Assignment:
Familiarisation with a medicine package
Objectives
During the assignment, you will learn:
- to perceive what information a medicine package contains.
- to understand that the medicine package is an important source of information to support the correct use of the medicine.
Progress of the assignment
1. Familiarise yourself with a Sneezix sample medicine package with the help of the interactive ThingLink image or the printable picture of the sample medicine package.
The picture shows the labelling on a medicine package and explanations for what the markings mean. In the ThingLink image, you will find more detailed information on the labelling by hovering the mouse over the “tag”. You can open the ThingLink image in a new tab here.
2. Talk about these together: What labelling do you find on the medicine package? Why is the information important?
3. Find out the following on the medicine package:
- What is the name of the medicine, and what is its active substance?
- What is the strength of the medicine, and what is its dosage form?
- When will the medicine expire? When can you no longer use it?
- For what kinds of purposes can you use the medicine?
- How much of the medicine can an adult take?
- Children of what age can use the medicine, and how much of it can they take?
- What do you have to read before starting to take the medicine?
- How is the medicine stored?
4. Draw a picture of a medicine package and mark on it the information that you should find on a medicine package or colour in the picture of the sample medicine package printed out by your teacher. Colour each marking with a different colour. In the end, you can cut out the picture of the medicine package and glue it to your notebook or on cardboard that you fold into a medicine package.
For the teacher
It is a good idea to reserve one lesson for this assignment. The assignment can be implemented in a group or alone. The aim is to discuss the principles of the correct use of medicines through familiarisation with a medicine package and the information on it. The assignment supports objectives O8 and O14 and content area C2 of environmental studies for students in grades 3–6 in the Finnish national core curriculum.
This assignment is suitable to be taught together with the assignment Familiarisation with a package leaflet.