Economics of Opioids Video
Glossary and pre/post quiz
How Naloxone Works
NAS Video
Structure and Function Video
Opioid Use and Abuse
Overview
A jigsaw activity where students watch one of five short videos on different aspects on opioid use and abuse.
This resource contains a 50 minute activity to explore some of the science underlying the ongoing opioid epidemic in the US. It asks students to watch one of 5 short videos, then assemble in a "jigsaw" group to discuss some general questions about opioid use and abuse. The activity is appropriate for first year undergraduate students from all majors.
Overview of Activity
Setting up this activity requires access to at least five different internet accessible devices, be they laptops, tablets, iPads, etc. Students will need to listen to their video's audio as well, so the different sections will either need to be physically spaced in such a way that each group can only hear their own video, or give students headphones and ensure that the device can accommodate the number of students in each group. Use of the closed captioning feature is highly recommended to help students process the new information coming in. Each student should also have access to the glossary while watching their videos. Topic groups should be of approximately equal size.
The activity has three phases:
1) Working in topic groups to aquire knowledge,
2) Sharing that knowledge in jigsaw groups to share and apply the knowledge, and
3) Reporting out to the entire class.
Each activity is about 10 minutes. With time to switch between activities, the entire lesson fits nicely into a 50 minute class period. No prior knowledge is required - the videos are geared at first-year college students from any major.
The materials in this activity were developed by students from Westfield State University. The image shown above is a still from the video featured in Section 6 (artwork by Chinanu Onuoha). The attached handout has a glossary on one side and some multiple-choice questions on the back side.
Focus on: Receptor Structure and Function
This topic tends to be the most dense in terms of scientific content. If students are struggling with understanding this video, shift the focus of their discussion away from the molecular minutia and towards more broad questions, along the line of "What does the opioid receptor do for the body?" as opposed to "How does it work?".
The brain's opioid receptor is naturally occuring and is abused by opioid drugs to get a "high".
This is an in-class activity. You will first learn something in a small group, and then you will share your insight in a new group where each member is responsible for a distinct topic relating to the opioid crisis.
Watch the 4-minute video and and take 5 minutes to discuss the following questions:
How does the opioid receptor help us to survive? What is the benefit of having the receptor? What are the dangers associated with the opioid receptor?
Focus on: Abuse of Prescription Drugs
Prescrition opioid deaths in the United States are rising.
This is an in-class activity. You will first learn something in a small group, and then you will share your insight in a new group where each member is responsible for a distinct topic relating to the opioid crisis.
Watch this 4-minute video and and take 5 minutes to discuss the following questions:
What are abuse-deterrent formulations (ADF) of drugs, and how are these drugs abused nevertheless? Should pharmaceutical producers be held liable for the abuse of their drugs, given their misleading marketing? Should the FDA have allowed the ADF opioids to enter the market if the ADF was so easy to circumvent?
Focus on: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
Newborn babies experience withdrawal after a couple of days.
Watch the 4-minute video and and take 5 minutes to discuss the following questions:
Why are more and more babies experiencing opioid withdrawal a couple days after birth? What are the possible treatments? Is it correct to say that the newborns are born with an addiction?
Focus on: Restoring Respiration After Overdose
Narcan is a fast acting opioid antagonist.
This is an in-class activity. You will first learn something in a small group, and then you will share your insight in a new group where each member is responsible for a distinct topic relating to the opioid crisis.
Watch this 3-minute video and and take 6 minutes to discuss the following questions:
Why do we use an opioid (Naloxone) to help treat opioid overdose? Some places in America have proposed "3-Strike" policies where, after emergency response has administered naloxone to the same person twice, on the third overdose, the addict will not be allowed to recieve another dose. Is this an appropriate policy to have in place? Should Naloxone be available as an over-the-counter medication, or should it only be able to be administered by EMTs/with a prescription?
Focus on: Price of Opioids
Price and availability on the legal and the black market drives decisions about drug intake.
Watch the 4-minute video and and take 5 minutes to discuss the following questions:
How did Jeremy become dependent on opioids? Why did Jeremy switch from Percocet to heroin? Is there a way to limit crowding out, while maintaining regulations that keep legal opioids safe to use?
Jigsaw Discussions
After watching your assigned video and discussing it within a group, we will form new (jigsaw) groups of five, where each person in the group has watched and discussed a different video. This way, each jigsaw group combines the experience of watching all five videos.
In your jigsaw group, give a brief overview of the video you saw (2 minutes). Then as a group, discuss the following question and write down your conclusion.
Who is to blame for the opioid epidemic? Should we think of addiction as failure of will power of individuals, or as a treatable disease? What are the steps necessary to stop the epidemic and help the people who have a substance abuse disorder?
Be prepared to present your conclusions.
Reporting Out
Each jigsaw group should select a speaker who will summarize the discussion in front of the entire class. First, state which question you found most interesting. Then, tell us your conclusions. We will take about 10 minutes for reporting out.