Traditional Nutrients: Vitamin C Titration
Date: March 2015
Designed By: A. Muyard & C. Vellacott
Subject: Science
Grade Level: 5
Time Duration: 1.5-2 hours
Overview/Purpose: (What will be learned, why connections to other topics)
Students will learn how food preservation of traditional foods in FNMI diets helps to provide
nutrients for people during winter in the prairies. A lesson about preservation (freezing, drying,
canning, etc.) should precede this lesson.
Outcomes and Indicators:
BALs and CCCs:
HB5.1 - Analyze personal and societal
 Sense of Self, Community, and Place
requirements for, and the impact of,
 Lifelong Learners
maintaining a healthy human body.
 Engaged Citizens
 Examine methods and perspectives
 Developing Thinking
of various cultures, including First
 Developing Identity and
Nations and Métis, which have
Interdependence
contributed to knowledge about
 Developing Literacies
maintaining a healthy body (e.g.,
 Developing Social Responsibilities
balance inherent in the Medicine
Wheel).
 Identify local knowledge, including
the effects of traditional lifestyles,
that contributes to human
understanding of maintaining a
healthy body.
 Compare personal diets and those
of people who live in different
communities and countries
worldwide to Canada’s Food Guide
and Canada’s Food Guide – First
Nations, Métis, and Inuit.
Other Resources:
Materials:
 Aboriginal Plant Use in Canada’s
 Fresh, frozen, dried, canned berries
Northwest Boreal Forest – Robin J.
 Pine needle tea
Marles, Christina Clavelle, Leslie
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-PineMonteleone, Natalie Tays, Donna
Needle-Tea
Burns
 Stir sticks
 A Feast For All Seasons: Traditional
 Tincture of iodine (diluted)
Native Peoples’ Cuisine – Andrew
 1% starch solution
George Jr. and Robert Gairns
 Cups (beakers)
 Health Canada food guide (including
 Forks
FNMI food guide)
 Eye droppers
 Keepers of Life: Discovering Plants
 Test tubes
Through Native Stories and Earth
 Titration Video
Activities for Children – Michael J.
https://youtu.be/fbhwrA2bk6c
Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
Activities and Procedures:
 Introduction
 Revisit the concept of preservation and its use.
 Discuss the amount of nutrients in various types of berries, fresh and preserved.
 Instructional Methods
 See video for ideas on how to structure your classroom because of varied
environments in classroom (https://youtu.be/fbhwrA2bk6c)
 Small groups would work best – each group having a different solution to titrate
 Closure
 Discuss the various amounts of vitamin C between the different solutions.
**Can be implemented into other subjects such as ELA, Health, and Social Studies**
Other Information:
 Prepare ahead of time the diluted iodine and starch solution
o 40-60 drops of iodine per 50 ml of water
o 1 teaspoon of starch for 300 ml of water
 You may want to have berry juice and pine needle tea prepared before the experiment to
decrease the process time.