Sara E. Thomas
Information about smoking, body image and nutrition is important to the students in my digital art class, and to the students throughout my entire school. But health is an area where my students are lacking information. They receive some information regarding health during their freshman year, but after that unless they have a health class they are not exposed to it for the rest of their high school careers. As an educator this worries me greatly. Students need to be made aware that the decisions and the lifestyle choices they make now can have a drastic effect on their health in the future. This unit will have students assume the role of a Graphic Designer who has been given a project by a client who is very concerned with the health of high school students. The client would like to create three different public service announcements, in the form of posters, regarding three different issues: smoking, body image and nutrition. Students will go through the processes used by a graphic designer - first researching and collecting as much information as they can about each of these health concerns. Then students will brainstorm, do thumbnail sketches, roughs, and finally will create eye-catching posters to alert their peers of these health issues, which will be hung around the entire school.
(Developed for Digital Art, grades 9-12; recommended for Digital Art, High School grades, and Health, Middle and High School grades)