Mississippi Science BOT.4.3

ScienceGrades 9–12Botany

The Standard

BOT.4: Students will explore the global value of plants and the interaction between humans and plants.

Investigate historical and modern medicinal uses of plants.

2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Society’s Reliance on Plants

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students investigate how people used plants as remedies and how those uses connect to medicine today. They use sources to check reported benefits, tested effects, and safety risks.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can describe willow bark’s historical use for pain and explain that aspirin is a manufactured medicine related to compounds in willow bark. They can point to evidence for a modern use and explain why dose and side effects matter.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume a remedy is safe or effective because people have used it for centuries. They may think aspirin is simply crushed willow bark, or that a promising lab test proves a treatment works in people.
How to Assess It: Give students short source cards on willow bark’s historical use and modern aspirin. Ask them to name one connection between the two and one safety question the cards do not answer.

Lesson moves

Have pairs pin printed willow bark remedy and aspirin cards to a timeline, then mark which card describes a manufactured drug.
Ask students to write: Does centuries of willow bark use prove it is safe for everyone? What evidence would help?
Play claim-check with three willow bark and aspirin statements; students use source cards to vote supported, uncertain, or false.
Show an empty aloe gel tube; students compare its burn-relief claim with a health agency fact sheet and note any differences.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to BOT.4.3, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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