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Lesson Plan: Dangers of
Distracted Driving


Subject(s)

Educational Technology
Health
Language Arts


Grade

9-12


Brief Description

Students will learn about the dangers associated with distracted driving and then complete an activity demonstrating what they've learned.

Objectives

Students will

  • Upon completion of this lesson, students will have a better understanding of the risks associated with distracted driving.
  • Teen drivers will gain a perspective in recognizing unsafe driving situations and selecting the correct response or reaction.
  • Teaching teen drivers to be aware is also teaching them to be responsible for themselves and to use their best judgments.

Keywords

texting, driving, distracted driving, drivers education, mobile phones, teen culture, teen health, cognitive distraction, cell phones, health

Materials Needed

Lesson Plan

Lesson Description:
Activity 1: Learning About the Dangers of Distracted Driving

  1. The teacher will ask students to watch video clips and take notes on key distracted driving risk behaviors.
  2. After watching the videos, students will be break into groups and given time to discuss the video. Each group will identify the key risk behaviors associated with distracted driving and then present them to the class.
  3. As each group shares their findings, the teacher will facilitate a discussion on the dangers of distracted driving and ask students to share what theyve learned as a result of watching the videos.
  4. Students will take the Distracted Driving Safety Quiz. When students have finished the quiz, the teacher will review the answers with the class.

Activity 2: Reflection on Distracted Driving

  1. Students will reflect on both the class discussion and the video and then write a short essay or blog post stating what they have learned about distracted driving.
  2. In their essay or blog post students will:
    • Outline the steps they will take to educate their peers, siblings and parents on the dangers of distracted driving.
    • Explain why they have decided to sign, or not sign, the No Phone Pledge.

Activity 3: Create a Public Service Announcement (PSA)

  1. Option 1: Students will create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) poster that helps to detail one of the dangers of distracted driving. Students will present their signs in class before posting them around the school.
  2. Option 2: Students will create a Public Service Announcement (PSA) video that details the dangers of distracted driving. Have the students talk to the principal about posting their PSA on the school website. Encourage students to post their video on their own social networking profiles.

Teacher Resources:

Assessment

Assessment Based on Objectives

  1. Student should be able to pass the No Phone Zone Quiz.
  2. Student should be able to define what activities contribute to distracted driving.
  3. Teacher will evaluate the reflective writing exercise to see if the student has an understanding of the essential concepts and practices concerning injury prevention and safety while driving.
  4. Essay or blog post should demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process.

Lesson Plan Source

Derek Baird at Barking Robot

Submitted By

Linda Starr at Education World

National Academic Content Standards

These standards are provided by the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) online publication, Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education. The following standards are addressed by the activities of this lesson: Health Level IV: High School (Gr. 9-12) Standard 5: Knows essential concepts and practices concerning injury prevention and safety; Benchmark: Knows injury prevention strategies for community health (e.g., neighborhood safety, traffic safety, safe driving); Language Arts Level IV: High School (Gr. 9-12) Standard 1: Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process; Benchmark: Writes compositions that are focused for different audiences (e.g., includes explanations and definitions according to the audience's knowledge of the topic, adjusts formality of style, considers interests of potential readers).

This lesson plan was created by Derek E. Baird, M.A. and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.


Updated 07/02/2012