Educating Students about Drug Use and Mental Health - Grade 5: Expectation 1

Grade 5 Overview

Expectation 1

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Specific Learning Expectation

Describe the short and long-term effects of alcohol use and abuse.

Background for Information

Overall learning expectations for substance use and abuse for grades prior to Grade 5 include:

• Grade 1: Recognize commonly used medicines and household products.
• Grade 2: Describe the effects on the body of appropriate and inappropriate uses of medicine on the body.
• Grade 3: Describe what a drug is, list several examples (e.g., nicotine, caffeine, alcohol), and describe the effects of these substances on the body
• Grade 4: Identify the influences (e.g., the media, peers, family members) affecting the use of tobacco, as well as the effects and legalities of, and healthy alternatives to, tobacco use.

Hot Tips for Teachers

The definition of a drug used to this point is:

A "drug" is something other than food, which, when taken into the body, changes the way you think, act or feel. Therefore alcohol is clearly a drug.

Some important facts:

• It is illegal to sell alcoholic beverages to anyone under the age of 19 or to serve an intoxicated individual.
• Alcohol is a depressant; it slows down the central nervous system.
• Alcohol interferes with coordination and reaction time.
• Alcohol plays a role in almost 45% of all motor vehicle deaths.
• An estimated 30% to 50% of violent crimes are alcohol-related.
• Alcohol plays a role in 30% to 40% of all falls, drownings and fires.

Effects of alcohol on the body:

Short-term:

• first increases, then decreases, heart rate
• slows down breathing
• impairs judgement
• impairs reflexes and reaction time
• can cause nausea and vomiting
• slurred speech
• impaired motor function
• higher blood pressure
• increased frequency of urination
• alcohol poisoning

Long-term: (chronic use)

• increased alcohol-related liver disease
• memory loss
• brain and nerve damage
• reduced production of sex hormones
• prone to infections due to decreased immune system
• malnutrition
• vitamin deficiency
• diseases of the stomach, digestive system and pancreas
• inflammation of the stomach and ulcers of the mouth
• cancer of the stomach
• addiction
• hypertension
• heart disease
• fetal alcohol syndrome
• decreased birth weight

Teaching/Learning Strategies

1. Review information from previous grades.

2. Brainstorm short and long-term effects of alcohol.

3. Review the definition of "addiction". (A person's body becomes so dependent on a substance that the body does not work properly without it. If that person stops using the substance, unpleasant physical and mental effects called withdrawal result, affecting the person's body, mind and emotions (see Grade 4: Expectation 1).

4. Activity: Play "Myths and Realities" (ACTION: Alcohol, Cannabis and Tobacco Health Promotion Project for Youth, reprinted with permission from The Ontario Physical and Health Education Association, for use by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Copyright © 1996, Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA) ).

Myths and Realities

a) As a group, discuss what would be important to remember when putting together a quiz game (appropriate questions, correct information, point system, etc.).

b) Divide the students into groups of two to five.

c) Provide each group with plenty of paper. Ask each group to prepare a list of questions to test the knowledge of their peers about alcohol. Tell them to use fact sheets or other resource material from the school library when designing the questions and to add three "myths" about alcohol (e.g., you can drive better when you have been drinking alcohol). Be sure to include questions which relate to short and long-term effects. Appoint a peer leader who will keep everyone on task and will record the group's questions. Have the group come up with no more than 10 questions in all and include the correct answers. Make sure the questions can be answered in one or two words.

d) Have each group select a panel member who will sit at the front of the room as the team's spokesperson. Provide each member with pencil and paper. The recorder from each group will read the questions. Allow 10 seconds for the panel members to record an answer (teacher keeps track of time). Appoint a score-keeper who will record points according to the system designed by the students in the introduction to this activity.

e) Once a panel member has correctly answered a question, another member of his or her group is appointed to take his or her place (or the students can decide to keep the one panel member in place throughout the game, or teams can discuss the question amongst themselves and give their answer to the spokesperson).

f) At end of game, have students identify the myths and facts that were asked during the game.

g) Discuss attitudes about the use of alcohol.

h) Have students write a paragraph to describe their feelings about alcohol in their journal/log.

Assessments of Learning

1. Observation of small group work

2. Participation in search for questions

3. Participation in game

4. Paragraph in journal/log

Rubric for Levels of Assessment
 

Level 1: Needs assistance understanding the concepts related to short and long-term effects of alcohol. Communicates poorly, with many errors and rarely uses appropriate terminology. Level 2: Shows understanding of the concepts with several minor errors. Communicates with some clarity, sometimes using appropriate terminology. Level 3: Shows understanding of most of the required concepts with few errors. Communicates clearly and precisely, usually using appropriate terminology. Level 4: Shows understanding of almost all the required concepts, with practically no errors. Communicates clearly and precisely using appropriate and varied terminology.

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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