Opioid abuse is becoming a national crisis, but combating the influence of opioids requires examining the ways it affects individual communities. A thorough teacher guide provides step-by-step instructions about implementing an accompanying presentation, which prompts middle schoolers to research the effects of the opioid epidemic in their own town. They then collaborate to craft a community outreach message about the dangers of abusing opioids.

Concepts

opioids, drug abuse, drug addiction, drugs, prescription drugs, addiction

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Additional Tags

health

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Instructional Ideas

• Create an interdisciplinary lesson among social studies, health, and language arts classes to complete the entire project
• Weave the lesson into a school-wide focus on sobriety and healthy living

Classroom Considerations

• Lesson requires some amount of prior knowledge about opioids, as most research sources needed during project will be local news stories

Pros

• Provides instructions on ways to view and navigate the presentation on various media
• Reference sheets (pages 13-16 of the PDF) are versatile for any other research project, and would be valuable additions to a language arts reference binder

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.1 RL.7.3 RI.6.1 RI.6.2 W.6.8 W.6.9.a W.6.10 W.7.7 W.8.2.a W.8.2.b W.8.2.d