Science Curriculum
On this page: Eat Right for Great Health
| Over-the-Counter Medicines | Vitamins
and Minerals as Dietary Supplements
| Eat
Right For Great Health |
Goals: To pursue knowledge of science
and increase self-discipline.
Objectives:
- To expose students to health career curriculum
with emphasis upon excellence in the field of science
when considering careers in health care.
- To engage students in subject areas, to become
eligible for future job positions.
- To develop an awareness of career opportunities
in the health professions and the health care industry
as a whole, while building (the public's) confidence
in the health care system
- To create individual responsibility by educating
students to the possibilities and entrance requirements
needed to become a health care professional, and
how decisions students make now will influence their
ability to enter into these fields later.
What will the students do?
Students will keep a journal of what they
eat and drink for one week. Based on what they learn,
they will change their diets.
What will the educators do?
This is three-part activity. To prepare their
students, educators need to teach their students how
to create scientific journals. Also, educators will
need to teach principles of good nutrition, which
will be provided through this Web site. Students will
need a journal. This can be a simple, inexpensive
notebook.
The activity will consist of students writing in
their journals what they eat and drink everyday for
1 week.
When the journals are completed, there are three
follow-up activities. First, the journals will be
considered data collection. The educator will assist
the students in analyzing the data and how it compares
to the guidelines on the food pyramid and the daily
recommended amounts of food.
Next, the students will prepare a written report
that lists where their dietary habits are consistent
with the guidelines, and where they need improvement.
This written report should also include:
- a discussion of which diseases and conditions
for which they are at risk, if they maintain their
current diets in the future; (e.g., heart disease,
diabetes, cancer);
- the treatment and care for these diseases and
conditions; and
- what can be done to prevent diseases and conditions
caused by diets.
Then, the students will create plans for their diets
in the future.
The educator should provide dietary information to
the students; and manage the process of preparing
for writing the journals; writing the journals; and
the analysis and report writing.
What information is available to educators?
Educators will be able to download several short
essays about staying well by eating right. These include:
low fat diets; fiber; proteins; carbohydrates; fats;
healthier ways to eat meat; main sources of vegetable
proteins; vitamins and minerals; supplements; daily
calorie intake; and the food guide pyramid.
Educators will be able to use the questionnaire of
14 questions about eating and drinking habits, including
breakfast, snacks, fast food, fats, breads, proteins,
fruits and vegetables, salt, water, weight, dieting,
and caffeine.
What are the activities of Business/Adopters?
- Academic Enrichment/Career Awareness: Serve as
resource speakers or tutors
- Cultural Enrichment: Sponsor visits by health
professionals.
A health professional, such as nutritionist, dietitian,
or nurse, could be a guest speaker. They would assist
in the preparation and analysis of the journals. They
could help present the information related to good
nutrition; the diseases and conditions which poor
nutrition can lead to; and how to prevent these diseases
and conditions.
If the business/adopter is from a junior college,
community college, technical school, college or university,
then the speaker could be a student or teacher from
departments of health science, nutrition, or family
and consumer science.
They could use the materials provided to the educator,
as well as their own resources.
What methods should the educator use to assess
the effectiveness of this activity?
First, as described, each student will produce
a journal of their daily diets for a week; an analysis
of the journal entries; and a report of the long-term
risks from their current diet. Based on this analysis
and report, each student will produce a plan to improve
their diets, to reduce or eliminate these risks.
From the field of education, five methods of assessment
are recommended, in order of effectiveness for this
activity. They are performance-based assessment; oral
and written expression; rubrics; self-assessment;
and journals.
Journals can be assessed on a continuum according
to how precise, comprehensive and complete the entries
are. Another continuum that can be used to assess
journals is the degree of thoughtfulness the student
used in writing the entries.
Methods for self-assessment include having students
summarize the activity; and reflecting on the meaning
of the entire activity, in all its phases, by writing
answers to the questions: What have I learned?; What
difference does it make?; and What can I do with this
information?
This activity meets National Science Education Standards
for life science, and science and technology; and
National Health Care (Core) Skill Standards for academic
foundation.
| Over-the-Counter
Medicines |
Goals: To pursue academic achievement
and knowledge of science
Objectives:
- To expose students to health career curriculum
with emphasis upon excellence in the field of science
when considering careers in health care.
- To develop an awareness of career opportunities
in the health professions and the health care industry
as a whole, while building (the public's) confidence
in the health care system.
What will the students do?
Students will be assigned to one of three
team assigned to investigate over-the-counter medicines
(OTC). The teams are cough and cold, digestion, and
pain relief.
Each team will go to a local pharmacy and count how
many and list the names of all of the OTCs are sold
in each of the three categories. The school will provide
the OTCs to be studied.
Each student will research the effects of the drugs,
which are active ingredients in their OTC. They will
be required to answer the following seven questions:
Why is this medication prescribed? How should this
medicine be used? What special precautions should
I follow? What should I do if I forget a dose; What
side effects can this medication cause? What storage
conditions are needed for this medicine?
After completing this individual report, the team
will reassemble. The students will combine their research
to indicate the similarities and differences between
the OTCs in their category.
This will be done using the following charts:
Name of Active Ingredient on the Y axis; name of
the OTC on the X axis. Student will mark down each
time an active ingredient is included in an OTC.
Each of the questions will become a summary chart.
Each fact listed under each question, will be noted
on the chart, along with its OTC. When these facts
are repeated, the name of each OTC will be listed.
These charts will enable the students to note the
similarities for each OTC in a particular category,
and which characteristics are unique to a certain
OTC.
The teams will present the findings of the summary
charts to the classmates on the other two teams.
What will the educators do?
Educators will assign the students to the
teams. Educators will recruit a local pharmacist to
speak.
The educator will supervise the research. The educator
will arrange for the class to take a field trip to
a local pharmacy to perform the research.
Educators will provide the information about the
OTCs. For each OTC, this information could be obtained
from a package or from the Web site of the drug company
that makes the OTC.
The educator will direct the students to finding
the answers to the assigned questions. The educator
will schedule and coordinate the team presentations
to the rest of the class.
What information is available to educators?
What are the activities of Business/Adopters?
- Academic Enrichment/Career Awareness: Serve as
resource speakers or tutors
- Cultural Enrichment: Sponsor visits by health
professionals
A pharmacist would present a two-part lecture.
The first part would explain the difference between
prescription and over-the-counter medicines. What
are they? Why do some medicines require a prescription
and others do not, even if they are often both designed
to treat similar symptoms.
Then the pharmacist will explain why the questions
the students are assigned to research are such important
pharmacology issues. in pharmacology. These questions
are: why is this medication prescribed? how should
this medicine be used? what special precautions should
I follow? What should I do if I forget a dose; what
side effects can this medication cause? What storage
conditions are needed for this medicine?
After the students conduct their individual research
and prepare their team presentations, the pharmacist
would be invited to attend the presentations and discuss
the findings of each team. He or she would be available
to answer any questions, which have arisen from the
research.
What methods should the educator use to assess
the effectiveness of this activity?
First, as described, each student will produce
research report. Second, each team will make a presentation,
which is based on a combined analysis of the individual
research.
From the field of education, three methods of assessment
are recommended, in order of effectiveness for this
activity. They are performance-based assessment; oral
and written expression; and collaborative learning.
This activity meets National Science Education Standards
for science in personal and social perspectives and
the nature of science; and National Health Care (Core)
Skill Standards for academic foundation, communication
and teamwork.
| Vitamins
and Minerals as Dietary Supplements |
Goals: To pursue knowledge of science
and increase self-discipline
Objectives:
- To expose students to health career curriculum
with emphasis upon excellence in the field of science
when considering careers in health care.
- To engage students in subject areas, to become
eligible for future job positions
- To develop an awareness of career opportunities
in the health professions and the health care industry
as a whole, while building (the public's) confidence
in the health care system
- To create individual responsibility by educating
students to the possibilities and entrance requirements
needed to become a health care professional, and
how decisions students make now will influence their
ability to enter into these fields later.
What will the students do?
Students will learn about vitamins and minerals
as dietary supplements. Students will research selected
vitamins and minerals. They will keep a journal of
what they eat and drink for one week. Based on what
they learn, they will note which foods provide which
of the 10 vitamins and minerals listed in the NIH
Fact Sheets About Dietary Supplements. Based on what
they learn, they may change their diets.
Students will be assigned to a vitamin or mineral
team. They will research their assigned vitamin or
mineral to answer the following questions: what is
the vitamin or mineral; what foods provide these;
what is the recommended dietary allowance for this
vitamin or mineral; when can a vitamin or mineral
deficiency occur; what a some current issues and controversies
about this vitamin or mineral; what is the health
risk of too much of this vitamin or mineral; and what
foods contain this vitamin or mineral. They will present
their research findings to the rest of their team,
and then be part of a team presentation to their class.
Students will be asked to bring in empty packages
of these foods. These foods, with their vitamins and
minerals, can be displayed visually (e.g., poster,
collage).
What will the educators do?
Ideally, this is the second part of a program, beginning
with Eat Right for Great Health. For example, that
program could be used in the Fall semester and this
program could be used in the Spring semester.
To prepare their students, educators need to teach
their students about vitamins and minerals. They will
teach that “vitamins get you started and minerals
keep you going”. Also, educators will need to
teach principles of good nutrition, which will be
provided through the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements
Web site.
If the students have not created a journal in Eat
Right for Great health, then the educators will also
teach their students how to create scientific journals.
Students will need a journal. This can be a simple,
inexpensive notebook.
The activity will consist of students writing in
their journals what they eat and drink everyday for
1 week.
When the journals are completed, there are three
follow-up activities. First, the journals will be
considered data collection. The educator will assist
the students in analyzing the data and to determine
what vitamins and minerals are contained in the foods
they have eaten.
If the students have prepared a journal for Eat Right
for Great Health, then each of them can use this same
journal to analyze their individual vitamin and mineral
intake. They will prepare a report of their findings.
The educator will have to assign students to the vitamin
or mineral teams, assigning equal numbers of students
to each of the 10 vitamins and minerals under study.
The five vitamins are vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin
B12, vitamin D, folate, and vitamin E. The four minerals
are iron, magnesium, selenium, and zinc.
The educator will supervise the research. The educator
will direct the students to finding the answers to
the assigned questions. The educator will schedule
and coordinate the team presentations to the rest
of the class. Hopefully, students will conclude that
they should take a daily multivitamin and mineral
supplement.
What information is available to educators?
What are the activities of Business/Adopters?
- Academic Enrichment/Career Awareness: Serve as
resource speakers or tutors
- Cultural Enrichment: Sponsor visits by health
professionals
A health professional, such as a nutritionist, dietitian
or nurse, could be a guest speaker. They would give
a two-part lecture about vitamins and minerals. First,
they would provide general information about the need
for dietary supplements. Using the label of a multivitamin,
they would talk about the different vitamins and minerals,
and introduce related concepts. These concepts are:
what is a vitamin and mineral; foods as vitamin and
mineral sources; dietary supplements as vitamin and
mineral sources; recommended dietary allowance (RDA);
deficiency; and health risk of too much of a vitamin
and mineral.
In the second part, the guest speaker should apply
these concepts to important vitamins and minerals
that are not discussed by the two teams. Three good
examples are vitamin C, calcium, and potassium.
This presentation would be linked to the program
on Eat Right for Great Health, which is about good
nutrition.
If the business/adopter is from a junior college,
community college, technical school, college or university,
then the speaker could be a student or teacher from
departments of health science, nutrition, or family
and consumer science.
They could use the materials provided to the educator,
as well as their own resources.
What methods should the educator use to assess
the effectiveness of this activity?
First, as described, each student will produce
a journal of their daily diets for a week; an analysis
of the journal entries with respect to their vitamin
and mineral intake; and a report of the amount of
vitamins and minerals from their current diet. Based
on this analysis and report, each student will determine
whether they should take a dietary supplement, to
obtain sufficient vitamins and minerals. This supplement
could improve their diets, to reduce or eliminate
long-term health risks.
From the field of education, five methods of assessment
are recommended, in order of effectiveness for this
activity. They are performance-based assessment, oral
and written expression, collaborative learning, self-assessment,
and journals.
Journals can be assessed on a continuum according
the precision, comprehensiveness, and completeness
of the entries. Another continuum that can be used
to assess journals is the degree of thoughtfulness
the student used in writing the entries.
Methods for self-assessment include having students
summarize the activity; and reflecting on the meaning
of the entire activity, in all its phases, by writing
answers to the questions: What have I learned?; What
difference does it make?; and What can I do with this
information?
This activity meets National Science Education Standards
for life science, and science and technology; and
National Health Care (Core) Skill Standards for academic
foundation.
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