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This is one of my FAVORITE projects and I cannot wait to do it again now that we have learned so much.
Inspired by my friend and colleague, Maria Nickel, students gain inspiration from the movie, The Martian, to learn about traditional indigenous medicines.
PLANNING DOCUMENTS
Initial Outline (NOTE: this is a working document and may change)
Curriculum Outcomes - Science 8
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In order to do this project justice, I felt it was necessary to learn as much as I could to support the learning of my students. These two books were highly recommended and I leaned on them very heavily as I prepared lessons for this project.
These are two additional books I found after the project concluded and I am looking forward to diving in and learning even more.
Unfortunately, I underestimated how much time it would take for the seeds to sprout and grow to a size we could harvest so this time we had to order dried flowers.
PLANTING THE SEEDS
After we all researched the most useful indigenous plant medicines, it was time to order and plant as many seeds as we could. We planted:
Sage (2 kinds)
Red Clover
Yarrow
Tobacco (not to use in medicine)
Bergamot
Calendula
Mint
Lavender
Lemon Balm
Stinging Nettle
Chamomile
Strawberries
MEDICINE MAKING
Once students had discussed what ailments they wanted to treat, it was time to make our medicines! Because we had a time crunch, our Environmental and Outdoor Education students were in charge of making all of the medicines for all grade 8 Science classes. It was quite remarkable to see how hard the students worked and how dedicated they were to ensuring that they did a good job of all of the products.
Packaging and Labelling
Because we wanted to make sure that no one would have an unanticipated allergic reaction, we make sure that all of our products were labelled with all ingredients, and packaged in small containers or bags. Each student got a sample of the medicine they had created.
INFORMATION PAMPHLETS
While the idea for this project came from treating injuries and ailments in space, we wanted students to summarize their knowledge and understanding of both the medicinal properties of their product and impacts on human body systems. As such, we had them create information pamphlets to explain (in summarized form) all about their product.
SHOWCASING INFORMATION
One of the key coponents to any Project Based Learning adventure is the showcase. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 restrictions, we couldn't have our traditional showcase that would be open to the public, but we managed to make it work. Students remained in their own classes but were split into clusters of 3-4 groups where they were able to share their learning, ask questions and provide feedback to each other.
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