Don’t Like the Odds

Don't Like the Odds

Don’t Like the Odds. Don’t Have Sex. Lesson Plan

Background

Teen pregnancy is a serious problem for today’s society. More than four out of ten females become pregnant before the age of twenty. Of those who become pregnant before the age of 15, 60% will become pregnant again. Teens are more likely to have a baby with a low birth weight. Pregnant teens are more likely to drop out of school. Teen fathers are also more likely to drop out of school. Babies born to teen parents are at risk for having parents with inadequate parenting skills. (National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy)

Making a Basket Activity-15 minutes

  1. Before the students arrive, set an empty trashcan on the floor 9 feet away from the door. A lightweight ball such as a tennis ball will also be needed for this activity. Greet students at the door before they take their seats. One at a time, have students try to get the ball into the trashcan as they enter the room. On a sheet of paper record the number of people who do get the ball in the trashcan. Students should take their seats after they try for the “basket.”
  2. When students take their seats, tally the total number of baskets the class made. Write that number on the chalkboard. Next to that number, write the total number of students in the class to compare the difference from those who made a basket and those who did not.
  3. Based on the numbers you have recorded on the chalkboard, begin a discussion about odds and chances. Tell the students that not everyone made a basket, but you all had no way of knowing what the outcome would be when you shot the basket.
  4. When people participate in an activity and they don’t know the outcome until it is over, what is that called? If students are having a difficult time answering the question, give them clues. Mention the phrase: “What are the odds of this happening?” Display the following definitions:
    Odds: The probability that one thing is so or will happen rather than another.
    Probability: The chance that a given event will happen.
    Ratio: The relationship in quantity, amount or size between two or more things; the proportion.
    Source: Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
  5. Ask the students to calculate the ratio or odds of students getting a basket. For example: if ten students got a basket out of 25 students, the odds are 10 in 25 people will make a basket. The ratio is 2:5.
  6. Ask students what are some of the odds and chances people take every day. Write their responses on the chalkboard.
  7. Once the list is complete, make sure that the students understand that some odds have good outcomes and some may have risky outcomes:
    For example, buying a school raffle ticket and winning has a good outcome.
    Riding in a car with someone who has been drinking may have a negative outcome.
  8. Explain to the class that the activity that they did in the beginning of class was really the odds of becoming a teen parent? What if every student who did not get a basket meant they were pregnant or a teen parent? Would you participate in this activity knowing the odds? How would you feel?
  9. When you engage in sexual intercourse, you are taking a risk. Students should know that abstinence is the only 100% sure way to avoid pregnancy and STD’s and STI’s. Explain to students that abstinence means no sexual contact (anal, oral or vaginal).
  10. Discuss with students the following facts:

    During ejaculation, the average male ejaculates 360 million sperm, but it only takes ONE sperm for a female to become pregnant. Think about those odds. (Meeks and Heit).

    Normally, 3 millimeters (each millimeter contains 120 million sperm) of semen or sperm are secreted during ejaculation. That’s less than a teaspoon. It only takes one drop of semen to get a female pregnant. (Meeks and Heit)

    About one in four sexually active teens (or three million teens) become infected with an STD every year.  Alan Guttmacher Institute

    By having unprotected sexual intercourse one time, a teenage woman has a 1% chance of getting HIV, a 30% risk of getting genital herpes and a 50% chance of getting gonorrhea.(Alan Guttmacher Institute

    One in every 15 men fathers a child while he is a teenager. (SIECUS 1987)

    Half of all initial teen pregnancies occur within the first six months after a person has sexual intercourse for the first time, and 20% happen within the first month. SIECUS, 1994