Carrying Out the Activity

The general lesson that we hope students gain from this activity is that all forms of medicine should be used with care, following safety precautions and warnings on labels. The references listed on the student page focus on the responsible use of medicines regardless of their category—natural remedies, herbals, alternative therapies, or prescription drugs.

Actual class time for this activity can be limited to 2-3 class periods or expanded to suit your needs. Assigning teams and getting the groups started should take approximately one-half period. This should be done well in advance of the mini-discussion day. The intervening time will be needed for team research. At least a full class period should be devoted to the mini-discussion and another class period for discussion of consensus position at the end.

On the student page several Web sites are given for both sides of the question. The sites are only suggested beginnings for research. You might want to visit each web site in advance. Guide students to research locations—school library, community library, electronic library, etc.). Below are the sites listed on the student page.

RxList generic drug monographs

RxList - Alternatives

Dietary Supplements - from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Over-the-Counter Medicines: What's Right for You? - from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine - from New York Online Access to Health (NOAH)

Benefit vs. Risk: How FDA Approves New Drugs - from MDAdvice.com.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Generic Drugs

MedWatch: FDA's "Heads Up" on Medical Product Safety

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Medicines by Design: The Biological Revolution in Pharmacology - from the National Institutes of Health, hosted by Healthier You.

You might suggest or require that students keep a list of sources. If you collect these from each student you may get a perspective on his or her research, and if you keep the sources from year to year, you can supply students in succeeding years with increasingly useful resources.

How you assign students to groups is up to you.

Assessment Rubric Sheet

Evaluation of student work for this activity may be primarily subjective. You can, however, use a rubric such as the one shown on this scorecard, which emphasizes the Rules of Behavior. You might use this to rate each student from 1-5, for example, for each demonstrated behavior. Other such rubrics may be devised to meet your needs.

Alternative Activities

As alternatives or complements to this activity, you may choose to do one or more of the following activities from other Web sites:

Herbal Medicines - This activity created by Cheryl H. Powers explores the efficacy of many popular herbal remedies, from Access Excellence at the National Health Museum.

Herbs: Healthy Alternatives or Bad Medicine? - from the New York Times LearningNetwork.

Should Bill Buy "Sammy"? - a case study concerning a natural supplement s-adenosyl methionine, created by Jessie W. Klein, Science Department, Middlesex Community College, Bedford, MA, and hosted by the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Additional Teacher Information

The WebQuest Page - learn more about WebQuests at this site from San Diego State University.

Relevant National Science Education Standards

Unifying Concepts and Processes — The activity requires, to look at how various medications interact with the system of the human body.

Science and Technology — The activity examines an issue involving the use of different kinds of drug technology, namely natural and synthetic drug technologies.

Science in Personal and Social Perspectives — Personal and community health are the central themes of the activity, as are the concepts of natural and human-induced hazards.

History and Nature of Science — The activity requires that students use scientific knowledge in challenging popular assumptions, and thus requires a knowledge of the nature of scientific knowledge as the result of real-world experience.

Relevant New Jersey State Science Curriculum Standards

5.1	Critical thinking, decision-making, and drawing conclusions are central to this activity.

The structured mini-discussion format was adapted from that originally developed by Dr. Deborah Exton, University of Oregon.