Vaping and Respiratory Health | Resources for Educators

The following activities and resources were developed to promote student engagement with scientific data emerging from research on the health effects of e-cigarettes. See this infographic to learn more.

Activities

Investigating the Impact of E-cigarettes on Airway Inflammation and Asthma
A digital interactive notebook that invites students to: 1) create a visual model of a healthy and an inflamed respiratory tract; 2) learn about biomarkers and interpret published biomarker data for vapers, smokers and a control group; and 3) design a human subjects study to test the hypothesis that asthmatics more susceptible to the respiratory health effects of e-cigarettes.

Biomarker Simulation Activity
A data-based, qualitative wet-lab simulation where students test simulated “sputum” samples to detect levels of biomarkers associated with inflammation among nonsmokers, cigarette smokers and e-cigarette users.

A Case of Severe Lung Illness
An online and interactive case study that invites students to interact with simulated patient data to identify possible causes of severe vaping-related lung illnesses.

Escape the Vape Digital Breakout
An online digital escape room that engages students in learning about the ingredients in e-cigarettes and the health effects of vaping.

Videos featuring vaping researchers

Teacher Professional Development Webinars

Vaping and Adolescents: How did we get here?
Elise Hickman, Bob Immormino, PhD, Ilona Jaspers, PhD, Scott McIntosh, PhD

Cell, rodents, and humans: Experimental models for studying flavored e-cigarettes
Elise Hickman and Greg Smith, PhD

Flavored e-cigarettes & cell bioenergetics
Phillip Clapp, PhD

E-cigarettes & lung health
Meghan Rebuli, PhD and Alejandro Comellas, MD

Susceptibility to E-Cigarette Chemicals
Terry Kavanagh, PhD

Vaping and Vaping Cessation
Scott McIntosh, PhD

How Do You Study the Respiratory Effects of E-Cigarettes Using Human Subjects?
Elise Hickman, PhD candidate in Ilona Jaspers’ lab

Other videos

Ask-a-Scientist | E-cigarettes and Vaping (middle school audience)
Elise Hickman, PhD candidate in Ilona Jaspers’ Lab

Vaping Research U Iowa
Vingie Ng, PhD student in Peter Thorne’s lab

The Center for Public Engagement with Science in the UNC Institute for the Environment is the administrative home of the Community Engagement Core (CEC) for the NIEHS-funded UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (UNC-CH).

The resources on this page were developed with support of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grants to: the Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (P30-ES010126), the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center at the University of Iowa (P30 ES005605), the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of Rochester (P30-ES01247), and the Center for Exposures, Diseases, Genomics, and Environment at the University of Washington (P30ES007033).