EDCI 270: Marie Cinatl

Sickness and Medicine in Pioneer Indiana

Adapted from Indiana Universitys I Feel Sick! Call the Doctor, Quick! Sickness
and Medicine in Pioneer Indiana. A Two Part Lesson Plan.1

Overview
of the
Lesson
Learners

Learning
Goals
Lesson
Content

This lesson gives fourth grade students an overview of some of

the common illnesses and medical treatments during the
pioneer era in Indiana.
Intended learners are fourth graders in Indiana public schools.
They have completed three or four years of public schooling
already, and are in classrooms with about 20 students each.
The students are from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
All students have been issued iPads to take with them to and
from school, and these iPads have hotspot capabilities.
Students will use critical thinking and listening skills to
evaluate information and learn about how pioneers in Indiana
tried to cure illness. Students will learn about common diseases
for pioneers and will learn to think for themselves to conclude
the effectiveness of a treatment.
Vocab Words: hygiene, malnourishment, susceptible, bacteria,
parasite, virus, bleeding, purging, poultice
DISEASE TRANSMITTED BY
CAUSE
SYMPTOMS
Cholera
Dirty Water, Bacteria
Diarrhea and severe fluid loss
Malaria
Mosquito bites, Parasite
High fever, chills, and extreme
fatigue
Smallpox
Air or physical contact, Virus High fever and
disfiguring skin rash
Typhoid
Contaminated milk, Bacteria
High fever, chills,
severe muscle
water, or food
and stomach pain

Learning
Objective

1. Given guided discussion on diseases and remedies and

previous discussion on finding reliable sources, be able
to locate two pioneer home remedies and evaluate
information posted to an idea sharing forum.

This lesson covers the following Indiana standards:

4.1.13 Distinguish fact from opinion and fact from fiction in historical

Standards

Required
Materials

documents and other information resources.

4.2.8 Use a variety of information resources to research and write brief
comments about a position or course of action on a public issue
relating to Indianas past or present.
4.5.5 Give examples of the impacts of science and technology on the
migration and settlement pattern of various groups.

Teachers will need a Padlet account and an eboard/whiteboard.

Students will need iPads with hotspot capability (or if
unavailable, access to internet capable computers at home),
paper, pencil, and Padlet accounts.
This lesson lasts one day and takes about 45 minutes to
complete.
Orientation: Ask students if they have ever been sick, and
whether their mom, dad, or grandparent helped them get better.
What medicines were used? Did they do to the doctor?

Procedures

Read the following out loud to the class, pausing to define

vocabulary words and answer questions:
1. Illness was a problem for many pioneer families. Poor
hygiene, dirty water, and harsh living conditions
contributed to a short life for many people. Pioneers
were often malnourished as well, which made them
more susceptible to disease.
a. Ask the class to think about what they have learned
about life on the frontier, especially in log cabins.
Why would poor hygiene be so common? What
might cause malnutrition among the pioneers?
b. Put the table of common diseases on the e-board or
on a screen. Go over the causes and symptoms of
each disease.
2. Seeing a doctor when you were sick was difficult during
pioneer times. In most areas of Indiana, like other parts
of the frontier, there were very few doctors available and
many of those who were available had very little
education or training, when compared to today's doctors.

Procedures
Continued

For example, Dr. Richard Carter, who wrote a book

about cures for common diseases in 1825, studied for a
few months with two Native American herbalists and
then read through his father's small collection of medical
books (probably no more than half a dozen). Within less
than one year, he considered himself qualified to be a
doctor and began practicing. Many pioneer women were
both nurse and doctor to their families. And when
widespread sickness came to a town or rural area,
neighbors who were well would often help out families
whose members were ill.
a. Question: Why would help from neighbors be so
important?
b. Pioneers knew nothing of bacteria or viruses and,
compared to today, had a very primitive
understanding of the workings of the human body.
They could observe facts, but their conclusions were
often incorrect. Pioneers noticed, for example, that
malaria was most common in low-lying areas near
sources of water (particularly stagnant water), but
they believed that mists (sometimes called a
"miasma") that rose up from the water somehow
caused the disease. They did not know that the
mosquitoes which bred in the water actually carried
the disease.
3. Most doctors and patients relied on homemade
remedies. Two favorite remedies for many illnesses
were bleeding and purging. Sometimes these "cures"
made the ill person so weak, they died. Most people
also used herbs and other plants to make poultices, teas,
and syrups. Here are some examples:
a. Question: As you read each of the remedies below,
ask the class: Do you think this would cure or even
help that particular disease?
b. Create a yes and a no side of the classroom. After
each example is read, the teacher will shout, Go!
and students will have 5 Mississippis to quickly
walk to the side of the room they agree with: yes or
no.
c. Ask for volunteers from each side to give their

Assessment

References

reasons for which side of the room they decided to

stand on.
d. (See additional resources for home remedy
examples.)
Homework: Have students go to the Pioneer Medicine Padlet
and each add two additional pioneer home remedies they find
on the internet on the Remedies wall. Students should post
their name, description of the two diseases and remedies, and
link to where they found the remedies. Each student should
also comment on their class buddys (assigned partner from the
class) remedies and determine whether or not the remedy
would work, giving a reason why. Remind students that they
will lose points if they are rude to their buddy.
1. Students will post on the Remedies Padlet wall about
two historical remedies for two diseases. Students will
receive 3 points for each disease/remedy/link and 4
points for commenting respectfully on their class
buddys remedies for a total of 10 points.
2. Students will receive 5 points for in class participation. 1
point for asking or answering a question during the
lesson, and 4 points for participating in each scenario of
the remedy game.
Content from Oliver Robinson, "Medicine, Pioneer Style,
1825," IMH 35 (March 1939); Leonora Miller, "Doctors,
Drugs, and Disease in Pioneer Princeton," IMH 52 (June
1956); Hugh Ayer, "Nineteenth Century Medicine," IMH 48
(September 1952); and Walter J. Daly, "'The Slows': The
Torment of Milk Sickness on the Midwest Frontier," IMH 102
(March 2004)