West Nile Virus: Using Adapted Primary Literature in Mathematical Biology to Teach Scientific and Mathematical Reasoning in High School Stephen P. Norris & John S. Macnab & Marjorie Wonham & Gerda de Vries Published online: 31 January 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract This paper promotes the use of adapted primary literature as a curriculum and instruction innovation for use in high school. Adapted primary literature is useful for promoting an understanding of scientific and mathematical reasoning and argument and for introducing modern science into the schools. We describe a prototype adapted from a published article on a mathematical model of the spread of the West Nile virus in North America. The prototype is available as a web-based resource that includes supplemental pedagogical units. Preliminary feedback from use of the prototype in two classrooms is described and a sketch of an ongoing formal evaluation is provided. Keywords Adapted primary literature . Mathematical biology . Scientific reasoning . Mathematical reasoning . Scientific literacy . Science reading We and others (e.g., von Aufschnaiter et al. 2008) have pointed to two perennial failures in the high school science curriculum: first, failure to treat systematically and comprehensively the nature of scientific reasoning and argument and how they are connected to scientific conclusions; and, second, failure to introduce students to some of the most interesting and important ideas of modern science, particularly of interdisciplinary research. In this paper, we wish to exemplify how both of these failures can be addressed through the use of Adapted Primary Literature. We shall proceed by first offering a distinction between Primary Scientific Literature (PSL) and Adapted primary literature (APL). Second, we shall describe a prototype of APL that we have produced in the area of mathematical biology. We finally will report Res Sci Educ (2009) 39:321–329 DOI 10.1007/s11165-008-9112-y DO9112; No of Pages S. P. Norris (*) : J. S. Macnab Centre for Research in Youth, Science Teaching and Learning, University of Alberta, 7-104 Education North, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5, Canada e-mail: stephen.norris@ualberta.ca M. Wonham : G. de Vries Centre for Mathematical Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada