Your Brain on Choices

Tennille Deming Perkins

Tier 1

Lesson Plan

Your Brain on Choices

Students will identify at least three immediate effects of drugs and alcohol on the developing brain and recognize how these substances impair decision-making.

Understanding the direct impact of substances on their brains helps students make informed choices about their health and future. This lesson connects directly to their developing bodies and minds.

Audience

8th Grade

Time

15 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion and visual representation.

Materials

Smartboard or Projector, Your Brain on Choices Slide Deck, Whiteboard or Chart Paper, and Markers

Prep

Review Materials

5 minutes

Review the Your Brain on Choices Slide Deck to familiarize yourself with the content.
- Gather markers and prepare a whiteboard or chart paper for student responses.
- Ensure projector/Smartboard is set up and working.

Step 1

Introduction & Hook

2 minutes

Begin by asking students: "How does your brain help you make decisions every day?"
- Briefly discuss responses, highlighting the brain's role in thinking, feeling, and choosing.

Step 2

The Developing Brain & Substances

5 minutes

Present slides from the Your Brain on Choices Slide Deck explaining the developing brain.
- Discuss how drugs and alcohol affect different brain regions and functions, especially decision-making.
- Pose questions like: "What happens to your ability to think clearly when your brain is affected by substances?"

Step 3

Activity: Decision Crossroads

6 minutes

Introduce the "Decision Crossroads" activity (explained on the slides and in the Your Brain on Choices Activity).
- Divide students into small groups or conduct as a whole-class brainstorm.
- Ask them to identify common peer pressure scenarios and discuss how substances might influence choices in those situations.
- Have groups share one scenario and its potential substance-influenced outcome, recording key points on the whiteboard.

Step 4

Wrap-Up & Reflection

2 minutes

Briefly summarize the key takeaways: substances impact brain development and decision-making.
- Emphasize the importance of making healthy choices.
- Distribute the Cool Down: My Brain's Power for individual reflection.

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Slide Deck

Your Brain on Choices: Smart Decisions

How does your brain help you make decisions every day? Think about choosing what to eat, what to wear, or even how to respond to a friend. Your brain is involved in all of it!

Welcome students and introduce the topic by asking about the brain's role in daily decisions. Encourage a brief class discussion to activate prior knowledge.

Your Developing Brain: Still Under Construction!

Did you know your brain isn't fully grown until your mid-20s?

Especially: The part that helps you make smart decisions, plan, and control your impulses! It's like a building under construction, getting stronger every day.

Explain that the adolescent brain is still developing, especially the prefrontal cortex responsible for decision-making and impulse control. Use simple language and relatable analogies.

Substances & Your Brain: What Happens?

When drugs or alcohol enter your developing brain, they can:

* Slow Down Thinking: Making it harder to concentrate or understand things.

Mess with Memory: Forgetting things that just happened.
Impact Reaction Time: Making you slower to respond.
Hijack Decisions: Making it harder to think through consequences and make good choices.

Introduce the concept of how drugs and alcohol interfere with brain development. Focus on immediate effects on decision-making, memory, and reaction time. Emphasize that these effects are more pronounced in a developing brain.

Activity: Decision Crossroads

Imagine you're at a crossroads, needing to make a decision.

Your Challenge: How might drugs or alcohol change the path you take?

* Work with your group.

Think of a real-life situation where someone might be pressured to use substances.
Discuss how using substances might affect their decision in that moment.
Be ready to share one scenario with the class!

Introduce the "Decision Crossroads" activity. Explain that students will consider scenarios where choices are influenced by substances. Guide them to think about how their developing brains are particularly vulnerable.

Your Brain, Your Choices, Your Future

Your developing brain is amazing and powerful!

Making informed, healthy choices about drugs and alcohol protects your brain and empowers you to build a great future.

Remember: Your choices today shape your tomorrow.

Summarize the key message: protecting their developing brains by making informed choices is crucial. Encourage positive decision-making.

Activity

Decision Crossroads: How Do Substances Change Our Path?

Objective: To explore how drugs and alcohol can impact decision-making in real-life scenarios.

Instructions:

Form Groups: You will work in small groups of 3-4 students.
Scenario Brainstorm: As a group, think of a common situation an 8th-grade student might face where they need to make a decision (e.g., at a party, with friends after school, facing a challenging test).
Introduce Substances: Now, imagine that drugs or alcohol are introduced into that scenario. How might the presence of these substances change the way someone would make a decision?
- Would their judgment be clearer or cloudier?
- Would they be more or less likely to consider the consequences?
- How might their actions change?
Discuss and Choose: Discuss within your group and choose one scenario that clearly demonstrates how substances could alter decision-making.
Prepare to Share: Be ready to share your scenario with the class and explain:
- The original situation.
- How substances might be involved.
- How decision-making could be affected.
- One potential outcome of that altered decision.

Group Scenario & Discussion Notes:

Original Situation:

How Substances Might Be Involved:

How Decision-Making Could Be Affected:

One Potential Outcome:

Cool Down

Cool Down: My Brain's Power

Instructions: Take a few minutes to reflect on what we discussed today.

Name one new thing you learned about your developing brain and how drugs/alcohol can affect it.

Why is it important for you, as an 8th-grade student, to know this information?

In one sentence, what is your biggest takeaway from today's lesson?