Risk Factors of Disease

These activities introduce the idea that there are certain factors, called risk factors, which can increase a person’s likelihood of developing a disease. Pupils learn how scientists use research to determine what the risk factors are for various diseases.

Curriculum Links

• KS3 Science
• KS4 Science
• SQA 5-14 Standard Environmental Studies
• SQA Access, Intermediate and Higher: Biology
• and Biology Investigation

Key words

• risks of disease
• risk factors
• lifestyle risks of disease
• healthy lifestyles
• family history
• data analysis
• making and reading graphs
• determining correlation
• designing a valid experiment
• comparing experimental methodologies
• how scientists work

Activities

• Can you identify patients’ risk of disease?
• Find the risk factors of disease
• How do scientists determine what is a risk factor?