edited by: GRACEFISHERMCGUFFIE Northwestern High School Hyattsv~lle.Maryland 20782
curriculum report
Alcohol and Alcoholism-A Newly-Developed "Relevant" Curricular Unit by a High School student for High Uri Zoller Haifa University-Oranim, P. 0.Kirvat Tlvon, Israel
The School of Education of the Kibbutz Movement. Division of Chemical Studies.
The use of alcohol as a source of pleasure and recreation and as a means of escape from reality and the pressures of daily life is expected to-increase draiticnlly in ihe near future if present social trrnds and attitudes continue unchanged in thr 1 I.- Clearly. ISXo's ....1~ , ,. this is a nrublem of substantial social concern, and its relevance to our students is apparent. As chemical are continuouslv beina reminded of . ~ educators. ~ - we~ ~ ~ the close relationship uf chemical education to society an11itre Iteine challenred to find ways of "inchdine..more material on " the social, economic, technological, cultural, and ethical aspects of chemistry in curricula" (2). ~
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Alcohols Since a chapter on alcohols is already an integral part of most traditional chemistry curricula at both the high school and college level, it is undoubtedly an appropriate subject to which the above recommendation can he applied. That is, the iuhject matter can he redesigned, reorganized, andlur mnlilied so that the understanding uf the rvle\.ant chemicd prlnciples and concept5 will he de\,eloped cmcurrently with the rrlr\.ant axial aspects involved. However, dmling with the alc~~holism is cumplicated by the -issues - of alcohol ~ ~ use~and ~ ~ physiological, psychological, social, cultural, and economical factors (to mention but a few) explicitlv and/or implicitly involved (3). Beine aware of the problems, implications, and ramifications of irresponsihle alcohol consumption hy youngsters in our sucietv and of the recent unprecedented ~ncreasedwage among high school students in o& country, Israel (41, we were prompt to deal with the topic within the domain of chemical education. Consequently, within our continuous effort to "translate" the recently advocated trends in science and chemical education (2. 5) into implementable courses and curricular units (6), addressed-ourselves to the issue of alcohol and alcoholism. That is, our target became the development of a relevant chemistry curricular unit for high schools euided bv the so-called social reconstruction ideology (7) and rationale in modern decision-making-oriented curricula ( 8 ) . In contrast to the well-acceptrd mrchaniem and prucrdures for new science (and chemistry) curriculun~develupmvnt rie., the establishment of a central task force and/or teams which ~
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This feature Investigates aspects of me secondary schwl chemisby be introduced aml established techniques critiqued. Contributions are welcome. C ~ r r i C u l U mand related topics New developments will
consist of university professors, science educators, teachers, and other relevant experts), we decided to take a different approach. We reasoned that if in fact the subject is "relevant" to the needs and interests of bieh school seniors. then an interested student might be found who would undertake for himself the task of designing and developing such a unit on an experimental basis. The obvious possible shortcomings and imperfections of a unit developed by an inexperienced student could be compensated for by the "flavor" and the appeal of a nroeram . .. develo~edhv an enthusiastic student (or students) f~ his w n peers. 'l'he relev.~ncvevelop their own motivation for individuallv. ronine . - with the problem. Meeting 9: A model of alcoholism in rats. A long-range experiment in which the influence of controlled alcohol consumption on the behavior of rats is initiated in order to establish a model of alcoholism. Meeting 10: A visit t o a rehabilitation center and/or a meeting with a social worker (working in this field) and/or a psychologist are suggested accompanied by recommended activities. Mrrrings 11 and 12: Presentations of the indepcndrnt studies (and/or proiect*) tjv the students totheir classmates. Topics suggested f i r suchstudies are in the following areas: alcohol and society; alcohol and crime; alcohol and the family unit; alcohol and rehabilitation. The relations between the theoretical chemistry covered and the problem of alcoholism in our society are emphasized and discussed on almost each page of the worksheets.
An addendum to the nroaram includes additional material on the most commonly ;sea alcohols, material originated in weanina and rehabilitation centers, a collection of excerpts from t h i press with respect to alcoholism and related subjects, and suggestions for field and/or special relevant activities. Some selected nontraditional components which are included in the new curriculum (some of which have been already described) are the following:
smoking, values, sex education, and cultural social norms. The remaining questions dealt with a variety of political, educational, and social issues, which were included primarily for screening purpose^.^ The following is a typical question on the attitude questionnaire concerning the issue of alcoholism:
(1) A role playing simulation game (to initiate students' interest
A "desirability" questionnaire which measured the validity and relinhilitv of the students was also administered in the evaluation program. In view of the small scale of the pilot evaluation study, the external validity of its results are rather limited. However, in considerina the newly developed curricular unit Alcohol and ~ l r o h u l i s mad a posiihle %st appnximation" model fur similar rurrirula in the future, the trends found in the pilot evaluation study are significant. I t was found that the gain in the knowledge and understanding of alcohol and alcohulism-including the relevant chemistry as well as the physiological, biological, and social aspects-has been menninyfully raised from t h r 0-70Uk level (pre-test) to the 30-100% level (post-test).Similarly, it was found that a "oositive" rhanre (22-28%) concerning nwar+ was achieved. More importantly,kudents ness of the (15-1670 more comnared with the nre-oromam situation) felt-after being exposed to the unk-
