Activities: Science & Math

Activities - Science and Math Extension    "Justice for my People: The Dr. Hector P. Garcia Story"

1. VIDEO Locate the segments early in tape in which photographs of the 1948 Mathis labor camp are shown.

   Have students list the poor health conditions, focusing especially on the diseases. Have students research those specific diseases, assigning the task in a manner you feel most appropriate for your students. Have them answer the following questions: Origins (history and geography) of the disease, effects of the disease on specific populations, current status, future trends, possible eradication. Students can design any number of products to demonstrate their mastery of the information, including written reports, posters, pictures and drawings, project boards and PowerPoint presentations.

2. For health students, this is an excellent research project using magazine sources. Have students find the correlation between diet and health; protein consumption related to poverty; life expectancy and poverty levels. Construct charts, graph trends, probability tables, etc.

   Have students construct a simple calorimeter (refer to introductory level physics text) and conduct experiments on different types of foods, including traditional "Hispanic" foods, then graph those results. What conclusions can be drawn from this activity?

3. VIDEO Locate the segment about the 1988 colonias, near the very end of the tape.

   Have students research the status of colonias. Do they still exist? What corrective actions have be undertaken? Are these problems unique to the colonias or are they found in other populations? How do colonias affect their environment? Graph the average income of a typical colonias family compared to populations in your geographical area. What correlation can be drawn?