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At least 3 class periods will be required. Additional time for
research will be required—either as “homework”
or in-class time.
Teenagers are increasingly confronted with questions and issues
that require them to use scientific thinking in order to make
informed decisions based on science. In this unit, students are
provided with activities/experiences that help them master the
skills of decision making. Using the NOVA video, Search for a
Safe Cigarette, students will research and make decisions with
regard to cigarettes.
Biology, Integrated Science, and Environmental Science
Students will be able to:
• Identify and state a tobacco-related decision problem/issue
• Identify and discuss viable options regarding the selected
problem
• Research and discuss risks and benefits associated with
the decision problem
• State a decision based upon rational methods and logical
thinking
• Present and defend the decision
National Science Education Standards
http://bob.nap.edu/html/nses/html
Content Standard F:
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
• Personal Health (grades 5-8)
• Risks and Benefits (grades 5-8)
• Personal and Community Health (grades 9-12)
• Natural and Human-Induced Hazards (grades 9-12)
Louisiana
Science Framework: State Standards for Curriculum Development
http://www.doe.state.la.us/doe/assessment/standards/SCIENCE.pdf
SI-H-A1: Identifying questions and concepts that guide
scientific investigation
SI-H-A3: Using technology and mathematics to improve investigation
and communications
SI-H-A5: Recognizing and analyzing alternative explanations
and models
SI-H-A6: Communicating and defending a scientific argument
SI-H-B1: Communicating that scientists usually base their
investigations on existing models, explanations, and theories
SI-H-B2: Communicating that scientists conduct investigations
for a variety of reasons
SI-H-B3: Communicating that scientists rely on technology
to enhance the gathering and manipulation of data
SI-H-B4: Analyzing a proposed explanation of scientific
evidence according to the following criteria: follow a logical
structure, follow rules of evidence, allow for questions and modifications,
and is based on historical and current scientific knowledge
SI-H-B5: Communicating that the results of scientific inquiry,
new knowledge, and methods emerge from different types of investigations
and public communication among scientists.
LS-H-G1: Relating fitness and health to longevity
LS-H-G4: Exploring current research on the major diseases
with regard to cause, symptoms, treatment, prevention, and cure
SE-H-A11: Understanding how pollutants can affect living
systems
SE-M-A4: Understanding that human actions can create risks
and consequences in the environment
Activities in this unit will also
address the Information
Literacy Model for Lifelong Learning:
1. Defining/Focusing
2. Selecting Tools and Resources
3. Extracting and Recording
4. Processing Information
5. Organizing Information
6. Presenting Findings
Video:
NOVA: Search for a Safe Cigarette
Web Sites:
NOVA Search for a Safe Cigarette Companion Site
Resources
http://www.pbs.org/nova/cigarette
Investigate cigarette design, read about the history to develop
a safer cigarette, learn how nicotine works in the brain, and
explore the basics of combustion.
Louisiana Public Broadcasting
Youth Tobacco Survey
http://www.lpb.org/education/cigarette
This site offers results of a state- wide youth tobacco-use survey
developed by Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center and LPB through a
grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It also includes
comparisons to national tobacco-use surveys.
Improving Your Health Through
Environmental Education: Tobacco Initiative
http://www.envirotacklebox.org/teleconferences/teleconf7.html
This teleconference provides tobacco-use and health-related material
background information useful to the teacher.
Tobacco Control
http://www.lungusa.org/tobacco
This site offers ways to quit smoking. It also includes a section
on teens opposed to cigarette use.
Truth
http://www.truth.com
The mission of this site is to “explore the truth about tobacco
so that people can have all of the (tobacco) information necessary
to make up their minds for themselves.”
Eclipse Cigarettes
http://www.eclipsescience.com
It includes information (from the manufacturer) about tests conducted
on Eclipse Cigarettes.
Per student:
• One copy of each of the Who
Should Decide What’s Safe? activity sheets (Nova
Fall Teachers Guide, pages 6-8)
• Video Focus worksheet (attached)
• Focus Note Sheet (attached)
• Decision About Cigarettes assignment sheet
(attached)
1. Prior to teaching this unit, view Decisions Based on
Science; Mastering the Skills of Decision Making (if possible)
and/or consult Decisions Based on Science, an NSTA
publication, for instruction on use of Importance Bars and Decision
Matrix charts.
2. Bookmark the Web sites used (as reference).
3. Prepare copies of the student worksheets.
4. Students should read the worksheets prior to watching the video
clips and should complete the specific tasks related to the video.
5. Cue video segments.
Decision-making activities encourage students to put science process
skills into practice and to produce logical, evidence-based written
reports and verbal presentations. The Louisiana Public Broadcasting
(LPB) video, Decisions Based on Science: Mastering the Skills
of Decision-Making offers a one-hour professional development
“how-to” for science teachers. This program provides
instruction on techniques helpful in the decision-making process,
as outlined in the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
publication, Decisions Based on Science. Viewing
the program and/or consulting the book will provide teachers with
skills and insights valuable in teaching students to make decisions
logically.
Teacher materials, student
resources (including graphic organizers), and classroom activities
developed for the program can be accessed at the companion Web
site:http://www.envirotacklebox.org.
Decisions Based on Science is available through
NSTA (www.nsta.org).
Decisions Based on Science: Mastering the Skills of Decision-Making
broadcast times are listed in the LPB Educational Services
Directory and on the LPB Web site http://www.lpb.org/itv.
Visit and bookmark
Improving Your Health Through Environmental Education: Tobacco
Initiative teleconference that provides background information
useful to the teacher and students. (http://www.envirotacklebox/teleconferences/teleconf7.html)
1. If you are including Decisions
Based on Science activities, download and print Importance
Bars and Decision Matrix graphic organizers (http://www.envirotacklebox.org)
2. Copy the student activity pages which are designed as a Focus
for Media Interaction and for homework.
3. Prepare to use the video, Search for a Safe Cigarette.
1. Introduce the concept of making decisions based on science
skills and knowledge.
2. Inform students that they will be viewing the video, Search
for a Safe Cigarette and that during the program, they
will be completing the Video Focus problems (which incorporate
identification of tobacco/cigarette related problems/issues).
3. Show the first portion of the video Search for a Safe
Cigarette (START at the opening credits and PAUSE
(4:43) at “Manufacturers large and small are preparing what
they call, low risk cigarettes” (Shows a man on a tractor
pulling a tobacco cart). Conduct a student-led discussion of the
Video Focus problems 1-2.
4. RESUME the video at the photo of the Star Tobacco Company
building. PAUSE (15:57) at the striking of a match with
the narrator saying, “Keep in mind we have 42 other carcinogens…”
5. Conduct a student-led discussion of the science and controversy
involved in the search for a safer cigarette (Video Focus problems
3-4).
6. START (16:03) the video with the match being applied
to the cigarette and the narrator stating, “The reason cigarettes
contain so many toxins is because they burn” and PAUSE
(18:49) after the narrator says, “Then it was found that
mice painted with cigarette tar develop tumors. (A mouse with
tumors is pictured here.)
7. As they view the video clip, the students should complete the
Video Focus Note Sheet- Part I summarizing how inhaled
smoke affects body systems.
8. START (18:53) with “The tobacco industry was caught
off guard.” (A copy of a journal article is seen.) Continue
the video through the closing credits.
9. Have students complete Focus Note Sheet- Part 2 as they
watch the video.
10. After watching the video have students discuss each of the
Focus Note Sheet problems. Distribute copies of the “Who
Should Decide What’s Safe” Part I and II (pages
6-8 from the NOVA Fall 2001 Teacher’s Guide). Assign the
Part I and II problems as homework. The “After Watching
assignments (page 4) could also prove useful in guiding student
discussion of the Focus Note Sheet materials.
11. Have students discuss the “Who Should Decide What’s
Safe?” problems.
12. Distribute and discuss the Decisions About Cigarettes.
Student knowledge of use of the graphics and skills associated
with the Decisions Based on Science materials would
be of value during this assignment. This activity serves as the
culminating assignment for this unit and as an assessment tool.
• This activity also serves as an assessment tool.
• Students should each receive a copy of the Decisions About
Cigarettes and participate in discussion of the instructions and
topic choices.
• Working individually, students should select and research
one of the topic choices (or others they pro pose and you approve).
It is recommended that students be given at least one class period
to do research in the school library and/or computer lab. Additional
time will probably be needed for research (homework assignments
or classroom time).
• Provide students with an opportunity to verbally present
their essays to the class and encourage them to do so.
Social Studies
• Have students research the history or sociology associated
with cigarette use in America.
• Have them discuss how tobacco use has impacted American
economy.
Language Arts
• Students could write a letter to public officials expressing
their fact-based opinions about laws related to tobacco use—
are they strict enough, have they gone too far?
• Invite an oncologist to speak to the class about tobacco-related
cancers.
• Invite a guest speaker and/or have students obtain literature
tobacco-related disease information from the American Lung Association
of Louisiana.
• Have students contact insurance companies for statistics
related to smoking and mortality rates and effect of smoking on
an individual’s insurance rates.
• Have students analyze and discuss the LPB Youth Tobacco
Survey data.
• Video Focus worksheet HTML PDF
• Who Should Decide What’s Safe, Part I (
HTML PDF
) and Part II ( HTML PDF
) (pages 6-7 NOVA Fall
2001 Teacher’s Guide)
• Focus Note Sheet
HTML PDF
• Decisions About Cigarettes assignment sheet
HTML PDF
In addition to the resources provided
in class, you might refer to:
• http://www.thetruth.com
• A ‘Safer’
Cigarette? Prove It, Say Critics American Medical Association,
Vol. 283, No. 19, May 17,2000,p2507.
• Summary of Scientific
Tests Regarding Tobacco- Heating Eclipse Cigarettes
(Eclipse is one of the “safe” cigarettes introduced
by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company)
http://www.eclipsescience.com/
• Tobacco Control –offers
ways to quit smoking and a section on teens against tobacco use
http://www.lungusa.org/tobacco
Many other resources are available and you will be given at least
one class period to conduct research in the school library.
Don’t forget to include a bibliography with your essay!
