Educating Students about Drug Use and Mental Health - Grade 8: Expectation 4

Grade 8 - Expectation 4

Specific Learning Expectation

Apply the steps of the decision-making process to address age-specific situations related to personal health and well-being in which substance use or abuse is one of the factors.

Teaching/Learning Strategies

Walk students through the steps of a decision-making model. Use a relevant drug related problem (e.g., being offered marijuana by a friend)

Identify the decision to be made. (What is it? Is there more than one?)
Discuss the decision options and their consequences. (What are the positive and negative consequences?)
Evaluate the options and select a choice. (Which solution is the best choice?)
Act on your decision. (Follow through. Is there anything else you need to consider?)
Learn from your decision. (What did you learn? Would you make the same choice again?)

Encourage students to learn the acronym IDEAL to remember these steps.

Suggested Drug-Related Scenarios:

You have a big test coming up and are feeling very nervous and unprepared. At lunch, someone suggests marijuana as a sure fire way to relax and do well on the test and offers to meet you after school with a joint. What should you do?
Your friend’s parents are away for the weekend. He or she invites you and several others to a sleepover. When you arrive, you discover that someone has bought some beer to liven up the evening. After your first beer, you start to have second thoughts, but you don’t want to lose your boyfriend/girlfriend. What should you do?
The principal of your high school speaks to your class regarding a classmate who has been hospitalized for a near-fatal drug overdose. The school staff and the classmate’s parents are worried that if the person trafficking the drugs isn’t caught, someone else could suffer the same fate. It is suggested that all information can be reported anonymously. You are aware of a classmate, with whom you are friends, who sells these drugs. What should you do?

Either individually or in groups, students can use the I.D.E.A.L. Problem-Solving Worksheet work through these scenarios.

Students can act out these scenarios in class or on video to practice the decision making model.

I.D.E.A.L. Problem-Solving Worksheet:

Identify the problem:

________________________________________________________

Discuss (describe) or list three possible ways you might choose to
help solve the problem.

1. ______________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________

Evaluate each solution. How would choosing the solution make the problem better or worse?

Solution 1.	Better because:	Worse because:
Solution 2.	Better because:	Worse because:
Solution 3.	Better because:	Worse because:

The best solution is # __________.

Act on a plan to use the best solution. Describe how you plan to use the best solution.

Learn about your plan. How do you think your plan will turn out?

Assessments for Learning

1. Participation in discussion decision-making

2. Completion of worksheet (individually or group)

Additional resources are available. You may also check with your local school board, public health office or the library of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at these numbers:

R. Samuel McLaughlin Addiction and Mental Health Information Centre 1-800-463-6273
Video Reference Desk (416) 535-8501, ext. 6987
Marketing Department 1-800-661-1111

Educating Students about Drug Use and Mental Health - Grade 8: Expectation 4

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