Hands are for Washing

Presenter: Tishanique Johnson, Biology, Global Public Health Scholars

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I completed my practicum at Newlen Early Childhood School Readiness Center in Washington, D.C. I implemented a intervention geared toward educating young children about washing hand and presenting the spread of disease. From January 9th - 23rd I worked with a classroom of 12 , 2-3 year old children for 8 hours a day. Throughout the day I would read stories and do activities about germs and hand washing. I also completed regular health checks ( scheduled temperature checks , monitoring ect..) and hand washing routines with the children daily. During my practicum I was able to observe how well children retained knowledge of bacteria and the importance of staying clean. I found that the children soon gained their own consciousness about germs , washing hands frequently, and alerting teachers about objects or scenarios that facilitated “germ” or bacteria. Hand washing is one of the simplest ways to help public health as it offers a preventative intervention. Young children can quickly spread germs/disease from child to teacher to parents to families and further into the community. By teaching children about germs and encouraging them to wash their hands , this will help to stop the spread of disease.