Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.3C Grade 12 CPI 3

 

Standard: 2.3 - Drugs & Medicine

 

Strand: C - Dependency/Addiction and Treatment

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator:  3 -  The student will assess and evaluate factors that influence the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

 

Grade: 12

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        MEDIA BLITZ - Ask: “What impact does advertising have on the products we use?” After a brief discussion, students create a media campaign for a new medicine or wonder drug. Divide the class into small groups, select a team leader for each group, and assign tasks. Students create billboards, bumper stickers, print ads, or a video. Compare the campaign with real products, and discuss the approaches used and the messages presented.

Variation: Students select advertisements from a variety of media, investigate the costs of such an ad campaign, and analyze the ads considering the following questions:
-        What are the verbal and nonverbal messages?
-        What is the larger societal message?
-        Why do people respond the way the sponsor wants them to?
-        How can people learn to ignore such media messages?
-        What are the effects of celebrity endorsements?

Variation: In small groups, students review at least 10 ads for over-the-counter medications (e.g., aspirin, cough syrup). Students compare and contrast the ads for audience targeted, type of appeal, and effectiveness of message. Each group selects one ad as being most effective, prepares a justification
for the ad’s selection, and in turn, shares their ad with the class. The class votes on the most effective ad.

Variation: Supply the class with magazines and newspapers from other countries. (You can purchase these at almost any large bookstore.) In small groups, students examine medication, alcohol, and tobacco ads in the foreign media. (Video ads are particularly amusing — watch local TV programming for advertising awards shows and funniest video productions that feature foreign ads.) Students guess what products are being sold. Ask: “Are the messages in these ads the same as advertising messages featured in the United States? What kinds of appeals are used in the ads? Would U.S. consumers buy the products based on the ad?” Compare the ads to similar U.S. advertisements. Invite individuals from other countries to interpret the ads and discuss product merchandising in their countries.

 

·        MEDIA, USA -  In a one-minute brainstorm, students name as many specific health products as they can and record the names or kinds of products on a sheet of paper. Students review their list and note where they first heard about each product (e.g., TV, radio, magazine, newspaper, parent, friend, store ad, coupon, free sample, Internet). Students share their lists and tabulate the five most frequently cited influences. (TV and radio should be in the top five.)

Variation: Students listen to radio ads or watch TV ads for various over-the-counter medications (e.g., pain relievers, antacids, sleeping pills) and analyze the many causes of pain, stress, or discomfort presented in the ads (e.g., being late, noise, crying babies). Students develop a list of ways to cope with minor ailments without resorting to medications.

Variation: Students create an ad or public service announcement describing “Ways to Cope Without a Pill”.

Variation: Over a specified period of time, students survey the number of incidents of alcohol, tobacco and/or other drug use on television shows. Be sure to view a variety of shows aimed at different audiences. Relate this information to the TV rating guide for parents. From these activities, students write a one-page essay on the influence of the media on the use of medicines and drugs in America.
 

·        ADS: JUST WHAT ARE THEY SAYING? - Describe several frequently run TV ads. Do not disclose the actual product being advertised. Ask students if they remember the name of the product being advertised. “What messages did the commercial convey? How effective was the ad?” In pairs, students develop strategies to resist pressures to use the advertised products and rewrite one of the commercials. One partner acts as the “pitchman” and the other partner uses effective refusal, negotiation, and assertiveness skills to resist the temptation to purchase the product. Pairs share the new script with the class.

 

·        SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF ATOD ABUSE - Ask students: “When do teenagers experience pressures to use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs? At what age does this begin? What kinds of social settings seem to contribute to the pressure?” Divide the class into groups of four to list the signs of possible substance use and abuse and consider what signs would indicate a friend or loved one had a problem with alcohol or other drugs. Rotate two of the group members to another group so new groups of four are created. Each new group develops a list of ways to help a chemically dependent person. Share and then rotate group members once again to create new groups of four. The new groups develop a bulletin board, display case presentation, or article for the student newspaper about teen chemical dependency and ways to help.

Variation: Invite a member of a self-help/support group (e.g., AA, ALA-Teen, Al-Anon) to analyze and comment on the strategies developed by the class and discuss other issues regarding chemical dependency.

 

·        IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT BODY - Using pictures from magazines or videos, introduce the media’s representation of the perfect body image. Compare the images of males vs. females, and discuss the messages conveyed in the ads. Discuss how the media influences teenagers’ decisions to smoke, take diet pills or laxatives, or use steroids to alter one’s body image.

Variation: Students create posters focusing on the negative effects of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. The posters outline the problems associated with steroid use and list resources for information and help.

Variation: Invite a fitness expert or bodybuilder to discuss ways to get in shape without using dangerous drugs or dieting. Students outline 10 positive and healthy ways to keep in shape.

 

·        THEORIES OF DEPENDENCY - Students research and compare theories on the nature of addiction and dependency and write a paper describing those theories. Students may choose to focus on issues such as women and addiction, hereditary factors that may influence dependency, cultural factors that may contribute to dependency, or ethnic stereotyping and dependency.

Variation: Students debate the various theories, using evidence from their research.

 

·        COPING WITH PROBLEMS CAUSED BY ATODS - Ask students: “What do people do when they need help? How do you know when a friend or family member needs help? What are some signs that a person might have a problem with drugs or alcohol?” Note that students may notice a problem with their friends long before the adults do. Read aloud a story about young people living in a chemically dependent home. (A good story can be found in Choosing Not to Use, Education Development Center, 1-800-225-4276.) After reading the story, organize the class into pairs to discuss the problems faced by the character(s). Students list several ways to reach out and help the character(s) in the story and share their ideas with the class.

Variation: Students write an interpretation of the following statement: “The help I need most urgently is help admitting that I need help.” Discuss the interpretations. Students list in their journal five individuals they consider their support system (people they trust in times of need).

Variation: Students draw a support tree, an illustration of a tree and root system, that represents those individuals or places available for help and support. Students share their tree with a classmate.