My Mini-Lesson Reflection
Pre-Lesson:
Over the past couple of months, I have debated what I wanted to do for my mini-lesson. I wanted something that would take up 20 minutes of class time, relate to my teachable subject, and, most importantly, be fun. While I think that chemistry and science, in general, lend themselves well to activities, and fun ones at that, I encountered two issues: a lack of lab space to bring chemicals in and a class with a limited chemistry background. It was the act of thinking back to the IB trip to the Britania Shipyard in Steveston that I got an idea. I remembered talking about how I could teach chemistry to students if we went there and I mentioned that the garden outside contained many different plants which had medicinal properties. The extraction of the different active compounds (organic ones at that) could be used to teach students about distillation, organic chemistry, and others if you are creative enough. Eureka! I finally had a part of a plan going. I took this idea and immediately began to workshop it a bit. Instead, if I used native BC plants and connected them to local First Nation communities and their traditional medicinal uses I could introduce organic chemistry in an approachable and grounded way.
Unfortunately, being in the middle of winter severely cuts down the plants that are available to use, especially 5 different ones (I wanted five different stations for the activity). However, the internet is a wonderful thing and along with my knowledge of native plants, I was able to figure out a couple that not only were used by the local First Nation communities but were in season. I landed on smooth sumac, willow, rose hip, cedar, and salal. I also wanted to make this experience as hands-on as possible so that hopefully people will not only learn a bit about organic chemistry but also plant identification and their traditional uses.
It took some time to collect all the necessary resources for my mini-lesson and research the different active compounds within each plant, but by the time my mini-lesson was due, I felt prepared.
Post-Lesson:
Overall, I was happy with how the mini-lesson went. There were fewer people than I was expecting as some were sick but overall it didn't matter as much. I was super proud of how everything looked and my development of such a hands-on and self-directed activity. I wanted it to feel like going to Science World or the Richmond nature park, both places I frequented as a child and all taught through self-directed learning. I was super excited that everyone was actively trying the tea, jam, and sumac as well as touching and interacting with the samples of plants. My only regret was finding out that the section on the salal information sheet was incorrect. For using a similar activity in future, I would love to do it in the spring as so many more plants and berries are available. Also for a longer class, I could extend this activity by gamifying it or even make it into a project or nature walk.