Research on Smoking Has an Impact

Debating requires that considerable research be carried out, and once in a while digging for facts to support an argument brings unexpected results.

Bobbi Nidz, a teacher in Regional District #4, recently related the impact that research on the effects of smoking had on her 6th grade students. As her students were on computers, sorting out facts to support the affirmative and negative positions of this year’s debate topic, one student yelled, “Check this out!” She had found a site that showed how the body is affected by smoking, and one picture of the tongue of a long-time smoker made an immediate impression. “If that is what happens to your tongue if you smoke, I’ll never smoke!” one girl said, and the other students in the group quickly agreed.

Bobbi was impressed and pleased. “We could have done an entire unit on anti-smoking,” she said, “but this one moment was more powerful than any unit could ever be.”