This unit plan is intended for the grade four Health and Physical Education - Healthy Living strand. Specifically, this unit will focus on education about smoking and tobacco use. Cross-curricular links to the Media Literacy curriculum will also be made during this unit.
This unit plan includes four lessons, all of which use some for of technology in presenting the material, and for the students to demonstrate their learning. In the article "Engage Me Or Enrage Me", Mark Prensky writes that even the most engaging old-school style of teacher will not engage most of today's students, and that students' short attention spans are only short for the old ways of presenting information. Ian Jukes writes in "Attributes of Digital Learners" that students today are neurologically different from students 100 years ago. Today's students prefer to access media from a variety of sources, and prefer pictures, sounds and video to text. They prefer learning that is relevant, instantly useful and fun.
In lesson one, students are provided with an introduction to the unit, and a means of asking any questions they may have about the topic. Students will explore a website and play an online game in order to learn more about the topic.
In lesson two, students will learn the health effects of smoking. Students will be given the opportunity to explore a website in order to find the information asked of them.
Lesson three will explore how tobacco companies advertise their products. Students will view advertisements in video and still pictures, and will create their own version of a persuasive poster or print advertisement.
In contrast, lesson four will focus on anti-smoking PSAs, and students will create a storyboard for their own version of an anti-smoking PSA.
By the end of this unit, students will have had the opportunity to view and use several diffierent kinds of technology applications, and will have fulfilled the curriculum requirements related to smoking in the Health and Physical Education curriculum, as well as some curriculum expectations from Media Literacy in the Language curriculum.
Technology Integrated Unit Plan
This unit plan is intended for the grade four Health and Physical Education - Healthy Living strand. Specifically, this unit will focus on education about smoking and tobacco use. Cross-curricular links to the Media Literacy curriculum will also be made during this unit.
This unit plan includes four lessons, all of which use some for of technology in presenting the material, and for the students to demonstrate their learning. In the article "Engage Me Or Enrage Me", Mark Prensky writes that even the most engaging old-school style of teacher will not engage most of today's students, and that students' short attention spans are only short for the old ways of presenting information. Ian Jukes writes in "Attributes of Digital Learners" that students today are neurologically different from students 100 years ago. Today's students prefer to access media from a variety of sources, and prefer pictures, sounds and video to text. They prefer learning that is relevant, instantly useful and fun.
In lesson one, students are provided with an introduction to the unit, and a means of asking any questions they may have about the topic. Students will explore a website and play an online game in order to learn more about the topic.
In lesson two, students will learn the health effects of smoking. Students will be given the opportunity to explore a website in order to find the information asked of them.
Lesson three will explore how tobacco companies advertise their products. Students will view advertisements in video and still pictures, and will create their own version of a persuasive poster or print advertisement.
In contrast, lesson four will focus on anti-smoking PSAs, and students will create a storyboard for their own version of an anti-smoking PSA.
By the end of this unit, students will have had the opportunity to view and use several diffierent kinds of technology applications, and will have fulfilled the curriculum requirements related to smoking in the Health and Physical Education curriculum, as well as some curriculum expectations from Media Literacy in the Language curriculum.