PowerUp! Instructional Unit
Unit Plan Title: Tree of Life Student Treehouses- Indigenous Medicinal Plants
Developed By: Robin Dirksen Indigenous Medicinal Plants
Academic Vocabulary: Phylogeny, Indigenous, Secondary Compounds, Ethnobotany, Herbarium / Grade Level: 11-12 / Length of Unit: 2 weeks
Science/Math Standard(s): What standards will provide the focus for this unit?
1. 9-12.L.1.2. Students are able to classify organisms using characteristics and evolutionary relationship of major taxa.
2. 9-12.N.1.1. Students are able to evaluate a scientific discovery to determine and describe how societal, cultural, and personal beliefs influencescientific investigations and interpretations.
3. 9-12.L.3.1. Students are able to identify factors that can cause changes in stability of populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Essential Questions: What essential questions will focus this unit?
Students will be able to identify (select from given information) structures (different parts of an organism) and functions (specific job of parts) relationships within major taxa (level of organization) and relate that to the importance of phylogeny in solving global problems.
1. Students will be able to evaluate(judge the value of) a scientific discovery (a finding based on experiments) to determine (find appropriate information) and describe (tell in words or numbers) how societal beliefs (opinions of people living together), cultural beliefs (views based on religion or race), and personal beliefs (ideas of the scientist) influence scientific investigations (experiments designed to find out about something) and interpretations (explanations of what experiment results mean).
2. Students are able to identify (select from) factors (weather, climate, resources and human activity) that cause changes in stability of populations (groups of organisms of the same species in the same area), communities (populations living and interacting in the same area), and ecosystems (the organization and interaction of communities with their physical environment).
Content: What topics do students need to know? / Skills: What should students be able to do?
Students will need to know: Students need to know prerequisites from basic chemistry concepts such as they learned in Physical Science and basic biology concepts from Biology. / Students will need to be able to: analyze and evaluate the uses of plants as medicinals by investigating the compounds produced by those compounds.
Assessment(s): What evidence will show that students understand?
Performance Tasks, Projects:
  • Identify and collect plant specimens using collection in the field, GPS identification of collection site
  • Preservation techniques by creating herbaria specimens.
  • Research the taxonomy of, and medicinal/cultural uses, of indigenous plant species used by the Sicangu Lakota.
  • Develop a multimedia presentation of their research and develop a Treehouseon the Tree of Life Web Project.
Quizzes, Tests, Academic Prompts: Students will have a test that will measure their understanding of the evolutionary relationships between organisms and the function of major classes of compounds produced by plants.
Informal observations/discussions/interviews:
Student Self-Assessment: Students will evaluate their own finished product as it is published.