Drugs and the Teen Brain (HyperDoc - Website Creation)
A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively
engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.
You may save this Learning Activity to your hard drive as an .html file by
selecting “File”,then “Save As” from your browser’s
pull down menu. The file name extension must be .html.
Phase:
During/Explore/Explain
Activity:
This lesson students will use a HyperDoc that will take them through all the steps of this activity. A hyperdoc is an innovative way to put an entire digital lesson into your students’ hands that allows students to collaborate, think critically, combine information from multiple sources, and create through technology. See this video for more information: Introduction to Hyperdocs Video
The teacher will activate students’ prior knowledge briefly review and discuss the article “Drugs and the Teen Brain” by having students think-pair-share about what they learned from the article and activities.
The students will choose to explore at least four of the topics on the Scholastic Heads Up Webpage about the decision making and health risks of drugs and how drugs can cause injury, illness, and death that are of interest to them: Heads Up: Drugs and the Teen Brain
The teacher will explain to students: “Teens are at a critical time of development. The brain doesn’t become fully developed until the mid-20s. This fact makes teens especially susceptible to the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol, putting them at a greater risk for addiction as well as damage to the brain. Through this activity, you will explain how the brain develops and why using drugs and alcohol is especially risky for teens.”
The students will construct and publish a Google Site for a teenage audience citing evidence from the article “Drugs and the Teen Brain” as well as the resources they explored from Scholastic Heads Up: Drug and the Teen Brain website that explains why teens are more at risk for becoming addicted to drugs than adults. The site should include the following criteria:
A title page that explains the purpose of the website.
At least three more pages.
It must include cited text information from the article and/or Heads Up: Drugs and the Teen Brain website on how your brain changes as you grow and how these changes affect your behavior and abilities.
It must explain the purpose of the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system in the brain and give examples of types of behavior or activities that are controlled by each of these areas through cited text evidence.
It must explain why teens are more at risk for becoming addicted to drugs than adults through cited text evidence.
A sources page with a list of all of the sources students have cited.
7. The students will peer edit using a rubric and provide feedback for improving each others’ websites.
8. The students will answer the following reflection questions: What were some of the most interesting discoveries you made while working on this project? About drugs and teens? About yourself? About others?
Assessment Strategies:
The construction and publication of Drugs and the Teen Brain Hyperdoc activity can be used to assess mastery of the students’ ability to cite strong text evidence that supports the analysis of and inferences drawn from a text about why teens are more at risk for becoming addicted to drugs than adults.