FeelingFrazzledStressandWhattoDoAboutItSection.pdfVIP

Feeling Frazzled? Stress and What to Do About It (65 minutes) Section Your Life Investigative Questions How can stress be both bad and good? What are common causes of stress for students? What are some things students can do to mitigate their stress? What is long-term stress? What are the dangers of long-term stress? Description of Content In this activity, students discuss what’s bad and good about stress and some of the biggest stressors for kids their age. They go to the BAM! Web site and take the Stress-O-Meter test to help them gauge their own level of stress and learn about new ways to relieve their personal stress. In a class discussion, students learn more about the differences between short- and long-term stress. They keep a stress diary, and evaluate whether their methods for reducing stress were successful. Relevant Standards This activity fulfills science and health education standards. Objectives Students will:  Discuss the good and bad characteristics of stress  Differentiate between short- and long-term stress  Explore and make a plan to use new ways to relieve stress  Describe their own sources of stress and evaluate whether the stress-relief methods they used were successful Ideas and Behaviors Common Among Students This activity offers information from the literature on ways your students may already perceive stress and act on stressors in their lives. Materials  Access to the BAM! site on a computer at school or at home  Student Reproducible 1: My Stress Diary  Student Reproducible 2: Feelin’ Frazzled? 10 Tips to Keep You Cool, Calm, and Collected Safety Observe normal classroom safety procedures for this module. Teacher Background The most common definition of stress, from Richard S. Lazarus, is that stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that “demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.”