Goals and Objectives :: Goal C :: Instructional Strategies

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Teaching skills to students requires a multi-step process to ensure success:

• motivation, in which students are convinced that they are at risk
• modeling, in which the skill is demonstrated as having reduced the risk
• practice, in which students role-play the steps of the skill in realistic situations
• transfer, in which students adapt the skill to their own language and style and use it in real-life situations

Transfer is an integral part of learning not only skills but also virtually every other facet of a prevention program. Only by transferring what they learn in the classroom to their lives outside the classroom can students be effective in reducing their risks. To this end, teachers must continually follow up with students on their progress with using skills and strategies. For example, after students learn that marijuana has both short- and long-term negative effects, they can convey that information to a younger sibling. After they learn that a refusal skill is easy to master, they can use it at a party when a friend offers them a beer. After they learn that standing around a fight reinforces violence, they can not only leave a fight but also persuade their friends to leave the scene when a fight starts on the school grounds.

Specific instructional strategies include the following:

• Role playing is designed to assist students in understanding perspectives and feelings in a wide range of personal and social issues that may involve problematic and human-relations situations.
• Small group discussions are appropriate for problem solving, attitudinal change, and critical and creative thinking that coincide with the purposes of reflective discussions. They also assist students in the understanding of the subject matter.
• The Suchman Inquiry Model is a form of inquiry in which the teacher presents a problem in the form of a story. Through a process of student questioning, in which the teacher can answer only yes or no, data are gathered in a simulated setting. Students hypothesize causes and solutions.
• Writing original poems, stories, and essays can strengthen students' understanding and communication skills.
• Surveys of successful community members, parents, and peers can be conducted to compile strategies for staying safe and drug-free.