Lesson 3

Getting the Facts About the Big 4

Instructional Objectives

In this lesson, students will learn long-term and short-team effects of using any gateway drug (alcohol, tobacco, inhalants and marijuana).

Procedures

Connecting to Prior Knowledge/Experience/Learning

Teacher and students will discuss some of the negative consequences of gateway drug use. Students will be asked to share any experiences they may have had, or know about, with tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, or inhalant use.

Activities/Homework

Students will be divided into cooperative learning groups.

Groups will be randomly assigned one of the four topics (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants) to become experts on.

Groups research their topic using the NIDA website as their primary resource. Students with web research experience should be encouraged to use any of the hot-text sites listed as web resources. (The teacher may have additional web resources available. On the internet this subject matter may have many red flags and students can easily be distracted by sites which support drug use - I recommend close monitoring or only allowing students access to a preset list.) After collecting facts, students will determine what type of presentation they will use to demonstrate their expertise with their topic.

Options include: oral presentation with poster, Power Point Presentation, or Digital Camcorder Presentation

Students create their 15 minute presentations using designated class time and outside class time.

Teacher may wish to allocate one or two class periods for presentations; or allocate fifteen minutes at the end of several class periods for presentations.

Extension

An outstanding extension for this activity is to provide students with an opportunity to select the best presentations and have them presented at a student assembly, Red Ribbon Week, or to other classes on campus.

Time Required

Five to ten fifty-minute lessons.

Vocabulary

Addiction: A physical dependence upon a substance.

Chemical Dependence: Addiction

Experimentation: Initial and subsequent use of a substance. No mental or physical dependence is present.

AssessmentEvaluation

You may assign points for this assignment which meet your needs.

When I use this assignment, I allocate:

50 points for poster/Power Point/video using the Presentation Product Rubric.

50 points for presentation using the Oral Presentation Rubric

Students may also evaluate each other for group participation.

When I have used the extension activity I assessed it as extra credit.

Advance Preparation/Prerequisite Knowledge/Skills/Illustrative Materials

Information Fact Sheets and Web Resources

Students may use Power Point and Digital Camcorder for their presentations if they have experience or the Teacher takes the time to demonstrate their use.

NOTE: In a classroom where students do not have internet access, the teacher may download information from web resources and distribute packets of information to student cooperative groups.