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A Little Reminder to Take With You
Author: Catharine Niuzzo Honaman


Time: 5 classes
Preparation Time: 1 hour to read lesson and to consult with the science and social studies teachers
Materials: Access to a computer lab and possibly some colored pencils, rulers, markers, and highlighters


Abstract
During this lesson, students will make a bookmark with information about a public health issue that will become part of a larger public health service message.

Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Use information already gathered on a specific public health issue to create a public service message in the form of a bookmark.
2. Consult multiple sources to compile sufficient information to create the public service message about a public health issue.
3. Accurately and thoroughly document where each piece of information was found.

National English Education Standards
Standard #7
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purposes and audience.

Standard #8
Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, videos) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Arizona State Standards
READING
Strand 2: Concept 2: Functional Text
PO 1. Synthesize information from multiple sources to solve a problem.

WRITING
W-P4. Craft a cohesive research document that develops a logical argument or thesis; contains comprehensive, supporting information from a variety of credible and cited resources; and conforms to a style manual.
PO 1. State a point of view, position or argument about a subject
PO 3. Support a point of view, position, or argument, utilizing facts, examples,
details, and/or quotes from credible, accurate sources.
W-P5. Write a formal communication with a clear purpose for a definite audience .
PO 1. Establish a clear purpose for a specific audience
PO 2. Use a clear and appropriate organizational pattern following a standard
format for the assigned communication
PO 3. Include only relevant information
PO 4. Use language with an appropriate degree of formality

Teacher Background
It would be very helpful to you as a resource in the classroom, to know what is happening in the science and social studies classes. As the students will be making a bookmark in your class that ties into/supports the public service messages that are being created in the science and social studies classes, it is important for you to know what topics are being investigated in the other classes and what the related activities are.

Related and Resource Websites

  

 

Activity
1. Share with the students that public service announcements are not always in the form of a commercial or poster. Can they think of other ways to share a public service message? [Messages on pens, refrigerator magnets, bookmarks, etc.] Ask students, “What is important about all these forms of communication?” [They can be taken with someone easily and seen repeatedly and easily consulted: as a pen is used; the refrigerator magnet’s seen each time the door is opened; the bookmark’s seen each time the book is used].

2. Students will spend this week creating a bookmark about a public health issue that they are doing a public service message about in different formats in their science and social studies classes. (If you have access to the materials for making refrigerator magnets this might be an interesting exercise for students.)

3. When you introduce the students’ task for this week let them know that these bookmarks must include at least ten solid facts, statistics, quotes, etc. directly related to their public health issue. (In preparation for this current activity, each student last week created an informational list of significant facts about his or her public health issue.)

4. Each bookmark needs a minimum of ten citations. Students should use the paper of compiled facts from the last lesson. The student should include solid information, but also have some startling statistics and attention-grabbing quotes.

5. Information does not have to be represented only in a written form, but should also be visually presented. Graphs, pie charts and pictures can all make a very strong impression in transmitting a message. Encourage students to be careful in their choice of color and in the graphic design as a whole. They should also make sure that the bookmark is of a standard size. This way you can reproduce them, once they are checked, for dissemination to a wider audience than just the classroom.

6. Once students have completed their bookmarks, these bookmarks will become part of a larger public service announcement. They will be the take away piece from the outreach activity.

Homework
If students have not completed the public service announcement in the form of a bookmark about a public health issue, they will need to do additional work on their own outside of class.

 Embedded Assessment
There are two aspects of this lesson that should be assessed to determine student learning. The first is how creatively the student approached this activity. Does his or her bookmark show independent thought about the topic and a unique approach that would capture the attention of the intended audience? Does the graphic design of the bookmark reinforce the information and encourage reading the bookmark? The second piece that should be looked at is the list of relevant facts, figures, quotes, and information gathered by each student. Is the information on the bookmark accurate and thoroughly cited using the appropriate format? There should be a minimum of ten facts, figures, quotes, etc. that directly relate to the public health issue being illustrated.

 

PULSE is a project of the Community Outreach and Education Program of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center and is funded by:


an NIH/NCRR award #16260-01A1
The Community Outreach and Education Program is part of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center: an NIEHS Award

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Supported by NIEHS grant # ES06694

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