Alice Ball: A Pioneer in Medicine
Critical Thinking & Analytical Questions
Grades 3-5
- What do scientists do, and why is their work important?
- Why do you think Alice Ball wanted to help sick people?
- What is medicine, and how does it help people feel better?
- What do you think was the most difficult part of Alice Ball’s work?
- How do you think Alice felt when she discovered a new way to treat leprosy?
- Why do you think it’s important to learn about scientists like Alice Ball?
- How do scientists use experiments to make discoveries?
- Have you ever had to solve a problem? How did you do it?
- What would happen if scientists stopped looking for new medicines?
- If you could be a scientist, what kind of problem would you want to solve?
Grades 6-8
- What was Alice Ball’s major scientific contribution, and why was it important?
- How did Alice Ball’s treatment change the way leprosy was treated?
- Why do you think Alice Ball didn’t get credit for her discovery at first?
- What challenges did Black women face in science during Alice Ball’s time?
- How did her discovery impact people suffering from leprosy?
- Research another Black scientist and compare their contributions to Alice Ball’s.
- How do medical advancements like Ball’s change the course of history?
- Why do you think women and people of color have often been left out of history books?
- How can we make sure scientists of all backgrounds get the recognition they deserve?
- If Alice Ball were alive today, what advice do you think she would give young scientists?
Grades 9-12
- How did Alice Ball’s method improve previous treatments for leprosy?
- Why do you think Arthur Dean took credit for Ball’s discovery, and how does this reflect historical patterns in science?
- What impact did Alice Ball’s work have on the medical field, both in her time and today?
- How did racial and gender biases affect the way Alice Ball was treated as a scientist?
- What role did colonialism play in the spread of leprosy and the need for medical solutions?
- How do you think Ball’s discovery would have been received differently if she were a white male scientist?
- Compare Alice Ball’s experience to other Black women in STEM—what patterns do you see?
- Why is it important to have diverse voices in scientific research?
- Research a medical breakthrough from the last 20 years and compare its impact to Ball’s discovery.
- How do scientific discoveries continue to shape our world, and what ethical issues arise in medical research?
Projects
- Science Experiment – Conduct a simple experiment demonstrating how medicine dissolves and spreads, like Ball’s injectable treatment.
- Historical News Report – Write or record a news segment about Alice Ball’s discovery, imagining it was just announced.
- Biography Poster – Create a visual timeline of Alice Ball’s life and achievements.
- Medical Innovation Journal – Research and write about another Black medical pioneer who changed the world.
- Lab Notebook – Pretend you’re Alice Ball and write journal entries describing your experiments and discoveries.
- Scientific Method Challenge – Choose a modern disease and brainstorm how you would approach finding a cure.
- Recognition Campaign – Design a social media campaign to educate others about Alice Ball’s legacy.
- Comparison Essay – Compare Alice Ball’s achievements to another scientist whose work changed medicine.
- STEM Careers Exploration – Research different STEM careers and create a presentation on how Alice Ball’s work influences medicine today.
- Art & Science Fusion – Create an artistic representation of Ball’s discovery, using visuals to explain how her treatment worked.
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