Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.3B Grade 8 CPI 6

 

Standard: 2.3 - Drugs & Medicine

 

Strand: B - Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator:  6 -  The student will compare and contrast the physical and behavioral effects of each classification of drug.

 

Grade: 8

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        SPEED UP, SLOW DOWN - This exercise focuses on two kinds of substances: stimulants and depressants. Define the terms and ask for examples of each. Play a video and/or a sound recording at a faster speed than normal. Indicate that this represents the body under the influence of stimulants. Then play the same recording at a very slow speed. Explain that this represents the body under the influence of depressants. Students describe reactions to the varying speeds. Using physiological terms, explain what happens to the human body when these stimulants or depressants are used. Ask the group to predict what might happen to the human body if constantly placed under such conditions. Each student predicts his/her own body’s reaction to fast and slow physical activity (e.g., running and walking, dancing to slow and fast music) and writes a brief summary of the effects of stimulants and depressants on daily activities.

 

·        OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES - The use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs can be a major obstacle that interferes with many opportunities. This activity encourages students to think about the future and imagine the positive and negative things that might happen. Draw a time line on the chalkboard. Give each student several index cards with various life events written on them—some positive and some negative (e.g., illness, loss of job, death in family, inheritance, vacation, childbirth). Each student places a card along the time line (at a spot they think is “typical” or common) and discusses the impact of the event in the person’s life. After all the cards have been placed, discuss the placement of the life events. Then ask students to think about where they want to be and what they want to be 20 years from now and how that might change if they begin using alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Students write three things that they can do now and during high school to reach personal goals, overcome obstacles, and grab opportunities.

Variation: Design a board game similar to “Life”, where students must meet various obstacles while performing life tasks. Use the game as a springboard for discussion on real-life obstacles and opportunities.

 

·        REASONS NOT TO USE - Share statistics on the number of teenagers who do not use drugs. Talk about how the media often focuses on teenagers who use drugs, rather than the majority of teens who do not. Divide the class into small groups to discuss the risks and consequences of substance use, looking at short-term and immediate risks and consequences. Each group develops a list of reasons not to use drugs and then must reach consensus on the top three reasons. A spokesperson for each group summarizes the discussion and presents the top three reasons to the class. (Have a scribe record the top three reasons from each group on a large sheet of newsprint.) The entire class ranks the reasons and comes to consensus on the top three. In a brief journal entry, students predict if these reasons will change as they get older.