9th Grade  Project 2 weeks

First Aid Kit Face-Off

Catherine H
Updated
ESS.3.B
ESS.2.A
9-12.AF.3.3
HS-ETS1-3
ETS.1.B
+ 5 more
1-pager

Purpose

Students investigate what a modern first aid kit should include for homes and schools, considering local natural hazards, emergency needs, storage, restocking, cost, safety, and environmental impacts. After a community-led hands-only CPR and stroke-awareness workshop, teams research supplies and design layered kit diagrams that show each item’s purpose and placement. Students use a mid-project gallery walk to critique and revise their plans, then document how research and peer feedback changed their thinking. At the Ready for Anything Fair, teams present their redesigned kits, answer questions, and reflect on their research and collaboration.

Learning goals

Students will answer, “What should a modern first aid kit include for a home and a school, and why?” by researching supply purposes, storage, restocking, and needs related to natural hazards and local Earth systems. After a community-led hands-only CPR and stroke-awareness workshop, students will explain basic response steps, recognize stroke warning signs, and identify when to seek adult or emergency help. Teams will safely design, test, and revise layered kit diagrams, sorting supplies for home, school, or both while evaluating cost, safety, reliability, accessibility, and environmental and social impacts. Students will use gallery-walk feedback to improve their designs, then communicate their reasoning at the Ready for Anything Fair through supply demonstrations, live Q&A, before-and-after comparison boards, and reflections on research and teamwork.

Standards
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] ESS.3.B - Natural Hazards
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] ESS.2.A - Earth Materials and Systems
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] 9-12.AF.3.3 - Plan and conduct an investigation or test a design solution in a safe and ethical manner including considerations of environmental, social, and personal impacts.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] HS-ETS1-3 - Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] ETS.1.B - Developing Possible Solutions
Competencies
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.

Products

Teams will create a research-based needs matrix comparing home and school supplies, storage, restocking, costs, and local natural-hazard risks. Draft kit plans will be revised through a gallery walk using peer feedback. Each team will build a labeled, layered diagram with removable sections and item slots, plus a before-and-after comparison board showing how research and critique changed their choices. At the Ready for Anything Fair, teams will host a hands-on station, explain each item’s purpose, answer questions, and share brief reflections on their research and teamwork.

Launch

Launch with a community partner leading a hands-on workshop on hands-only CPR using training manikins and recognizing stroke warning signs, including when to alert an adult or call emergency services. Teams then respond to a natural-hazard scenario by examining sample home and school first aid kits, identifying missing or misplaced supplies without opening or using them. Students create an initial kit sketch and discuss: “What should a modern first aid kit include for a home and a school, and why?” Close with teams recording questions about safety, storage, restocking, cost, and environmental or community needs to guide their research.

Exhibition

Host a “Ready for Anything Fair” where small teams display their layered home and school first aid kit diagrams and before-and-after comparison boards. At hands-on stations, students explain each supply’s purpose, storage and restocking needs, and whether it belongs in a home kit, school kit, or both. Guests from the school community and CPR/stroke workshop partners ask questions and provide feedback, while students clarify when to seek adult or emergency help. Each team closes with a brief reflection on how research, peer critique, and teamwork shaped its final design.