Social Studies Lesson Plan

Overview:Cell phones and the Internet are a great way to communicate, but what if these methods become part of a pattern of abuse? A survey Liz Claiborne Inc. commissioned indicates this isn’t unusual. In fact the Teen Research Unlimited (TRU) study of teens from 13 – 18 showed an alarming number of teens are involved in relationships that include control, threats and humiliation. For instance, one in three teens reported receiving up to 30 text messages an hour from a partner trying to find out where they are and what they are doing. The student also showed parents are often unaware of what is happening.

Suggested time allotment: 2 –3 days for research online and in periodicals for background. Then brainstorm as a class or a smaller team about ways to help students in your district or town cope with abusive relationships and attempt to eliminate them.

Objectives

Students will:

1. Research dating abuse, particularly as it affects teens in general and specifically when technology like cells phones and the Internet is involved.
2. Survey students in your school about the abuse situation. Be sure to choose questions that are not “leading.” In other words, be sure those who write the questions don’t appear to ASSUME there is an abuse problem in the school. (See links below for guidelines for creating surveys.)
3. Find local experts to interview who can say what is available in your community to help combat abusive relationships.
4. Present your findings to the class and discuss ways you could work to stop teen dating abuse through education.
5. Develop a plan to inform your schoolmates about the situation and what they can do it combat the problem. This could be through posters, a public service announcement (PSA) on the local cable station or the student-run station or it could be letters or commentary for the community or school newspapers.

Curriculum Standards from the National Council for the Social Studies: Thematic Strands, from “Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies.”
• IV — Individual Development and Identity. Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of individual development and identity.…. At the high school level, students need to encounter multiple opportunities to examine contemporary patterns of human behavior, using methods from the behavioral sciences to apply core concepts drawn from psychology, social psychology, sociology, and anthropology as they apply to individuals, societies, and cultures.

Resources and materials:
Web sites with information:
• Read about the survey Liz Claiborne Inc. commissioned. The link below gives a summary of the results, but at the bottom that is another link to the complete survey.
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• The entire Love Is Not Abuse site is filled with statistics, suggested actions and ways to contact experts.
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• T.E.A.R. — Teens Experiencing Abusive Relationships — is an organization by and for teens with the goal of preventing dating violence through education. Its Web site also has a wide range of useful information.
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• To get help for writing a survey, the Web site for the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, includes “Types of Survey Questions”
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• To figure out what the numbers mean, “former geek” and now researcher Robert Giles explains in simple terms:
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