HIV/AIDS Education - Grade 7

Overview of HIV/AIDS Education in Grades 6-9

Refer to the Teacher Background Information located in the HIV/AIDS Education Unit for grade 6 which contains current, accurate, and age appropriate information regarding HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS Education

Foundational Objectives and Learning Objectives

Level A - Extend Knowledge Base

Foundational Objectives

Students will know and use appropriate health resources to develop a factual information base about HIV/AIDS .

Students will understand the body's immune system and the effects the HI virus has upon it.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• identify HIV/AIDS information sources
• examine personal knowledge in terms of what they already know and what they want to know (CCT)
• identify selection criteria for sources of information
• distinguish between primary and secondary sources of information, and expert and non-expert sources (C)
• identify behaviours that do not put a person at risk for contracting HIV
• explain the potential stages of HIV infection
• identify signs and symptoms of HIV infection
• be aware of testing for HIV
• describe the body's immune system and its destruction by the HI virus
• understand that AIDS is a syndrome caused by HIV infection
• gather accurate, up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS from a variety of sources
• seek out information from people who may be knowledgeable (e.g., parents, teachers, community agencies, and health care workers) (IL)
• seek information through a steadily expanding network of options, including other libraries and databases (IL)
• explore the role and influence of technology in the gathering, processing, and disseminating of HIV/AIDS information (TL)
• render a judgement about various sources of information and support that judgement by referring to clearly defined criteria (CCT)
• evaluate the source of HIV/AIDS information.

Level B - Make an Informed Decision

Foundational Objective

Students will practise evaluating HIV/AIDS information for the purpose of deciding which resources to retain as part of a factual information base upon which to make health-enhancing decisions.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• explore the challenges of evaluating HIV/ AIDS information
• identify and understand persuasion and propaganda techniques (e.g., loaded words, unsubstantiated claims, and others) (C).
• develop an awareness of the reporting techniques commonly used by special interest groups to shape the impact of quantitative data and to influence the uncritical reader, listener, viewer, or consumer (N)
• list strategies to use in evaluating HIV/AIDS information
• explore the consequences of not evaluating HIV/AIDS information
• establish goals to access and evaluate HIV/AIDS information.

Level C - Carry Out Action Plan

Foundational Objective

Students will design and implement action plans to maintain a current and dynamic HIV/AIDS information base.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• consciously evaluate what is being read, heard, or viewed (CCT)
• design and carry out action plans to maintain an accurate, up-to-date, factual information base using at least three reliable sources
• evaluate their personal action plans and re-design them as necessary (IL).

Unit At a Glance

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: structured overview	Provide students with an overview of what is to be included in this unit of study.
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming	Introduce the unit by using brainstorming as a way of reviewing sources of HIV/AIDS information. Debrief by asking students to group or categorize the sources. For example: popular magazines special interest group publications medical journals or other health professional journals newspapers books TV documentaries Internet CD-ROMs. Note: Ensure that students' ideas are recorded on flipchart paper as the sources of information generated during the brainstorming activity will be referred to in Step 2 of the Decision-making Process (Research the issue. Find the facts.).

Decision-making Process Level A - Extend Knowledge Base 2. Research the issue. Find the facts. Learning Objectives Students will identify selection criteria for sources of information. Students will distinguish between primary and secondary sources of information, and expert and non-expert sources (C).

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture	Review the criteria presented in grade 6 regarding the selection of reliable sources of information. See the Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Sources of Information (Grade 6) in the Appendix following the grade 6 sample units. Introduce additional criteria to be used in selecting reliable resources. The additions for grade 7 include those identified below. Author The author is a recognized expert in the discipline in which the author is writing. Source The source is interested in sharing information, not in presenting a narrow or biased viewpoint, or in making a profit. A Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Sources of Information (Grade 7) is located in Appendix 7-B. It is an elaboration of what was provided in grade 6. Teachers can use this sample as a starting point. Adapt th e checklist, turn it into a rating scale, or work together as a class to design an alternative instrument.
Direct Instruction: demonstration	Use three or four teacher-selected resources to demonstrate the use of the checklist or rating scale. It may be helpful to ensure that one source of information was prepared by a non-expert author, and that a second source includes considerable bias wi th little or no supporting evidence.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and Interactive Instruction: discussion	Review the concept of primary, secondary, expert, and non-expert sources of information. A primary source is one that reports research or information first-hand. A secondary source quotes a primary source or reports research second-hand. An expert sour ce is an organization or a person with professional credentials and/or first-hand knowledge. A non-expert source is an organization or person without credentials or first-hand knowledge. A non-expert source often quotes secondary sources of information an d expresses personal opinion. Refer to the sources of information generated by the students in the brainstorming activity of Step 1: Reflect on what you know about the issue. Discuss which sources of information are primary sources and which are secondary sources. Also, identify expert and non-expert sources.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Indirect Instruction: reflective discussion	Create two headings on the chalkboard: Transmission and Prevention. Facilitate a discussion that reviews the ways in which the HI virus is transmitted and ways to avoid or reduce the risk of HIV infection (see the grade 6 HIV/AIDS Education Unit). As s tudents mention key points, make note of them beneath the appropriate chalkboard heading. Bring closure to the discussion by presenting everyday behaviours that do not put a person at risk for contracting the HI virus. These may include: eating together using public washrooms and drinking fountains shaking someone's hand or giving a person a hug.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture	Present the stages of HIV infection from the initial infection with the HI virus, through early AIDS symptoms, to full-blown AIDS and the opportunistic infections it can include. Below are two commonly asked questions. Including answers to these questions within the content of the mini-lecture may help alleviate some fears of some students. How long can a person be infected with the HI virus before being diagnosed with AIDS? Does everyone diagnosed with AIDS die?
Direct Instruction: guest speaker and/or mini-lecture	Ensure that the students understand that AIDS is not a distinct disease in and of itself. AIDS is a syndrome. The immune system becomes weakened to the point that AIDS patients often cope with what are referred to as opportunistic infections. The guest speaker or mini-lecture needs to answer questions such as, 'What are the illnesses that affect people with AIDS?' and 'What is it like to have AIDS?'.
Direct Instruction: guides for reading, listening, and viewing	The signs and symptoms of HIV infection can also be presented by a guest speaker if one is invited to the school. This information is also available in pamphlet, book, and video form. The learning objective for HIV testing features the word 'awareness'. Detail is not necessary here, but it may be reassuring for students to know that testing procedures are available.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and guides for reading, listening, and viewing	Review the immune system, which was introduced in grade 1 and revisited at other grade levels, with particular emphasis in grade 3. Provide an overview of the immune system, explaining the role it plays in our well-being and how it is destroyed by the HI virus. Two videos, The Immune System: Your Body's Personal Defense System and Understanding HIV: A Modern Day Pirate, are annotated in Health Education: A Bibliography for the Middle Level (1998). Both are strong supports to helpin g students understand the immune system and how it is destroyed by the HI Virus. Assign individual students or pairs of students to gather accurate, up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS. You may wish to divide more specific topics among students: non-risking behaviours, the stages of HIV/AIDS infection, the immune system and how i t is affected by the HI virus, and AIDS as a syndrome of opportunistic infections. Establish a due date as to when the materials are to be collected and brought to the classroom. Set a minimum and maximum number of resources, from two or three different s ources, to be gathered per student or pair of students. Encourage students to gather information in non-print as well as print form. Have students consider how technology influences the gathering of information. Also, have students consider how technology shapes or influences the overall message. Inform stu dents that they will be required to justify that the sources of information they submit rate favourably when measured against the selection criteria for author and source.
Interactive Instruction peer practice	When all resources are gathered, ask pairs of students to use the class-designed checklist or rating scale, or the Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Sources of Information (Grade 7) (see Appendix 7-B) to evalu ate the sources of information that they have each gathered. Advise students, in advance, that their written evaluations of these sources are to be submitted as part of their assessment.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming or discussion	During the brainstorming session or discussion, students may identify the following challenges: How do I know if the research was carried out in a scientific fashion? How do I know if the findings are reliable? What if the study was funded by a particular agency and as a result only particular findings are being reported? How do I recognize such practices? How strong is the evidence? Has any significant information been omitted? Introduce students to some of the proactive strategies of evaluating information. Remind students that, earlier in this unit, they evaluated sources of information. In this portion of the unit they will be evaluating the information itself.
Indirect Instruction: concept attainment	Concept attainment is suggested as an instructional method teachers might use in assisting students to identify and understand persuasion and propaganda techniques in HIV/AIDS information. Through this method, students work with examples and non-exampl es of such practices as using loaded words and unsubstantiated claims.
Direct Instruction: demonstration	Students may have worked with the Numeracy learning objective in other areas of Health Education. For example, they may have examined salad dressing or snack food products that claim to be '30% less fat'. The critical consumer asks, '30% less than what ?'. Students may have discovered that the product claiming to be 30% less in fat is actually higher in fat content than another comparable product. Remind students that they need to be critical consumers of health-related information in general, and HIV/A IDS information in particular. Caution students that special interest groups often report data in ways that reflect the beliefs or values of that group. Provide examples of quantitative data being reported in such a way as to influence the uncritical read er or listener.
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming	As a means of review, ask students to brainstorm a list of strategies they might use to evaluate information about HIV/AIDS. Students may recall the following from previous work: ensure that the information is current (copyright is within five years) beware of personal observations or testimonials that are not supported by reliable scientific data search for information based upon sound scientific data read/listen to ensure that statements that sound or read like truth or fact are actually supported by empirical evidence; if not, such statements are the view or opinion of the author search for ambiguous statements or claims watch for over-generalizations examine any visuals to determine their purpose or intent find out what group or organization funded the research and explore its agenda or mandate.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and demonstration	Build upon existing strategies by adding the following: move beyond the visuals into the content to determine the main purpose of the article, speech, or video examine ambiguous statements and claims to look for loaded words continue to search for information based upon sound scientific data, but also search for examples of unsubstantiated claims determine the evidence upon which the author's claim is based determine the assumptions upon which the author's claim or position is based check for biased reporting techniques check for any significant information being omitted search for sensationalism and/or scare tactics check further if the information is inconsistent with other reliable information on the same topic. A Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Information (Grade 7) is provided as Appendix 7-C. The strategies for evaluating information, as listed above, are included on the checklist.
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups (Think-Pair-Share/1-2-4)	The Think-Pair-Share instructional method is suggested as a means of having students explore the consequences of not evaluating HIV/AIDS information. As they move from the Think stage to the Pair stage, prompt students to consider both short-term and l ong-term consequences. As they move from the Pair stage to the Share stage, suggest that they consider consequences not only for individuals, but also for friends, families, and communities. See Appendix 7-N for a sample work sheet that can also be used by grade 7 students. The title of the worksheet is Sample Decision Making in the HIV/AIDS Education Unit (Grade 7). Debrief the Think-Pair-Share activity with a class discussion about the consequences of not evaluating HIV/AIDS information.
Independent Study: homework	As indicated in the foundational objectives for Levels A, B, and C of this unit, students are expected to access and evaluate multiple resources for purposes of maintaining a current and dynamic HIV/AIDS information base. As stated in the Level C learn ing objective, each student is to maintain an information base of at least three reliable sources. Here, at the end of Level B, each student is expected to write a goal statement around which he or she can design an action plan. Below is an example of a student goal statement that reflects the focus for grade 7: To help me in my commitment to live an AIDS-free lifestyle, I will maintain an accurate, up-to-date, factual information base of at least three reliable sources.

Instructional Strategies/Methods

Teaching Notes Each student designs a short-term action plan that can be carried out in a school term. The plan states specifically what the student intends to do. Remind students to do a 'feasibility check' before submitting their action plan. They should ask themse lves 'Can this action plan be completed in the amount of time allocated?'. Action plans also include a support system. Review the meaning of motivational support and moral support. Students should consider these when approaching someone to be the support person(s) for their action plan. Encourage students and support people t o set 'check-in dates'. Check-in dates are simply prearranged times for the student and support person to check and see if everything is on track. Such dates also provide an opportunity for students to give themselves small rewards (e.g., for having accom plished a particular task).

Independent Study: learning contracts

Grade 7 students may find it helpful to have an action plan outline with which to work. A Sample HIV/AIDS Education Action Plan (Grade 7: Commit Self) can be found in Appendix 7-O. Allow class time for these to be completed, or establish a submission date for completion. The student, teacher, and support person(s) sign the action plan at the time of its design. An assessment of the feasibility of the plan can be conducted at this time. Step 6, in which students evaluate and revise their plans, occurs later in the term or semester. The parties meet on the completion date to do a final evaluation of the plan. The evaluation process includes the student, the support person(s), and the t eacher.