From bees to bandages – unit plan
Students investigate the antibacterial properties of Mānuka honey and use their results to produce a dressing that can be used on a wound to kill any bacteria infecting it.
Woundcare Mānuka honey
A tube of Woundcare Mānuka honey.
Purpose
To investigate how honey can heal wounds. To understand that Mānuka honey contains a special factor, which makes it especially good at healing wounds.
To consider the problems that need to be overcome when making honey into a wound dressing for healing a range of wounds, including burns, ulcers, and surgical wounds.
To make a wound dressing from honey will be the main focus in this unit, as this aspect can be assessed in the classroom more easily than testing the effectiveness of the healing quality of the dressing.
Keywords
Microorganisms, bacteria, wound healing, immune system, wound dressing.
