Trina Rae
I need to formulate a lesson plan for a high school biology course that incorporates self-esteem in some way. I wanted to possibly include some of the physiology involved with low/high self-esteem, but all of the resources I’ve come across focus on other aspects of self-esteem. Does anyone have any ideas for the lesson or resources I could refer to? Thanks!
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I need to formulate a lesson plan for a high school biology course that incorporates self-esteem in some way. I wanted to possibly include some of the physiology involved with low/high self-esteem, but all of the resources I’ve come across focus on other aspects of self-esteem. Does anyone have any ideas for the lesson or resources I could refer to? Thanks!
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Look into sports motivation or sales training programs. Goal setting, that sort of thing. Anything the mind can believe it can achieve, all that Napoleon Hill gas.
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Self-esteem is a bit of a squishy science. I think it’s a combination of mood (manic/depressive, stress and everything in between), combined with psychological factors
The psychology is not within the scope of biology, but the many aspects of mood are certainly affected by the health of the human animal
So I can think of two approaches which would compliment one another. . .
1. Study the neurological aspects of self-awareness. I’m not sure where you’d begin with that. Perhaps look at MRI scans of people with different moods and the brain chemistry involved. There is a lot to work with there, but I don’t know how you’d adopt it for a course. Perhaps get into the basics of how the brain functions, and which critical receptors are at play in determining different moods. Look at the role of serotonin and similar. Perhaps study how the various drugs change things in the brain; kids these days could benefit from knowing as much as they can about how both street drugs and prescription pharmaceuticals work. (I’d explore the dark and dirty side of both. The legal drug industry is a monster.)
2. Look at how nutrition and environmental factors (toxins in water, food, etc.), and general health can affect awareness, energy levels and neurology. I believe even light is a factor. There is a lot related to mood in even something as basic as eating a hamburger. (I know people who turn sad and angry every time they eat fast food or high sugar items. There are sound reasons for this. Hormones in milk and eggs and chicken can also really screw up a person. Soy is an interesting plant; it contains a female growth hormones which, while plant derived, can have a significant impact upon people who consume it; I’ve read accounts where male babies fed on Soy milk have been damaged.) Look at organic food alternatives to see how they affect the body.
Detoxification is a neat concept. Look at how it can be achieved through sweating, and how toxins and heavy metals are stored in fat cells. Maybe look at how fluoride affects the pineal gland, (which is the producer of melatonin in the brain, which affects sleep and dream states). I read a story which described how Nazi prison camps experimented with introducing different substances into the drinking water to make prisoners docile and easy to bully. Fluoride topped the list as the most effective. (I don’t know how much self-esteem one can have when drugged into docility.)
Self-esteem is linked to sound mental health, which in turn is linked to sound physical health.
It’s a very clever course you are investigating. There is tons of this stuff and it is absolutely fascinating. You can really help your kids by teaching this kind of course.
Kudos, and good luck!
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Here is a little bit from the book I listed below….
When it comes to depression, the schism between psychology and psychiatry is basically this: therapists influenced by Freud’s psychology see depression as a product of the mind and talk about it in terms of drives, defenses, regressions, and problems of identification and self-esteem. Those influenced by biological psychiatry see depression as a product of the brain, caused by shifts that take place among hormones and neurotransmitters. Shephard Kantor, a psychiatrist on the faculty of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, looks for ways of bringing the two approaches together. Kantor believes the mental “productions” of depressed patients–negative thoughts and, in the case of psychotics, hallucinations–come from chemical changes in the central nervous system and are not psychologically caused. He no longer believes that the crazy thinking that accompanies depression is triggered by external events or is the residue–for example–of childhood interactions with parents. He believes the crazy thinking that accompanies depression is caused by the chemical state itself.