Let’s talk about e-cigarettes and vaping this week. This topic is very important because vape pens are taking over the youth’s bodies and minds at rapid speeds nowadays. This form of nicotine intake is new to modern medicine, as there isn’t much research done in the field to truly decipher what vaping can do to the body over long periods, especially for middle schoolers and high schoolers. Stanford Medicine created a lesson to inform students about vaping, e-cigarettes, nicotine, and how they affect the body. For example, below is a slide created by Stanford Medicine about the dangers of nicotine, and why it can be so addictive. The picture on the slide is a GIF that spins a visual of the elemental makeup of nicotine so that all of its components are viewable.
Stanford Medicine. (n.d.). Safety First – Lesson 6. Halpern-Felsher REACH Lab. Retrieved April 4, 2024, from https://med.stanford.edu/halpern-felsher-reach-lab/preventions-interventions/Safety-First/safety-first-lesson-6.html
There may not be a lot of information on vaping, but what is known is that it’s more addictive than typical smoking due to its extremely high levels of nicotine. Vaping not only affects the user but also the people around said user, as dangerous chemicals from the e-cigarette can be transmitted through the air we breathe. A big reason why vaping is so hard to quit is because it gives off sensations of relaxation, stress relief, and immediate energy to users (Stanford Medicine, n.d.). However, with these benefits come disadvantages, as chemicals in vape pens can after users’ brain chemistry to the point where they wouldn’t be able to function properly without the pen.
A strength that this lesson takes on is that it presents information in a way that comes off as non-judgmental to readers, but rather informative. E-cigarette users can look to Stanford’s lesson to better understand the impact that e-cigarettes have on the body without feeling like it is an aggressive intervention. A weakness this lesson may have is that there is not enough information about the long-term effects that vaping can have on the body, as vaping is relatively new to medicine. The lesson focuses on the limited amount of information we have on this form of nicotine intake, meaning that the information presented is susceptible to change after more research is completed.
Wrapping up this post, I’ll talk about a way to apply this lesson in my classroom. I would most likely create a condensed version of the lesson and relate it to the work we’re doing in class. I am currently studying to be a biology teacher, so a large portion of the curriculum would be to create lessons about the human body and the different systems that it undergoes for survival. A great way to introduce this topic would be when discussing the respiratory system. I would explain to students how smoking and vaping could affect the respiratory system while also maintaining a safe space for all my students so that they don’t feel like they’re being judged if they’re e-cigarette users.
References
Stanford Medicine. (n.d.). Safety First – Lesson 6. Halpern-Felsher REACH Lab. Retrieved April 4, 2024, from https://med.stanford.edu/halpern-felsher-reach-lab/preventions-interventions/Safety-First/safety-first-lesson-6.html
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on how to teach about vaping using information from Stanford Medicine. You noticed that the lesson talks about vaping in a way that doesn’t make people feel bad, which can be very helpful. I like the plan you have to talk about vaping when you teach about the lungs and breathing in biology class. This is a good idea because it fits the lesson into your teaching. Have you considered how you can help your students better determine whether what they hear or read about vaping is true? They need to know how to find reliable information with so many different stories. What if you gave your students a project where they looked into different things about vaping? They could look at how it started, how companies try to get young people interested, and what science says about why it is hard to stop. This project could help them learn more deeply and see how vaping is not just a health issue but also involves how people make choices and businesses work. Plus, it could help everyone understand and care about those who vape without making anyone feel judged.