Objectives
- Demonstrate that medicinal
plants are quite common, particularly as ornamental plants and that some
of these these have in the past been developed into pharmaceuticals that
are now dispensed as purified drugs by pharmacists.
- Connect information on the
Internet with oral family traditions about plants "in the yard."
- Explore cross-family,
cross-cultural, and trans-global medicinal uses of common plants
illustrating that there are measurable patterns of medicinal plant use
that imply effectiveness of some sort.
Learning Structure
Learning Outcomes
(1 = Most Desired Outcome, 3 = A Desirable Outcome, 5 = Least Desired
Outcome)
-
Students seek more
information about studies in pharmacy, register to take a course in
pre-pharmacy, and become a degree seeking major in pre-pharmacy or pharmacy
school.
-
Students seek more
information about studies in pharmacy and register to take a course in
pre-pharmacy or pharmacology as part of an effort to broaden their
education.
-
Students develop a
sufficient (but minimal) understanding of pharmacy to be able to make
decisions about their own career (and inclusion or not of this science).
These students are probably better citizens/voters.
-
Students do not learn
anything about pharmacy.
-
Students develop a
negative perspective about pharmacy because of the information received
through this project.
Ethnobotany Segue Experience
This segue needs to happen in two parts during two
different meetings (weeks).
- During the first week the instructor will meet with
students and quickly (5 minutes or less) review the instructions for the
assignment. This should include a clear description for the data to be
gathered (see below) and a discussion of what the students will do with the
data in the following week. This will enable students to understand the
process and make the collection process more meaningful.
Data to gather for second week's class discussion:
Each student should find one of the following kinds
of locations where plants are grown AND find at least one person who knows
at least some of the plants grown there: 1) home yard, 2) home garden, 3)
apartment lanai with potted plants, 4) city or county park. (the park is the
least desirable)
A. Write down the address and a one sentence
description of the location where the plants are grown.
B. Ask the person who knows these plants to provide names of as many of
the plants as they know. Write these names down. Ask if any of the plants are possibly used
medicinally, and if so, what part is used and what it is used for. Write
this information down as well. Thank the person for their help with this class
project.
C. Spend 30 minutes on the Internet to quickly look up
possible medicinal uses for each plant listed. Write down any medicinal
uses found in this way.
- In class the students should each write the names
of the plants that they learned about on a chalk board and compare what they have
learned. Ten minutes will be spent discussing the following questions: Are there any patterns that emerge about plant
names, medicinal uses, cultures, etc.?
What might this information teach us about the development of modern
pharmaceutical medicines from traditional medicines?
Other Science
-
Pharmacy is the
health profession that links the
health sciences with the
chemical sciences, and it is charged with ensuring the safe use of
medication. The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional
roles such as compounding and dispensing medications on the orders of
physicians, and it also includes more modern services related to
patient care, including clinical services, reviewing medications for
safety and efficacy, and providing drug information.
Pharmacists, therefore, are experts on drug therapy and are the
primary health professionals who optimize medication use to provide
patients with positive health outcomes.
- Pharmacology
- New Drug Development
- Clinical Pharmacy
- Nuclear Pharmacy
Other Science Practitioners
- Will McClatchey,
mcclatch@hawaii.edu, is happy to
talk about his ten years of experience working as a community and hospital
pharmacist.
- Students interested in studying pharmacy may want to
contact Dr. Ghee Tan,
gheetan@hawaii.edu at the College of Pharmacy at University of Hawaii,
Hilo.
Other Science Courses
- In order to really understand
pharmacy it is important to learn about chemistry so a good place to start
is an introductory chemistry course like Chemistry 151: Elementary Survey of
Chemistry.
- A more rigorous version that is
really intended for students who plan to major in a biological science
such as pre-pharmacy is Chemistry 161: General Chemistry I.
- After taking more chemistry and
BOT 440 (Advanced Ethnobotany), the Botany Department also offers two
advanced courses in this area: BOT 442: Medical Ethnobotany and
BOT 443: Psychoactive Drug Plants.
Resources
|
