This special is one of fifteen Service Learning Standards Based Models 
For more Service Learning activities Connecting Classrooms~Communities~Careers
visit bostonteachnet.org or contact  Barbara Locurto  IMPACT II @ School-to-Career, 
Boston Public Schools

Public Safety
Make Smoking History
with a Quit Smoking Day

Arts, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies

Connecting
Classrooms older & younger students
Communities school & neighborhood groups
Careers  arts, advertising, health care, safety 
 

How does nicotine addiction threaten young people's health?  
When high school students agree to organize a Quit Smoking campaign, they not only inform their peers and younger children about this deadly habit, they also help several classmates to successfully quit. Supported by Internet research, students study the physiological effects of tobacco on the human body. Internet links also point to several Web sites outlining how national legislation funds campaigns that educate on teenage smoking. Dialogues on federal sanctions against the industry's advertising tactics elicit an exchange of personal experiences. Students describe how hands-off government policies in their own countries of origin encourage smoking with disastrous effects on entire populations. Following a computer slide production for younger students and teachers, these high schoolers organize a Quit Smoking Day where former teenage smokers testify on how they have quit - dramatic evidence that peer support plus education can make smoking history.
Resources worksheets, guides, statistics & graphics downloaded from the Internet
Technology search Internet, produce computer slide presentations, word process & scan photos for graphs & posters
Web Sites Freshair (especially for teens); Get Outraged;  Try to Stop
Community Partners neighboring schools, local health clinic, state department of public health

Learning Standards Classroom Activities Service Activities
o Identify social & personal issues to be addressed through scientific study (S)
o Use telecommunications to share information & ideas (ELA) 
  		o Share stories of loved ones afflicted with smoking related diseases 
o Agree to organize a Quit Smoking campaign
o Create virtual memorials to loved ones who smoked on an interactive Web page 		o Plan, schedule & coordinate Quit Smoking Day with school administrator
o Post campaign description to interactive Web page users
o Communicate results obtained from research through models & illustrations (S) 
 		o Search Internet for nicotine's physical effects 
o Word process & design posters showing evidence of tobacco's lethal consequences 		 o Distribute & display posters in local schools & youth centers
o Interview medical researcher, bio-engineer or practicing biologist (S)
o Connect study of science & technology to a variety of career opportunities (S)  		o Invite health care worker to classroom
o Interview speaker about economic effects of smoking on the health care industry
o Create charts, graphs & tables of statistics
o Survey students & identify those who have successfully quit smoking		  o Present statistics at learning festivals, science fairs & other schoolwide events
o Interpret charts, graphs & tables to younger students
o Encourage students to personally testify on how to quit
o Explore the role economics plays in shaping society (SS)
o Incorporate multiple causes in analyses & explanations of con-temporary questions (SS)  		o Read history of the FDA's efforts to regulate advertising & legislate against teenage smoking
o Compare & contrast policies of other countries on taxing, importing & using tobacco 
o Study proposed legislation that makes illegal tobacco possession or use by persons under 19 		 o Lobby for support of anti-smoking legislation with letters, phone calls & e-mail to media, local legislators & community leaders
o Publicize upcoming legislation through-out school 
o Collaborate on project that applies learning to educate others  o Assemble research material on smoking for computer slide show
o Conduct high school Quit Smoking Day
o Publicize Web sites on smoking cessation		  o Present computer slide show to classrooms & schools
o Award certificates to participants in Quit Smoking Day