Health Quests

Overview
In this activity, the class plans and sponsors a vehicular safety fair that highlights the importance of safe operation of motor and recreational vehicles (including automobiles, bicycles, skateboards, and in-line skates). In preparation for the event, students form two groups. The groups visit selected Web sites to gather information. Two of the sites provide text and visual information about the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) currently being developed by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration to promote safe driving among young people. Several other sites contain downloadable electronic booklets in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format that outline safety as it pertains to recreational vehicles.

Objectives

• To gather and use statistics and other information about vehicular safety from sites on the World Wide Web as the basis for a schoolwide fair or clinic on the topic.
• To demonstrate health literacy by communicating this information to peers in the form of a safety fair.

Getting Started
Write vehicle on the chalkboard, and challenge students to develop a word web for the term. Help students recognize that vehicles are categorizable not only in terms of dimensions such as the number of wheels they have, but also in terms of their form of propulsion as well. Add that some vehicles, such as trucks and cars, are propelled by motors. Ask whether students can name vehicles that are propelled by gravity or human power. Elicit that certain wheeled objects used largely for recreational purposes--such as bicycles, skateboards, and in-line skates--might also be thought of as vehicles. Note that, as with motor vehicles, the operation of these vehicles should be guided by good safety sense.

Classroom Follow-up
Students' performance can be assessed by asking those in attendance at the safety fair to fill out a brief questionnaire stating what they have learned and how they intend to put this knowledge to use in the future. Invite class members to expand upon the experience by writing either short essays in their Health Journals or articles for the school newspaper noting what they have learned about the way in which information may be successfully communicated.