With so many children dealing with adverse conditions and trauma, this lesson is critical when teaching child development. The Brain & ACES Hyperdoc helps to understand the impact on a child’s development.

Set

• Engage students by asking them to define the term adverse and write it in the text box on the hyperdoc.
• Write the acronym ACES on the board and ask if anyone knows what this represents. You will probably find that most students have no idea.
• Follow by having students use the provided resource titled, “What are ACES?” and complete the chart in the Explore section of the hyperdoc.
• Have students continue the Explore section by having them learn the purpose of the ACEs Quiz. Students can take the ACEs Quiz if they want, but I ask them to keep their results confidential.
• To conclude the Explore section, student watch a video titled, “How Toxic Stress Affects Us & What We Can Do About It“, complete a summary.

Materials

• iPads & Laptops
• Projector & Screen
• The Brain Architecture Game (optional)

Activitites

• For the Explain section of the hyperdoc, students watch this ACE’s Vimeo or this EDPUZZLE to learn more about ACES and its impact on a child’s life, health and brain as they look for examples, risks, effects and coping skills. *Note the vimeo and edpuzzle are the same video, but I find that the vimeo can be hard to load–at least at my school.
• Students then view the Ted Talk by Nadine Burke Harris–“How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime“, make a list of five important takeaways they learned.
• According to research, ACE’s can be prevented. In the Apply section, students research and describe 6 strategies via the internet. They must use at least two reliable sources and share theirr findings in their own words.
• For the final Reflect section of the hyperdoc, students are given a quote to analyze and explain. When finished, they turn in their hyperdoc via Google Classroom.
• Optional: If you have access to The Brain Architecture Game, this would be a great time to incorporate it into your lesson/unit to reinforce the concepts learned.

Attachments

• Brain & ACES Hyperdoc (please make a copy)

Photo by Susan Wilkinson on Unsplash