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 Centre for Addictionand Mental Health |
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Education and Courses
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Educating Students about Drug Use and Mental Health - Grade 4: Expectation 1
Specific Learning Expectation Identify the major harmful substances found in tobacco and explain the term "addiction". Background for Information Overall learning expectations for substance use and abuse for grades prior to Grade 4 include:
Hot Tips for Teachers In Grade 3 the definition of "drug" was given as: "A psychoactive drug is something other than food, which, when taken into the body, changes the way you think act or feel." This definition includes legal drugs, such as medicines, alcohol (if you are 19), tobacco, and illegal drugs, such as cannabis, as well as products which were not designed to be psychoactive substances (like hobby glue) but which might be taken internally to achieve this effect. For a discussion about the harmful substances found in cigarettes, please include: Nicotine: a highly addictive substance which causes the blood vessels to constrict and the heart to beat faster. Tiny hairs called cilia, which usually clean the lungs of dirt and germs, are paralyzed by nicotine, so the smoker is more vulnerable to colds, flu, bronchitis, and other diseases. Smoking is not the only way to get nicotine into the system. Chewing tobacco is a popular choice for this purpose but damage to the lips and gums may result. Carbon Monoxide: a poisonous gas, which is produced as the cigarette burns. Carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in red blood cells, robbing the body of some of its energy source. Tar: contains soot, chemicals, and particles left behind by cigarette smoke. You can see the brown stain it leaves on the end of a cigarette filter, or in an ashtray. Brown sticky tar coats the bronchial tubes and tiny air sacs inside the lungs, hardening them, so they can't work as well. Chemicals: Some occur naturally and some are added during manufacturing. These chemicals are carried to our lungs, then to the blood stream and the rest of the body. One example is hydrogen cyanide, a colourless gas that smells like bitter almonds and can cause headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Lead: A heavy metal which can cause severe poisoning, birth defects and learning disabilities. Other forms of tobacco (chewing, snuff, pipe, cigar) also contain chemicals and nicotine, and are harmful to health. (Adapted from SmokeFree for Life: A Smoking Prevention Curriculum Supplement, Drug Dependency and Tobacco Control Unit, Nova Scotia Department of Health, 1996.) For a discussion about the legalities of smoking, please include:
When discussing addiction, please include the following information: Addiction means that a person's body has become so dependent on a substance that the body does not work properly without it. If the person stops using the substance, unpleasant physical and mental effects called withdrawal result, affecting the person's body, mind and emotions. This dependency develops over time and does not happen immediately. A person's body first develops a tolerance for the substance. He or she must then start taking more of it to get the same effect. Not all substance users build up a tolerance or become addicted. There seem to be patterns of use which help to identify whether a person's use is changing: Abstinent - Person is not using any substance. Experimental - Person experiments with the substance. Most users do not go beyond this level. Social - Tolerance sets in. Person uses the substance in social settings on a regular basis. Dependence/Addiction - Person craves the substance and feels unwell without it. Being dependent or addicted to a substance is not the only problem associated with substance use. A first-time smoker may not be addicted but could set a fire. A social user of alcohol may not be addicted but could cause a collision while drinking and driving. A cannabis smoker may not be addicted, but may find that his or her learning ability is diminished. He or she could also be arrested resulting in a criminal record.
Teaching/Learning Strategies (Adapted from SmokeFree for Life: A Smoking Prevention Curriculum Supplement, Drug Dependency and Tobacco Control Unit, Nova Scotia Department of Health, 1996.) 1. Resources/materials needed: cigarette package containing cigarettes, jar with 250 ml of molasses, measuring cup. Review definition of a drug, and what are common drugs (medicines, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine). Present a cigarette package with cigarettes to the students in a large group of students. Ask:
Remove a cigarette and cut it open. Discuss the parts: the filter, the paper, the tobacco. Ask students what they know about each of these. When discussing tar, hold up the jar of molasses. Tip the jar to demonstrate how the tar coats the lungs. Pour the molasses into a measuring cup. Slowly pour out the molasses, asking students to guess how much tar is deposited in the lungs of a smoker over the course of a year. (Answer: Someone who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day deposits about 250 ml of tar in their lungs each year.) 2. Activity: Distribute "What's in a Cigarette" worksheet. What's in a Cigarette?
(Teacher's note: answers are caffeine, filter, molasses)
(Teacher's note: See "Hot Tips for Teachers") Introduce the concept of addiction by telling the story of "Hooked on Me". Ask students to guess who is talking and whom "the character" is talking to. Use a sly, deceitful tone when reading the following passage. Hooked on Me "The truth is, you need me. You can't even make it through a single day without me. You take me everywhere you go. If you forget me, you feel nervous and worried until you find me again. When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you think about isn't breakfast or what you are going to do after breakfast. You think about me. You want me. You have to have me. Because you want me so much, you don't notice or care that I am also making you sick. You don't mind that I make you cough and that I hurt your throat, your lungs and the rest of your body. You just want to have me around, close by, all through the day. Who am I?" Answer: cigarettes talking to a smoker
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS a) When did you begin to smoke? b) Do you think you are experimenting, are a social smoker or are addicted to tobacco? c) How can you tell? d) What might happen if you tried to quit smoking? Ask students to write in their journals why cigarette smoking is harmful and what else they could do to feel good. Assessments of Learning 1. Review of previously learned material 2. Discussion of what is found in cigarettes 3. "What is in a Cigarette" worksheet 4. Discussion about addiction 5. "Interview with a Smoker" homework assignment 6. Journal entry Rubric for Levels of Assessment
Additional Resources There are some additional resources listed at the end of this document. You may also check with your local school board, public health office or call the central information numbers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health:
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Last updated: Apr 08, 2008 3:08 PM Published: Nov 19, 2008 9:57 PM ID#P3989 |