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Lesson Plans - Plants
Lesson Plan 1: Nature's edible garden
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson students will
- Discuss what types of foods are vegetable in origin
- Learn about plant diets in other cultures
- Understand that plant foods are essential to healthy human growth and
development
Teacher-Centred Instruction
1. Have students make a list of foods they like to eat that come from plant material. There will be some obvious choices, but remind them to include things like nuts, breads and cereals, beverages, herbs and spices.
2. Now ask students, either individually or in small groups, to list some of their favourite meals, and to identify which components of the meals are from which type of plants, how often they eat them.
3. Using the Canada Food Guide or other nutritional information chart, ask students to document how many different types of plant food they should be eating in a day and/or a week. Help them to understand why this is necessary, with reference to vitamins and other compounds necessary for healthy growth and development.
4. Using the list provided, ask students to identify what kinds of plant foods the Northern Tutchone people ate, and see how they compare to their preferred plant foods.
Northern Tutchone Vegetable foods
Student-Centred Activities
1. Bon Appetit
2. What Grows in Nature's Garden?
3. It's Teatime
Lesson Extensions
Discuss with students how to eat a healthy diet from eating only plant foods, by researching the different kinds of plants that provide the nutrients that humans need. Ask students what their opinions are on vegetarianism.
Lesson Plan 2: Is there a doctor in the woods?
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson students will
- Learn that many medicines originate from plants
- Learn that different cultures used plants for medicinal purposes
- Understand the importance of preserving plant species
Teacher-Centred Instruction
1. Ask students where they think medicines come from, and guide their answers towards plant compounds and/or materials.
2. Using list provided, help students identify which type of plants provide which types of medical drugs.
3. Make a similar list with students outlining traditional medicinal plants from the Northern Tutchone area, using the Fort Selkirk website.
4. Impress upon students the importance of preserving plant species all over the world as many scientists are still looking for new types of medications, and plant compounds are a primary source for their research.
Student-Centred Activities
2. Plea for plant preservation
Lesson Extensions
Explain to students that many different living species are used for medical research. Discuss the importance of moral and ethical practices on cutting-edge research.
Lesson Plan 3: Ch-ch-chain of foods
Lesson Objectives
In this lesson students will
- Discuss plants as a food source for many creatures
- Learn about the needs of plants
- Understand how living things are connected
Teacher-Centred Instruction
1. Discuss with students how many living things use plants as a food source, not just humans. Brainstorm a list of different creatures that rely on plant material for their nutritional needs.
2. Explain to students that many of these creatures are in turn a food source for other animals, so almost every living organism depends on plants to survive.
3. Identify the needs of plants for their growth (i.e. sunlight, water, organic compounds) and make a further connection that every living thing that needs plants needs these materials as well. Emphasize the fact that all living beings are connected in this way.
4. Design a simple food chain with the class, starting with the non-living component of sunlight, and then continue to about three levels of organisms.
Student-Centred Activities
Lesson Extension
Discuss the history from hunting and gathering societies to commercial farming. Also discuss the shift in consumer thinking and the higher demand for organic products. What, if any, are the effects of mass-produced vegetable crops or fish farming on the global food chains and webs that occur in nature?
