The Big Test: How We Experience
Short-Term Stress
In this activity, teachers will induce mild stress in students
by announcing they are about to have a quiz that will be
a major part of their grade. Once students learn that this
is not true, they will describe their physical and mental
changes in response to this stress.
The Body-Mind Connection
of Stress
In this activity, students will fill out their own "physical
reactions to stress" inventory and graph the class
results. Then they will work in pairs to learn more about
the body mechanisms that cause physiological stress symptoms,
such as a fast heartbeat, cold hands, and dry mouth, or
even longer-lasting symptoms such as a headache and sleeplessness.
Finally, students will discuss their own reactions to stress
and understand that many physiological stress reactions
are part of the body's normal functioning. Students
will also look at ways of dealing with stress.
Feeling Frazzled? Stress
and What to Do About It
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.
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