Statistics Canada
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Youth smoking in Canada
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Article: Youth smoking in Canada (PDF)
Objectives
- To appreciate some of the health risks associated with smoking.
- To generate discussion on why young people start to smoke.
- To work independently and co-operatively in small groups.
Method
- Provide each student with a copy of the article "Youth smoking in Canada."
- Have the students read the article independently, selecting and recording key facts or ideas in point form.
- Divide the class into groups to discuss why young people start to smoke and what social factors contribute to smoking.
- Have the groups present their reasons to the class, while the teacher summarizes.
- As a class, discuss what can be done to prevent young people from starting to smoke. Ask any smokers who have tried to quit smoking to describe their success or failure.
- Follow-up activities could include asking the school nurse to talk to the students about the health risks of smoking.
Using other resources
- Read "Trends in Mortality from Smoking-Related Cancers, 1950 to 1991" in the Winter 1995 edition of Canadian social trends to see how smoking-related cancer death rates have changed.
- Read "Fifteen Years of AIDS in Canada" in the Summer 1996 edition of Canadian social trends to compare deaths from HIV/AIDS with those from smoking.
- Use E-STAT from Statistics Canada to find data on smoking rates for 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds in other countries using Cansim II Tables 104-7001, 104-7002, 104-7003 and 110-0001.
Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.
