Painting With Natural Dyes

• Level: Elementary - Middle School
• Topic: Biochemistry

Description: This activity is part of an integrated elementary unit called "Painted Tipis." The unit is best taught in the fall in conjunction with the September celebration "American Indian Heritage Week." It integrates lessons on literature through legends and myths, language (Blackfeet), and mathematics through (structural components of the tipi). The activity introduces the students to the art of dyeing as used in ancestral tipi paintings. Historical cultural ties are an integral part of the Native American students learning and this unit provides those connections.

The purpose of this lesson is to provide elementary students with the opportunity to explore, identify and locate area plants. The inquiry cooperative learning component of this lesson will be to determine the color (dye) producing possibilities of the plant. Students will also plan and carry out an experiment to produce the dyestuff of the plant as well as create possible mordants, which is a chemical or metallic compound that will 'fasten' the color to the fabric.

Author: Barbara Arrowtop Research Host: Michael Andresen Ph.D. Heart Butte School Heart Butte, MT 1999 Explorations in Biomedicine Summer Research Teacher Oregon Health Sciences University Portland, OR 1999 Explorations in Biomedicine

Criteria useful for reviewing student-centered learning activities include:	In this activity..
An inquiry level of 4 or 5	4
An integrated Internet component	N/A
Assessments for content knowledge	Yes
Assessments for process skills	Yes
Addressed the "ABC" rules for humans and/or animal use	N/A
Use of multiple learning styles and opportunities for all students	Yes
Proper safety precautions and warnings	Yes

Teaching Resources

K-12 Education

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The Frontiers in Physiology programs are developed and sponsored by the American Physiological Society with additional funding from the National Center for Research Resources (Science Education Partnership Award #RR15251) at the National Institutes of Health.