

Teach a 5-year-old what a virus is...

And he'll be one for the rest of his life.