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Quest 7: The medicinal properties of rainforest plants
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Focus: |
The medicinal properties of rainforest plants |
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Objective: |
To identify what the key elements of a poster are and how to put messages across effectively |
| Materials: |
> Isabelle Morin's Story - how a 3 year-old girl from Tennessee successfully battled Leukaemia thanks to medicines derived from rainforest plants |
Product Success Criteria:
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Students will produce a poster using a self-determined range of media, or as prescribed by the teacher
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The poster will identify at least 10 species of plants
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The plants will be named using appropriate terminology, as directed by the teacher
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The poster will provide information as to the medicinal properties of the plants
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The poster should highlight in some way the threat posed to the plants by deforestation
Organisation:
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As with all Study Quests, this is very flexible
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It is cross-curricular, covering science, art, design etc
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Teachers may wish submissions to be made on an individual basis
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Equally there is no reason why collaboration could not be facilitated by students working in pairs or in small groups
Development:
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Showcase the posters in local venues to raise public awareness of the issues
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Display in the school and invite questions and feedback
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Provide an opportunity for a selected group of students to lead and organise a poster competition in local feeder primary schools
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The principles of this lesson could also be extended to beauty products
Teacher's Notes:
Medicinal rainforest plants include Quinine (from Cinchona tree bark), Cat’s Claw, Cashew, Passion flower, Camphor, Rosy Periwinkle
Useful websites:
- http://rainforests.mongabay.com/1007.htm
- http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01873/amaz.htm
- http://www.rain-tree.com/plants.htm
- http://www.netsci.org/Science/Special/feature11.html#TAB1 (a table of clinically useful medicines from rainforest plants)
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