HIV/AIDS Education - Grade 9

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 Objective

Students will know and use appropriate health resources to increase their understanding of HIV/AIDS as a social and medical issue .

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• identify how families and friends can help people with HIV/AIDS cope with physical, emotional, and social needs
• examine personal knowledge in terms of what they already know and what they want to know (CCT)
• identify how families and friends can help connect people living with HIV/AIDS to community support groups
• identify ways in which families and communities can help people living with HIV/AIDS overcome the stigma of the disease and obtain the support and services they need
• seek out information from people who may be knowledgeable (e.g., parents, teachers, guidance counsellors, community agencies, and health care workers) (IL)
• explore the role and influence of technology in the gathering, processing, and disseminating of HIV/AIDS information (TL)
• distinguish between primary, secondary, expert, and non-expert sources of information (C)
• recognize that HIV infection is linked to risky behaviours, not to particular groups of people
• act upon the principle of respect for persons (PSVS)
• seek information through a steadily expanding network of options, including other libraries and databases (IL)
• evaluate the sources of HIV/AIDS information and the information itself
• consciously evaluate what is being read, heard, or viewed (CCT)
• determine the leadership skills and health promotion strategies that might apply for grade 9 students and the topic of HIV/AIDS as a social and medical issue.

Level B - Make an Informed Decision

Foundational Objective

Students will decide how to assess the community's present and projected response to HIV/AIDS.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• explore the challenges of attempting to assess the community's present and projected response to HIV/AIDS
• list ways to assess the community's present and projected response to HIV/AIDS
• predict the consequences of various assessment strategies
• render a judgement and support that judgement by referring to clearly defined criteria (CCT)
• establish a goal to assess the community's present and projected response to HIV/AIDS.

Level C - Carry Out Action Plan

Foundational Objective

Students will design and implement an action plan to determine the community's present and projected response to HIV/AIDS.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• design action plans to discover any efforts in their community to provide support or services for people living with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers
• consciously evaluate what is being read, heard, or viewed concerning the community's projected response to HIV/AIDS (CCT)
• evaluate their 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.
Interactive Instruction: talking circle/ circle of knowledge	Review the signs and symptoms of HIV infection, the potential stages of HIV infection, and the destruction of the immune system by the HI virus. Also, review some of the opportunistic infections that occur as part of the AIDS syndrome. Note: This content was addressed in the grade 7 HIV/AIDS Education Unit.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture or guest speaker	Use the students' prior knowledge as a starting point for presenting the physical, emotional, and social needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. Physical Needs clean clothes food medicine Emotional Needs comfort hope humor love patience understanding Social Needs accomplishment belonging companionship usefulness Bring closure to the guest speaker's presentation or to the mini-lecture by indicating that, while this unit of study concentrates on HIV/AIDS, the fact is that all people living with life threatening or degenerative health conditions have similar need s.
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups	Divide the class into small groups. Have each group consider the needs identified above and list ways in which families and friends can help people living with HIV/AIDS. Students may list some of the following ways of helping: collect books, magazines, games, clothing for people with HIV/AIDS create cards and letters of caring support for people with HIV/AIDS and for their caregivers deliver meals to people with HIV/AIDS at times when they are unable to prepare their own visit the hospital wing for children with HIV/AIDS and read stories or play games with the children write letters to health districts asking for funding and community support for people living with HIV/AIDS. The physical, emotional, and social needs of people living with AIDS are presented in the novel, The Eagle Kite. The resource also describes ways in which a neighbour helps. Use the resource to initiate discussion about some of the barriers that exist for people with serious health conditions. Facilitate a discussion of such questions as: Why might a person require donated clothes? Why might a person need assistance with meals? Why might a person need hospital visitors?

Student Assessment Techniques There are many ways to assess the degree to which students can identify how families and friends can help people with HIV/AIDS cope. For some students, it may be appropriate to have them list the physical, emotional, and social needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and give examples of helping strategies. Other students could write an article in the school newsletter or make a presentation at a parent council meeting informing target audiences of the needs of HIV/AIDS patients and how friends and famil y can help. The last two suggestions assess students' learning and at the same time correspond to the grade nine Health Education perspective of promoting health.

Decision-making Process Level A - Extend Knowledge Base 2. Research the issue. Find the facts. Learning Objectives Students will identify how families and friends can help connect people living with HIV/AIDS to community support groups. Students will identify ways in which families and communities can help people living with HIV/AIDS overcome the stigma of the disease and obtain the support and services they need. Students will seek information from people who may be knowledgeable (e.g., parents, teachers, guidance counsellors, community agencies, and health care workers) (IL). Students will distinguish between primary, secondary, expert, and non-expert sources of information (C).

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture or guest speaker or Interactive Instruction: panel	Review the physical, social, and emotional needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. Review the needs of HIV/AIDS patients that can be met by family and friends. Pose the question, 'What needs of people with HIV/AIDS do family members and friends need help to meet?'. Some examples are: medical treatment housing counselling. In order to connect people living with HIV/AIDS to community support groups, it is important to know what community support groups exist and what services and/or supports they provide. Through a mini-lecture, the teacher could provide students with a l ist of community resources and a synopsis of their services. A guest speaker or panel of speakers could also provide students with information. Resource people from hospitals, hospices, home care agencies, self-help groups, and other agencies could descri be to students how they help people living with HIV/AIDS. Regardless of which instructional method is used, it is important to take the time to review what has been learned about primary, secondary, expert, and non-expert sources of information. In terms of community agencies, a spokesperson for the agency is an expert source. Such people know their agency and its services best.
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming	A community needs to ensure that the people who need services know about the agencies and the services they provide. Have students brainstorm ways in which they can inform people about the services in their own community. Students may suggest some of t he following ideas: gather and post various organizations' (i.e., hospitals, hospices, home care agencies, self-help groups) brochures on bulletin boards to inform the general public gather and deliver organizations' brochures to people living with HIV/AIDS and/or their caregivers.
Direct Instruction: guides for reading, listening, and viewing	Review the portions of the video, All About Eve, that described the stigma of HIV/AIDS and the experiences of Eve and her family. (All About Eve supported the grade 8 HIV/AIDS Education unit.) Show the video Close to Home for the purpose of identifying ways in which communities can help people with HIV/AIDS overcome the stigma of the disease and obtain the support and services they need. Questions such as the following may prepare stu dents for viewing the video and for debriefing after viewing. What stigma did Tammy and her sons encounter? Give examples. Who helped them overcome that stigma? What else could have been done? By whom? What support did Tammy and her sons require? What services did they require? Who helped Tammy and her family obtain those supports and services? What else could have been done? By whom?
Interactive Instruction: discussion	To bring closure to this portion of the unit, facilitate a class listing of what communities might do to help people and families living with HIV/AIDS. The list may include: establishing AIDS networks/groups arranging babysitting for families with children providing counsellors providing education about HIV/AIDS in schools and in the community in order to counteract misinformation providing services through hospitals, hospices, and home care workers encouraging the media to provide public information to eradicate myths about HIV/AIDS (newspaper, television, radio) organizing self-help support groups organizing for spiritual support through churches, healing circles, mosques, synagogues, etc. arranging tutors for school-age children who miss school.

Student Assessment Techniques A case study can be used to assess students' knowledge about HIV/AIDS, community support groups, stigmas, and services. Another assessment suggestion is to have students write and possibly produce a public announcement based upon their understanding o f the learning objectives. To assess students' understanding of primary, secondary, expert, and non-expert sources of information, students can be presented with a list of sources and then asked to place them in one or more of the four categories. They should explain their answe rs.

Decision-making Process Level A - Extend Knowledge Base 2. Research the issue. Find the facts. Learning Objectives Students will recognize that HIV infection is linked to risky behaviours, not to particular groups of people. Students will act upon the principle of respect for persons (PSVS). Students will seek information through a steadily expanding network of options, including other libraries and databases (IL). Students will evaluate the sources of HIV/AIDS information and the information itself. Students will consciously evaluate what is being read, heard, or viewed (CCT). Students will explore the role and influence of technology in the gathering, processing, and disseminating of HIV/AIDS information (TL). Students will determine the leadership skills and health promotion strategies that might apply for grade 9 students and the topic of HIV/AIDS as a social and medical issue.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Interactive Instruction: discussion	Review the four ways the HI virus is transmitted (blood products and transfusions, sexual intercourse, needle sharing, prenatal transmission).
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture	Review the criteria used for evaluating sources of information in grade 8 and the additional criterion suggested for grade 9. A Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Sources of Information is provided in Appendix 9-B .
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups	Have each student locate one source of information that explains HIV transmission. Arrange students in pairs and have each pair evaluate two sources of information. Have students discuss the ways in which technology influences the gathering of informat ion. Ask students to consider how technology shapes or influences the overall message. Notify students that their evaluation of these sources of information is being used for student assessment purposes.
Direct Instruction: mini-lecture and Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups	Introduce additional criteria to use when evaluating HIV/AIDS information. A Sample Checklist for Evaluating Health-related Information is provided in Appendix 9-C. Arrange students in small groups of three and have them e valuate three resources using the checklist provided. Inform students that their evaluation of these resources is being used as part of their assessment.
Interactive Instruction: discussion	Ask students the following question: 'Despite what we know about HIV transmission, are there some groups of people who have been unfairly blamed for the HIV/AIDS epidemic?'. Student responses might include gay people, hemophiliacs, and people from cert ain countries. Move the discussion to the risky behaviours that are responsible for transmitting HIV. Use the HIV/AIDS resources that have been evaluated and found to be reliable whenever clarification is required. The following are important points to make: Ensure that students understand that using needles is not a risky behaviour for acquiring HIV. Diabetics may inject insulin. That practice does not put them at risk for HIV. The risk factor is sharing needles with an infected person. Clarify that sexual intercourse within a monogamous relationship of uninfected partners is not a risk for HIV. The risky behaviour is unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected partner. Recall the video, Close to Home, where Tammy acquire d HIV from her husband. He, unknown to both of them, was an infected partner. You cannot tell who is HIV positive, and who is not, by simply looking at a person. Testing is the only way to know for sure. Inform students that a condom acts as a barrier against the HI virus during sexual intercourse. (Condoms have been shown to lower the risk of HIV transmission when used properly. However, the HI virus can be transmitted through sexual intercourse if a condom breaks or leaks.) Remind students that the risk of HIV infection through blood transfusion is remote. As of November 1985, Canada's blood supply is screened for the HI virus. Recall the video, All About Eve. She was infected by tainted blood as a very young chi ld. That was before the routine practice of testing blood for HIV.
Interactive Instruction: talking circle/ circle of knowledge or co-operative learning groups (Think-Pair-Share/1-2-4)	Ask each student to begin listing health promotion strategies or public campaign ideas to inform the community about HIV/AIDS. As students have just completed a discussion about risky behaviours, they may identify such strategies as: design posters to inform people about high-risk behaviours write a rap song that encourages people to avoid high-risk behaviours. Move the students into pairs. Invite them to combine their lists and add ways to inform the community that HIV is a social issue. They may suggest such strategies as: write a script for television or radio that informs the listeners/viewers about ways the community can help people living with HIV/AIDS create a presentation to be used with community officials, service clubs, school division boards, town councils, and others to inform them of ways in which the community can help people with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers. Have two pairs of students join to become a small group of four to add again to their lists. Encourage students to include strategies that promote an understanding of HIV/AIDS as a medical issue as well as a social issue. The small groups may add healt h promotion strategies such as: make a presentation to the health district board to encourage the board to include, in its budget plans, supports and services for people living with HIV/AIDS conduct a survey of the supports and services currently available in the community and include those results in a public information campaign form a theatre group to dramatize HIV/AIDS as a social and medical issue.
Direct Instruction: guest speaker	Invite a guest speaker to outline leadership skills. The speaker could be the guidance counsellor, a staff member, a senior student in charge of the peer support group, the president of the Student Representative Council (SRC), or a motivational speake r. Debrief the guest speaker's presentation by applying the outlined leadership skills to health promotion and issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. Leadership skills can be categorized in groupings such as: communication motivation teamwork refusal skills management skills (time management, prioritizing, and so on) decision-making skills skills to deal with change.

Student Assessment Techniques Student assessment data gathered throughout this portion of the unit includes each student's evaluation of two sources of HIV/AIDS transmission information, and his or her evaluation of the HIV/AIDS information in three resources. Completion of a cloz e procedure or development of a collage can be used to assess the degree to which students have attained the ability to recognize that HIV infection is linked to risky behaviours and the ability to determine health promotion strategies for the topic of HI V/AIDS. Student Evaluation for Level A of the Decision-making Process Each student's portfolio contains a listing of physical, social, and emotional needs accompanied by appropriate helping strategies, along with either a newsletter article or a presentation outline. Portfolios also contain cloze procedure results, a co llage, or a public announcement script, and data about primary and secondary information sources. Results of evaluating sources of information and the information itself are also included in student portfolios along with test results. This assessment data , at the end of Level A, must be judged and awarded a mark that represents a percentage of the student's mark for the HIV/AIDS Education unit.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Direct Instruction: structured overview	In this part of the unit, students plan a survey of their own community in order to learn about existing supports and services. In Level C, they will design an action plan to communicate the results of their survey to the community. A few survey questi ons are provided in Appendix 9-K as starting points. Have students conduct interviews to survey the local community on the support and services available to meet the physical, emotional, and social needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. Interviews can be planned with local church leaders, health care work ers, social services agencies, and community agencies. Have students compile the results of the survey for two purposes: to outline the strengths of the community in responding to the needs of persons living with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers to determine the action still required to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers.
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming or discussion	During a brainstorming session or discussion, students may identify the following challenges related to surveying the community: Will we conduct face-to-face interviews or phone interviews? Who will we survey? How do we know that we have consulted with all the significant sources of information? Who will gather the data? How do we ensure that we are gathering the data in a consistent fashion? Who will compile the results? How will the results be compiled? Who will analyze the results into current strengths and action still needed? How will that information be shared and with whom?
Direct Instruction: guest speaker or mini-lecture and Interactive Instruction: discussion	After students have compiled their list of challenges, address each of the challenges one-by-one in a mini-lecture and/or discussion. Invite other knowledgeable people into the classroom to address challenges with which the classroom teacher would like assistance (e.g., survey design, data analysis).
Interactive Instruction: brainstorming	Have students generate a list of ways they could survey the community to assess its current response to HIV/AIDS. (Such strategies may have surfaced in their list of challenges.) Students might suggest: face-to-face interviews telephone interviews mailing a survey instrument.
Direct Instruction: demonstration	Throughout grades six to eight, students generated alternatives and examined their short-term and long-term consequences in Level B of the Decision-making Process. Throughout grade 9, students have judged alternatives based upon specific criteria. The following criteria may be useful in deciding which method of surveying the community is best: response Which alternative is likely to get a high percentage of response from our target audience? time Which survey takes the most/least amount of time? effort Which survey method is the most/least labour intensive? cost Which survey method costs the most/least? reliability Which method will result in the most/least reliable results? Develop a matrix and place the alternatives along the first column and the criteria along the top row. See Appendix 9-L. Rate each alternative against each criteria using L (low), M (medium), or H (high). A numerical ratin g could also be used, where 1 might be low or poor and 5 might be high or very good. response time effort cost reliability Face-to-face H L Telephone H L Mail L-M M Rating each alternative against specific criteria will clarify which method of surveying the community is best. As a class, develop a goal statement. It might be something like the following: 'Our goal is to survey key sources of information in our community to determine what supports and services are in place to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers. We will compile the results for purposes of describing the strengths of the local community in responding to the physical, social, and emotional needs of people with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers, and determining what supports and services are still needed.'

Student Assessment Techniques In this unit, for this grade level, students worked through Level B as a group. The concept of establishing criteria and using them as a means of comparing alternatives was taught and demonstrated by the teacher. Up to this point, student assessment d ata for Level B has not been gathered. One way of assessing each student's achievement of these learning objectives is to provide them with a case study designed to give students background information on a community. The students are asked to reflect on the information provided in the case study and to outline possible strategies to assess the community's present and projected response to an identified need. They are also asked to render a judgement and support their judgement by referring to clearly def ined criteria. The last expectation is to have the students establish a goal based upon the information provided in the case study and their decision-making process. Student Evaluation Techniques for Level B of the Decision-making Process Use the assessment data to make a judgement and assign a mark that reflects each student's Level B progress.

Instructional Strategies/Methods	Teaching Notes
Interactive Instruction: co-operative learning groups	Remind students that 'promote health' is the focus of grade 9 Health Education. Conducting the community survey, compiling its results, and communicating the results are opportunities for students to demonstrate their leadership skills and to practise some health promotion strategies. Their Level C action plan, therefore, should be directed at communicating the results of their survey to a target audience in their own community. Arranging work teams of students is a good starting point. Students need to determine tasks that need to be done by their team and which team member will take responsibility for specific items. Teams also need to develop their action plans. Remind students that action plans most likely to succeed are those that contain adequate detail surrounding basic elements of Who, Where, What, When, Why, and How. Appendix 9-F provides a Sample 5WH Checklist for Planning.
Independent Study: learning contracts	When students have completed their action plans, provide class time for each work team to examine its action plan and to assess it based upon the Sample Rubric for Evaluating the Elements of an Action Plan to Promote Health. It can be found in Appendix 9-H. Students may decide to refine the assessment tool and/or their plan. Ask students to submit their original plans, their revised plans, and reasons for the revisions. This is valuable student assessment data for Level C.
Independent Study: learning contracts	Step 6 (evaluation and revision) occurs at the conclusion of the action plan. The parties involved meet at an agreed-to time and place to complete the assessment process and evaluate the plan. The design elements of the plan were assessed during the de sign phase using a rubric. The plan can be evaluated after implementation using the Sample Rubric for Evaluating the Elements of an Action Plan to Promote Health. The actual implementation of the action plan can be evaluated using the Sample Rubric for Ev aluating the Implementation of an Action Plan to Promote Health, found in Appendix 9-I. The evaluation process includes the student, the support person(s), and the teacher.

Student Assessment Techniques At this time, the action plan is an assessment instrument. The elements of the action plan are the focal point of assessment, and Appendix 9-H is a key assessment tool. Student Evaluation Techniques for Level C of the Decision-making Process When the action plan has been completed, a judgement or evaluation needs to be made. Assessment data are gathered by each member of the team. Use the assessment data gathered throughout Level C and assign a Level C mark. A student's mark for the entir e unit is based upon Level A evaluation, Level B evaluation, and Level C evaluation.