News (Media Awareness Project) - US IA: Game Teaches Meth Dangers To Students |
| Title: | US IA: Game Teaches Meth Dangers To Students |
| Published On: | 2001-11-03 |
| Source: | Des Moines Register (IA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-31 14:27:20 |
GAME TEACHES METH DANGERS TO STUDENTS
Animated characters on a computerized board game are Iowa's latest tool in fighting methamphetamine.
The state's Office of Drug Control Policy on Friday unveiled the CD- ROM program "Life or Meth: What's the Cost?" at Callanan Middle School in Des Moines. The five-lesson program is designed to help drug educators and classroom teachers share the dangers of meth use with fifth- and sixth-grade students.
It is the first educational tool to be developed by the state office using a grant awarded in 1998 from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The Iowa drug control office spent $83,000 to develop and produce the program.
Bruce Upchurch, director of Iowa's Office of Drug Control Policy, said the game is a supplement to current drug education and complements stepped-up enforcement of meth trafficking.
"It is intended to be used with other curricula to help plug the methamphetamine information gap many educators have identified," he said.
The interactive game was designed using Japanese-style anime, a format popular with elementary and middle-school children. It was tested in more than a dozen schools, Upchurch said. Content was reviewed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Students can use the program independently, in small groups or as a class.
Karen Sievers, a Callanan science teacher, said the program "fills a void in substance abuse education by delivering critical information to students about a drug they need to be warned about, using technology they enjoy working with."
Meth use in Iowa is reportedly on the rise again. Upchurch said the CD-ROM brings a valuable tool into the classroom to help students become aware of a highly addictive and dangerous drug.
Schools can receive the program on loan from area education agencies with an "enhanced toolbox" package that includes a laptop computer and projector. Copies also are available to schools in Windows-based software. A Web-based version is anticipated in early 2002, making the program accessible outside classrooms to anyone with Internet capability.
The program will be introduced in the coming months throughout the other Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
"This actually will be a prototype in terms of (drug education) in the country," Upchurch said. "I really don't know of anyone else who has this. Meth-specific curriculum just is not available."
BORROW: Substance abuse educators and classroom teachers who want to use the CD-ROM program "Life or Meth: What's the Cost?" can borrow the program, a laptop computer and a projector from the state's area education agency offices. Schools using computers with the 95, 98 or NT versions of Windows may call for a copy of the program at (800) 611-0779. Five hundred sets were produced initially.
Animated characters on a computerized board game are Iowa's latest tool in fighting methamphetamine.
The state's Office of Drug Control Policy on Friday unveiled the CD- ROM program "Life or Meth: What's the Cost?" at Callanan Middle School in Des Moines. The five-lesson program is designed to help drug educators and classroom teachers share the dangers of meth use with fifth- and sixth-grade students.
It is the first educational tool to be developed by the state office using a grant awarded in 1998 from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. The Iowa drug control office spent $83,000 to develop and produce the program.
Bruce Upchurch, director of Iowa's Office of Drug Control Policy, said the game is a supplement to current drug education and complements stepped-up enforcement of meth trafficking.
"It is intended to be used with other curricula to help plug the methamphetamine information gap many educators have identified," he said.
The interactive game was designed using Japanese-style anime, a format popular with elementary and middle-school children. It was tested in more than a dozen schools, Upchurch said. Content was reviewed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Students can use the program independently, in small groups or as a class.
Karen Sievers, a Callanan science teacher, said the program "fills a void in substance abuse education by delivering critical information to students about a drug they need to be warned about, using technology they enjoy working with."
Meth use in Iowa is reportedly on the rise again. Upchurch said the CD-ROM brings a valuable tool into the classroom to help students become aware of a highly addictive and dangerous drug.
Schools can receive the program on loan from area education agencies with an "enhanced toolbox" package that includes a laptop computer and projector. Copies also are available to schools in Windows-based software. A Web-based version is anticipated in early 2002, making the program accessible outside classrooms to anyone with Internet capability.
The program will be introduced in the coming months throughout the other Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area states of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
"This actually will be a prototype in terms of (drug education) in the country," Upchurch said. "I really don't know of anyone else who has this. Meth-specific curriculum just is not available."
BORROW: Substance abuse educators and classroom teachers who want to use the CD-ROM program "Life or Meth: What's the Cost?" can borrow the program, a laptop computer and a projector from the state's area education agency offices. Schools using computers with the 95, 98 or NT versions of Windows may call for a copy of the program at (800) 611-0779. Five hundred sets were produced initially.
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