6th Grade Lessons:
Needed Materials and Preparation Lesson 6-1
✷ A bag of chocolate kisses ✷ Worksheet: What Does Peer Pressure Look Like?
Lesson 6-2
✷ Peer Pressure Role-Play Cards
Lesson 6-3
✷ Floor tape in blue and red, and perhaps a third color ✷ Plastic sandwich bags ✷ Several sheets of blue and red construction paper, torn into small strips ✷ Access to clocks or other timing devices capable of counting off seconds ✷ Drum or other device for conveying a physical beat
Lesson 6-4
✷ Mechanical smoker A mechanical smoker is a device that provides a graphic demonstration of the chemical residue that is left in the lungs as a result of smoking. The device is available through Boreal Laboratories (www.boreal.com). Although the device can be expensive (currently about $98.00 in 2007), it is good for 100 demonstrations. It does, however, require the burning of a cigarette (not included) which may be forbidden on some school campuses, even for demonstration purposes. Check with your administration for your school’s policies. ✷ Small square of wire mesh (as for a window screen) ✷ An aluminum or other tray to catch sand ✷ A few handfuls of sand and a few handfuls of brown rice ✷ Yellow Play-Doh ✷ 2 red PVC pipes (or cardboard wrapping paper tubes) 2” in diameter and about 24” in length, cut lengthwise and hinged with Velcro or tape
6th Grade Lessons Materials List
Lesson 6-1: What is Peer Pressure?
Lesson 6-1
What is Peer Pressure? Introduction: This lesson examines peer pressure through the use of a classroom exercise, and is meant to spark a discussion of the ways in which one recognizes and addresses such pressure.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Identify different strategies that peers can bring to bear on one’s own behavior
Materials: ✷ A bag of chocolate kisses ✷ Worksheet: What Does Peer Pressure Look Like?
Key Terms: peer: generally meant as others of a similar age. Friends are usually peers, but not all peers are friends. The term goes beyond schoolmates to include people the same age seen in the community, and portrayed in various media such as magazines, in film and on television. peer pressure: the influence that friends and peers often exert to shape one’s opinions, perceptions, desires and actions.
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Page 6.1.1
Lesson 6-1: What is Peer Pressure?
Procedures: 1. Divide the class into small groups of about five students each. Randomly select one person from each group to leave the room and wait outside.
2. Meet with the selected children outside the room and tell them that the others at the table will try to convince them to eat a piece of chocolate, but that no matter what their group may say, their task is to avoid eating the chocolate kiss. Instruct them not to let the others in their groups know that they should not eat the candy.
3. While the selected students wait outside, return to the groups in the classroom. Give each group enough chocolate kisses for each member (including the student outside) and instruct them that their job is to convince the student outside to eat the chocolate kiss. They may use whatever arguments they think will work (persuasion, teasing, bribery, guilt, etc.), but they are not allowed to touch the student. Tell them that the first group to get the student to eat the chocolate candy will win extra credit or a reward of some type.
4. Have the selected students return to the room. Allow the activity to continue for at least 10 minutes.
5. Stop the activity. Ask the chosen students to explain how they felt. Did they feel confident they could resist? Were they tempted to ignore the instructions and eat the candy? Did they feel uncomfortable? In what ways? Ask the group members to explain some of the different ways they tried to convince the student to eat the chocolate. As they discuss their strategies, write them on the board, using the following general categories: ✷ Direct Order “Eat the chocolate!” ✷ Insults “C’mon, don’t be a nerd, just eat the chocolate!” (name calling, teasing, making fun of someone) ✷ Coaxing “It’s sooo delicious, just try it!” “If you eat it, we’ll be your friends...” (to persude with flattery, gentle urging, appeals to friendship, promises or even lies) ✷ Making Someone Feel Left Out “C’mon, everyone’s eaten it but you!” ✷ Guilt “C’mon, if you don’t eat it, the other table will win!” ✷ Non-verbal clues eye-rolling, turning one’s back on the other, etc. In what ways did the chosen student counter these strategies?
6. Explain that these students have just experienced an example of both receiving and exerting peer pressure. Peer pressure is when friends, classmates, or other people one’s age try to influence what one does, the way one acts, or how one thinks. Everyone has to deal with peer pressure—even adults. Ask the students for
Page 6.1.2
Lesson 6-1: What is Peer Pressure?
Procedures (continued) other situations in which they might experience this type of pressure. Relate this example to the use of tobacco, alcohol or drugs.
7. Ask your students if peer pressure can sometimes be used to reinforce positive behaviors? (e.g., doing one’s best in school, being on time to class) What about dissuading someone from doing something bad? (e.g., convincing someone NOT to smoke or use drugs)? What kind of peer pressure strategies can be used in these situations?
Homework: Distribute the What Does Peer Pressure Look Like? worksheet. Explain to the students that they should put themselves in a position of trying to convince a friend to join you and some others to try smoking a cigarette. How would they do it? If their friend was hesitant, how would they convince their friend to join them? Have them consider the different types of peer pressure strategies you discussed in class, and ask them to provide one example of each type. Make sure they bring the completed homework to be used in Lesson 6-2.
Journal: Do you think you would feel peer pressure differently if you were at a school where you were the only Deaf student? Would it be harder to resist peer pressure in that situation than if you are in a school where all the other students are Deaf?
Page 6.1.3
Lesson 6-1 Worksheet: What Does Peer Pressure Look Like?
Name
What Does Peer Pressure Look Like? Answer the following question in your own words: 1.
What is peer pressure?
2.
What would you say? Give one example of what you might say if you were trying to get your friend to smoke a cigarette.
Direct Order: L61_SayNo
Insult: Coaxing: Making Someone Feel Left Out: Non-Verbal: Guilt:
Lesson 6-2
Why Does Peer Pressure Work? Introduction: This lesson builds on the previous introduction to peer pressure, providing a more in-depth look at peer pressure and the strategies young people can use to counter it.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Recognize both the negative and positive aspects of peer pressure ✷ Understand why people give in to peer pressure ✷ Recognize when peer pressure is being applied to them ✷ Counter peer pressure with specific refusal skills
Materials: ✷ Peer Pressure Role-Play Cards
Key Terms: peer: generally meant as others of a similar age. Friends are usually peers, but not all peers are friends. The term goes beyond schoolmates to include people the same age seen in the community, and portrayed in various media such as magazines, in film and on television.
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L62_Decisions02
peer pressure: the influence that friends and peers often exert to shape one’s opinions, perceptions, desires and actions. refusal skills: tools that one can use against friend or peer pressure to do something that one finds undesirable, unsafe, or wrong.
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Page 6.2.1
Lesson 6-2: Why Does Peer Pressure Work?
Procedures: 1. Review the homework from Lesson 6-1 with students. Ask them for their definitions of peer pressure. Make sure that they understand that peer pressure is a social force that is exerted by an individual or group to conform to a group norm.
2. Ask students: Is all peer pressure bad? Explain that not all peer pressure is bad. Peer pressure can often reinforce society’s expectations for certain kinds of behavior; for example, to wake up early and show up on time for class; not to cheat on an exam; or to keep from doing something harmful or illegal. Sometime the peer pressure can be very subtle. Ask your students to think about the clothes they wear, the things they like to talk about with their friends, the things they like to do—all of these are influenced a great deal by what their peers think and do. This isn’t always a bad thing—the need to feel a part of a group is very powerful, especially for young people who are starting to break away from their families and establish relationships with people their own age.
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3. Pose the following situation for your students: Imagine that there is a group of you having fun at the mall. You pass by a store, and one of your friends suggests that the group try and steal something. What would you say? What if everyone else in the group thought this would be a fun idea? Elicit from your students the understanding that peer pressure can be at work in both a positive and negative way in such a situation. If some of the other kids respond to the initial suggestion in a dismissive way (“Nah, that sounds really stupid.” “Yeah, you go right ahead, we’ll visit you in jail.”), they are exerting positive peer pressure to keep the group from shoplifting.
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On the other hand, if most of the kids think this sounds like a fun idea (“What, are you chicken?” “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”), one could be facing negative peer pressure to do something they know is wrong.
4. Ask students: So how do you know when peer pressure is bad or when it is good? Sometimes it is easy. If peer pressure is being used to get someone to do something illegal, harmful to others, or harmful to that person’s own self; if the action
Page 6.2.2
Lesson 6-2: Why Does Peer Pressure Work?
Procedures (continued) is something that will cause others to be upset or feel bad about themselves, it is probably negative peer pressure. But sometimes it may be a little more difficult. Ask your students to consider the following situations: ✷ Your friends tell you that one of them has a cigarette, and they want to try smoking it after school. They ask you to join them. ✷ Your friends are fooling around during lunch period. One of them sees the fire alarm on the wall and dares you to set it off. ✷ Your friend was seen at the school library last night where some books were vandalized; he now wants you to tell everyone he was with you last night instead.
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Explain that in situations like these, we sometimes might feel conflicted. We might know that what we are being asked to do is wrong, but we also want to go along with our friends, or demonstrate our loyalty.
5. Review the second homework question from Lesson 6-1 with the students: “Why do kids give in to peer pressure?” Explain that sometimes we feel pressure from friends or peers to do something we don’t want to do, or think that we shouldn’t. Refusing to go along with your friends can be very difficult and uncomfortable, but being aware of when and how peer pressure is being applied, and how to refuse, can make a difference.
6. Review with the class the types of peer pressure strategies they encountered in doing the chocolate kiss activity. ✷ Direct Order “Eat the chocolate!” ✷ Insults “C’mon, don’t be a nerd, just eat the chocolate!” (name calling, teasing, making fun of someone) ✷ Coaxing “It’s sooo delicious, just try it!” “If you eat it, we’ll be your friends...” (to persude with flattery, gentle urging, promises or even lies ) ✷ Making Someone Feel Left Out “C’mon, everyone’s eaten it but you!” ✷ Guilt “C’mon, if you don’t eat it, the other table will win!” ✷ Non-verbal clues eye-rolling, turning one’s back on the other, etc.
7. Explain to your students that there are also different ways to respond to peer pressure. Have them examine the following:
Page 6.2.3
Lesson 6-2: Why Does Peer Pressure Work?
Procedures (continued)
1. Be Direct 2. Change the subject
L62_Refusal01
L62_Refusal02
3. Think of a clever response 4. Make a joke
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5. Blame an adult 6. Avoid the subject and walk away
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Page 6.2.4
Lesson 6-2: Why Does Peer Pressure Work?
Procedures (continued) 8. Use the Role Playing cards and have your students practice saying “no” to different types of peer pressure strategies. Cut out and place the cards in two separate bags: one for peer pressure strategies, and one for refusal skills. Select two students. One will reach into the bag and draw out a peer pressure strategy; the other will draw from the refusal skills bag. Their task is to use those cards in addressing the following problems. Repeat this role-play with subsequent pairs of students. Try to convince someone to steal something from a store. Try to get your friend to lie for you about where you were last night. Try to convince your friend to try sniffing glue. Try to get your friend to play a dirty trick on the new kid in school. Try to get your friend to skip class.
8. Use the same Role Playing cards, but have the students role-play situations in which peer pressure is exerted to encourage desirable behavior. Try to convince someone to come study for tomorrow’s test instead of chatting on the internet. Try to convince a friend NOT to smoke. Try to tell your friends NOT to pick on the new student.
Page 6.2.5
Lesson 6-2: Peer Pressure Role Play Cards
Direct Order “Do it!” including threats
Coaxing persuading with flattery, gentle urging, promises or even lies
Non-verbal Eye-rolling, dirty looks, mean gestures, etc.
PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE
PRESSURE PRESSURE PRESSURE
Peer Pressure Role Play Cards
Insults Name-calling, teasing, making fun of someone
Make the person feel left out Guilt Make the person feel guilty if they don’t do what you want them to do
Lesson 6-2: Peer Pressure Role Play Cards
Be direct
Think of a clever response
Blame an adult
REFUSAL REFUSAL REFUSAL
REFUSAL REFUSAL REFUSAL
Peer Pressure Role Play Cards
Change the subject
Make a joke Avoid the situation and walk away
Lesson 6-3: Around and Around It Goes
Lesson 6-3
Around and Around It Goes Introduction: This lesson provides a lively introduction to the cardio-respiratory system, demonstrates the functions of the heart and lungs, and provides the basis for an understanding of how smoking compromises the overall health of the system.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ Identify the functions of the heart and lungs in the cardiovascular system ✷ Explain oxygen exchange in the body
Teacher’s Note: You may want to coordinate this lesson with your students’ science instructor or science curriculum.
Materials: ✷ Floor tape in blue and red, and perhaps a third color ✷ Plastic sandwich bags ✷ Several sheets of blue and red construction paper, torn into small strips ✷ Access to clocks or other timing devices capable of counting off seconds ✷ Drum or other device for conveying a physical beat
Key Terms: aorta: the largest artery in the body, carrying oxygen-rich blood to the body. artery: the muscular blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart and to the body. blood: a specialized fluid body tissue that carries in it the red blood cells that transport oxygen to the body’s cells. carbon dioxide: the end-product, or waste product, of the body’s metabolic processes involving oxygen. Carbon dioxide is transported via the blood and eliminated from the body in the lungs through exhalation.
heart: a muscle about the size of a clenched fist that contracts and relaxes about 70 times each minute when the body is at rest to pump blood into the lungs and again throughout the body. lung: a pair of spongy, sac-like organs in the chest that, together with the heart, work to enrich the blood with oxygen while removing carbon dioxide wastes. oxygen: a common chemical element in the air we breathe, and which the body requires to perform its normal functions. vein: the blood vessels that carry oxygen-depleted blood from the body’s tissues back to the heart, and then to the lungs.
Page 6.3.1
Lesson 6-3: Around and Around It Goes
Procedures: 1. As an introduction to the heart, have students divide into pairs. Show students how to find each others’ pulses by placing one’s fingers lightly on the underside of the other’s wrist, on the thumb side.
2. Have students count the number of beats for 30 seconds. Have them double this number to arrive at the number of beats per minute. Have the students record this number. Have the students switch positions and do this again. Go around the class to discuss everyone’s findings.
L63_Pulse
3. Have one student jump in place for one minute, and then repeat the procedure above. Once again, have the students switch positions. Again, discuss the findings, as everyone’s heartbeat should have increased a great deal.
4. Ask students: What is happening here? What is the pulse, and why can we feel it? Point out that the heart is working to pump blood throughout the body. This pumping action causes a wave of pressure that forces blood through the body, and that can be felt as a pulse.
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5. Ask students: Why, or what, is the heart pumping? Why does the heart pump faster after you’ve been jumping around? The key points to elicit are the concepts of blood; that the heart pumps this blood throughout the body; the blood carries oxygen; and that working muscles require more oxygen, which is why the heart must pump faster.
6. Ask students: So what is oxygen? How do you get oxygen? Use these questions to prompt a discussion of breathing and the function of the lungs in oxygenating the blood; that this oxygen is transported throughout the body in the blood that is being pumped by the heart; and that the cells of the body use this oxygen. together with nutrients from the food we eat, to function, much like the way a car uses air and gasoline to run. And in the same way that a car emits exhaust as a waste product, the body also produces a waste product, called carbon dioxide, or CO2, in a process called oxygen exchange. This CO2 waste is then carried back to the lungs where it is exhaled.
Page 6.3.2
Lesson 6-3: Around and Around It Goes
Procedures (continued) Teacher’s Note: Some of the concepts introduced here are quite complex, but are understandable to children through common experience. To discuss oxygen exchange, for example, you might want to ask what would happen if someone breathed with a paper bag over his or her nose and mouth. Isn’t it just air going in and air coming out? Most students will be very familiar with this exercise and will be able to tell you the discomfort that will result. Use this experience to point out that what you breathe in (oxygen) is very different from what you breathe out (CO2), and that this process of oxygen exchange is what is happening throughout the body as a person breathes in and out. You might also want to ask students the color of blood. The obvious answer is red. However, you can point out that as oxygen in the blood is used up, the blood itself can take on a bluish color. This is the reason for expressions such as “holding your breath until you are blue in the face.”
7. Ask students: So how does blood flow through your body? Explain that blood flows through a system of tubular pipelines both big and small throughout the body. One system carries blood from the heart to the body; these are called arteries, and carry oxygen–rich blood to the body’s tissues. The biggest artery is called the aorta. The other system carries the oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart and lungs; these are called veins.
8. On the floor, lay out three stations with tape
Teacher’s Note: There are many websites that display animations of the heart at work, and the operation of the circulatory system. Search in any online search engine for the terms “heart pump animation,” “circulatory system animation” or other related terms for a large selection of graphics that can visually display the concepts introduced in this lesson.
according to the diagram below. The first station will represent the lungs, the second station the heart, and the third station the rest of the body. Use red and blue tape to “connect” the stations as shown in the diagram.
9. In this exercise, students will act the part of blood cells, picking up oxygen (red strips of paper) at the lungs, and exchanging them for blue strips of paper (carbon dioxide) at the heart and body stations, and then circulating back to the lungs to exchange their blue strips again for red. Station two students at the lung station, one at the heart, and one at the body. Supply one of the students at the lung station with a large bag of red paper strips, and the two students at the heart and body stations with large bags of blue paper strips. Give all other students, who will be the “blood cells,” a plastic sandwich bag.
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Lesson 6-3: Around and Around It Goes
Procedures (continued) Walk them through the following procedures: At the lungs, students will be given two red strips, representing oxygen, to put in their plastic bag. As the heart “beats” (which can be depicted using a drum), the student moves to the heart, where one of the red strips is surrendered in exchange for a blue strip. At the next heartbeat, the student moves on to the body station where the second red strip is exchanged for another blue strip. At the next heartbeat, the student returns to the heart station, and at the next beat back to the lungs, where the two blue strips are surrendered, and the student waits to pick up two more red strips to start the process over again.
L63_HeartDetail
For variations, you can increase the number of body stations to include the brain as a stop. You can also vary the timing of the drum beats to depict a body at rest versus a body in strenuous activity. Ask your students what happens when the body is working harder? Prompt for the answers: The body requires more oxygen; to get more oxygen, the heart must pump faster and work harder; and the person needs to breathe faster (pant) to get more oxygen into the lungs.
10. Review the notions of oxygen exchange in the lungs to replenish the blood with oxygen; and the exchange that occurs in the tissues where oxygen is used and converted to the waste product CO2. Explain why this is exchange is so crucial for health. What would happen if this exchange process was impaired?
Ask students: When you hold your breath, what do you think is happening? How does holding your breath make you feel? What does it do to your heart rate? Why?
11. Fun facts: a. The heart pumps more than 1,500 gallons of blood a day. b. If you laid out the blood vessels in an adult body end to end, they would stretch more than 60,000 miles. c. A heart beat of 80 beats per minute will beat more than 40 million times per year.
Homework: A Heart Journal: Have students record their heartbeats at different times of the day—when they wake up in the morning, when they are resting during the day, after they’ve eaten, after exercising, before getting ready for bed, etc. Have them record their heartbeats along with the time of day and what activities they were doing.
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Lesson 6-3: Around and Around It Goes
Around It Goes Floor Map
Lesson 6-4: Take a Deep Breath
Lesson 6-4
Take a Deep Breath Introduction: This lesson extends the previous lesson to look specifically at the oxygen exchange process in the lungs, blood flow though the vessels, and the adverse impacts that smoking has on these processes.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to: ✷ State a basic understanding of the oxygen exchange process in the lungs ✷ Identify the impact of smoking on the lungs and blood vessels ✷ Understand that smoking results in the intake of chemicals that can affect the body
Materials: ✷ Mechanical smoker (see Teacher’s Note) ✷ Small square of wire mesh (as for a window screen) ✷ An aluminum or other tray to catch sand ✷ A few handfuls of sand and a few handfuls of brown rice ✷ Yellow Play-Doh ✷ 2 red PVC pipes (or cardboard wrapping paper tubes) 2” in diameter and about 24” in length, cut lengthwise and hinged with Velcro or tape
Teacher’s Note: A mechanical smoker is a device that provides a graphic demonstration of the chemical residue that is left in the lungs as a result of smoking. The device is available through Boreal Laboratories (www.boreal.com). Although the device can be expensive (currently about $98.00 in 2007), it is good for 100 demonstrations. It does, however, require the burning of a cigarette (not included) which may not be permitted on some school campuses, even for demonstration purposes. Check with your administration for your school’s policies.
Key Terms: alveoli: small, sac-like structures in the lungs where oxygen exchange occurs blood vessels: the tubular system that carries blood throughout the body cilia: tiny hairlike structures that line the lungs and airways, that help move germs, dirt and mucus out of the lungs.
tar: “Tar” is the term given to the chemical residues left in the lungs as a result of smoking. These residues are irritants to lung tissue, can damage the cell structures responsible for ridding the lungs of dirt and germs, and are the chief casue of cellular damage that leads to diseases such as chronic bronchitis, emphysema and lung cancer.
Page 6.4.1
Lesson 6-4: Take a Deep Breath
Procedures: 1. Review with the class the material from the previous lesson. The principle concepts are that the heart beats to pump blood throughout the body; that the blood is carrying, among other things, oxygen that the body’s tissue needs; and that this oxygen is picked up in the lungs through the act of breathing.
2. Ask students: What happens inside your lungs when you breathe? What happened with your breathing when you jumped up and down in the previous lesson? Why do you think you had to breathe harder? Did you have to think about breathing harder? Explain to students that their lungs are the organs that draw in the oxygen that the body needs to survive. As the body requires more oxygen—for example, during the jumping exercise, when the body’s muscles are working hard to create movement—the lungs must work harder to take in the oxygen the body needs.
3. Ask students: As you inhale, what goes in? (Answer: oxygen from the inhaled air.) What comes out? (Answer: carbon dioxide waste from the body.) Explain that the lungs draw in air as they expand and contract through breathing. Point out that the air is drawn down the wind pipe, or trachea, where it divides into two branches called bronchi. These bronchi continue to divide into smaller and smaller branches, much like a tree, until the tubes are as thin as a hair. These tiny tubes are called bronchioles. There are about 30,000 bronchioles in each lung. At the end of each bronchiole is a clump of tiny air sacs called alveoli. They look like clusters of small grapes, and there are about 600 million of these alveoli in your lungs. It is said that one person’s alveoli, if taken from the lungs and spread flat, would cover a tennis court.
L64_Alveoli
Each of the alveoli in the lungs are surrounded by a fine network of tiny blood vessels, called capillaries. As a person inhales, oxygen passes through the alveoli tissue and into the blood stream, and trades places with the carbon dioxide waste, which leaves the blood and passes through the alveoli back into the lungs. As the person exhales, the carbon dioxide waste is expelled from the body. This process is called gas or oxygen exchange.
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Lesson 6-4: Take a Deep Breath
Procedures (continued) 4. Ask students: What else is in the air we breathe? In addition to oxygen, air contains many other gases, and other matter such as dirt, germs and dust. What happens to these materials in the lungs? The lungs produce a mucus-like substance that lines the tissue, and helps to trap particles of dirt and other foreign material. The lungs and airways are also lined with tiny hair-like structures, called cilia, which move back and forth to push the dirt up and out of the lungs. Whenever a person coughs or clears their throat, they are actually clearing some of this material out of their body.
Ask students: How many of you know someone who smokes? What is one thing you might notice about people who smoke? Why do you think they have to cough? Explain that when a person smokes, the heat and smoke particles can be very irritating. The smoke also damages the cilia that move mucus out of the lungs, making it more likely that germs, dirt and other contaminants (together with the mucus) will get trapped in the lungs. Explain that, especially for someone who has smoked for many years, or who smokes a great deal, the cilia cells become so damaged, they lose almost any ability to keep the lungs and airways clean. The result is the deep, hacking cough known as “smoker’s cough.” The deep cough is a result of the lungs trying to clear much of this gunky mucus.
5. In addition, when a person smokes, the smoke itself contains many harmful chemicals that can hurt the lungs. The smoke also leaves behind in the lungs a sticky residue commonly called tar. Use the mechanical smoker to demonstrate the accumulation of tars in the lungs. Tar is a dark, sticky film that coats the inside of the lungs, turning them from a healthy pink to a dark, sickly brown.
6. These tars cause damage to the alveoli where oxygen exchange takes place. Ask student volunteers to hold the wire mesh over an aluminum tray. Have another student take a cup of sand and pour it through the wire mesh into the aluminum tray below. Explain that this is how oxygen typically crosses through the alveoli and into the blood stream. Now have a student pour a cup of brown rice onto the mesh. Explain that in the lungs, the tar from cigarette smoke coats the alveoli. Have a student pour a second cup of sand on top of the rice. Show that the sand flows much more slowly, if at all, and explain that the tar makes it much more difficult for the oxygen exchange to take place. Thus, the lungs become much more inefficient at drawing in the oxygen the body needs to function.
7. In some people, the damage to the alveoli becomes so great that they develop emphysema, a disease in which the alveoli are progressively destroyed. No matter how deeply a person with emphysema inhales, their lungs cannot absorb any oxygen. Explain that for people with emphysema, even simple tasks like walking
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Lesson 6-4: Take a Deep Breath
Procedures (continued) across a room is impossible because the body cannot take in enough oxygen to accomplish even that small degree of activity.
8. The chemicals in tobacco smoke can also damage the lung tissue and cause lung cancer, a disease that causes the destruction of healthy lung tissue. Smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in this country.
9. Ask students: Who knows what else in the body gets damaged by smoking? Explain that when the blood absorbs oxygen in the lungs, it also absorbs many of the chemicals that are in tobacco smoke. These chemicals can cause atherosclerosis, a gradual clogging and narrowing of the arteries that carry freshly oxygenated blood to the body’s tissues and organs. Use the PVC pipes or cardboard tubes, opening them to show the students the smooth insides. Explain that in a young healthy person, the inside of their blood vessels is smooth like the tubes. In the second tube, use clumps of Play-doh and smash them into the interior walls of the tube. Explain that smoking promotes the buildup of deposits on the insides of the blood vessels that interfere with blood flow, or may even stop the blood flow altogether. Close each of the tubes, and then ask the class to crumple small pieces of paper into small balls that can pass through the tubes. Have them slide these balls into the tubes and have them observe the difficulties the balls have in passing through the Play-doh impregnated tube. Explain that if a blockage occurs in one of the arteries that supply oxygen to the heart, the result can be a heart attack, where heart tissue dies because of a lack of oxygen. The narrowing of blood vessels can also lead to high blood pressure and strokes, in which narrowing or a clog results in either the blockage of blood to parts of the brain, or where damaged blood vessels break, resulting in bleeding in the brain. The result is that brain tissue can die, often leading to paralysis or death.
Journal: If people know that smoking is bad for them, why do so many start smoking anyway? Knowing the facts, would YOU want to start smoking?
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