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Webquest on Tobacco Reduction:
Showing the Truth: Most Youth Don't Smoke

Prepared By: Mary Shannon & Doug McCall  
Sponsored By: Health Canada Tobacco Control Programme

See the Teacher's Guide to this Webquest


 

Number of People for this WQ

  • This webquest is best done with 2-3 students but one student can accomplish the tasks working alone.

Outcomes for this WQ:

  • Understand that most young people do not smoke

  • Know that youth smoking rates are declining

  • Compare youth smoking rates over time, between jurisdictions, with other countries

  • Understand factors that influence initiation of smoking

Materials for this WQ

  • The school will have to register with E-Stat (Statistics Canada) to enable students to access their data

 Documents for This WQ

  • No documents

Student Tools for This WQ

  • No tools

Evaluation Criteria/Procedure


 

Introduction

This webquest uses statistics to tell a story. This story is about Canadian youth, how the majority of them don't smoke and how the minority has been influenced to start smoking. After doing this webquest, students will know why tobacco companies spend so much money trying to give the impression that most or many people smoke.

Task 

This webquest has two essential tasks. The first is to prepare a Summary Report on why people experiment with smoking during their teen years. The second task is to locate, summarize and present statistical evidence showing the trends in youth smoking rates.

 Process and Steps

  1. Start with a quick visit to the Health Canada Knowledge Quiz on tobacco and answer questions 5 and 6 in the survey. See if your answers were correct by having the web page show you the answers.


    2. Discuss how close your answers were with the other students doing this webquest. Or, if you are taking this webquest alone, ask your teacher for some time with the class to have a show of hands for the different percentages of youth smokes (20, 30, 40, 50, 60).
     
  2. Read the following articles and fact sheets and then prepare a report that answers the questions below:

    3.  

    NOTE: To access the last two articles, your teacher will have to register your school with E-Stat, the educational program of Statistics Canada. See our guide on using Statistics Canada Data and Reports.

    Prepare a 2-3 page report that answers these questions. See the Evaluation Criteria for Summary/Reports for how your work will be evaluated.
     

  3. Read the following reports and prepare a line or bar graph to show the trends in smoking rates for Canadians aged 15-19 for 1999, 2000, 2001 and the first half of 2002. See the summary table for the first three years and prepare another line or bar graph to show the smoking rates of young people 15-19 in your province or territory.

  4. Read these brief summaries of those summaries prepared by Statistics Canada and try to answer these questions: (The Daily on January 20, 2000; October 31, 2000; March 6, 2001; May 29, 2001; January 21, 2002; June 28, 2002; January 22, 2003)

    • Which province/territory has the highest smoking rates?
    • What is the relative proportion of smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers?
    • Which age group is quitting smoking more than the other groups?
       
  5. Based on your line or bar graph, as well as your reading of the Statistics Canada reports, what conclusions can you reach about the trend in smoking rates for youth aged 15-19 in Canada? Based on your readings on the influences on youth smoking, why do you think this is happening?

    Write a brief Summary-Commentary report. (See section 31. of your Personal Health Journal for instructions.) This summary-commentary report should include your answer to the questions in Step 6 and Step 7.
     
  6. Next examine this summary from the National Population Health Survey. Which occupations that tend to smoke more? Which smoke least? Which occupations might be more visible to young people and do you think they might be positive or negative role-models? (Answer these questions as part of your Summary-Commentary report.)
     
  7. Next, examine the trends in smoking rates between 1990 and 1998 in Canada and other countries. Compare these trends to more recent trends you have already described

    First, look at adult smoking rates in different countries. Are Canadian women and men smoking at about the same rate?
    How do Canadian women compare (rank) relative to women in other countries?
    How do Canadian men compare (rank) relative to men in other countries?
    Why do you think this is so?

    Now access data from Statistics Canada to examine youth smoking rates in Canada and compare to other countries and also see the trends in smoking rates in the 1990s. (To access this data you will need to have your school registered with E-Stat at Statistics Canada and you will also need a user name and password.)

    NOTE: Print this page to make following these access directions easier to follow.
     
    • To go the E-Stat Entry Page, click on "Accept and Enter" and submit your username and password.
    • Select "Data" from the Table of Contents
    • Under the heading "People", select "Health"
    • Under "CANSIMII", select "Health Status Indicators"
    • From the long list of Tables, select Table110-0001 - Tobacco and alcohol Use by selected countries, every four years.
       

    You are now at the table with the data you need. You can make selections from the options presented in the drop-down menus.

    To view and print the Canadian results for the three periods for which the survey was done:

    • From the Geography Menu, select Canada
    • From the Sex Menu, select All
    • From the Age Menu, select All
    • From the Activity Menu, select Smoke Tobacco
    • From the Frequency Menu, select Every Day
       

    NOTE: In order to reduce downloading time, the E-STAT system requires you to ask for the results for each of the three times (1990, 94, 98) that the survey was taken. (The year in the right hand box is the one to use.)

    • Make the three requests for data for the Canadian results using the option "Retrieve as a table"
    • Select GO, on the confirmation page
    • Retrieve the results for these three surveys and print them


    Next, view and print the results for all countries

    • From the Geography Menu, choose Select All
    • From the Sex Menu, choose Select All
    • From the Age Menu, choose Select All
    • From the Activity Menu, choose Select All>
    • From the Frequency Menu, choose Every Day
    • As for the results from 1990 to 1998 by selecting these years
    • Select Go from the confirmation page


    (For some reason, the system will give you the data for all countries, for all three times that the survey was done.)

    NOTE: Some countries did not participate in the survey for all three years.

    Examine the results for countries, including Canada, that participated in all three surveys.

    • Did the smoking rates for youth go up or down in these countries during the 1990s?
    • How does this compare to your earlier trend and line/bar graph based on the Health Canada Survey?
    • If the rates were going up in the 1990s, and appear to be going down in more recent years, what could be the reasons for this? Have youth and society changed their views on smoking in the past few years?


    NOTE: One potential reason for the difference in the two trends, may be because the Health Canada (CTCUMS) Survey and the International Survey (HBSC) use different questions. You can check the specific questions by looking at the surveys.
  8. To conclude, record your thoughts using Section 4.3 of your Personal Health Journal. Have you ever considered trying smoking? Given  the latest trends in smoking rates, do you think that it will ever be considered normal to smoke (like it was in the 1950s and 1960s)? Do you now know why tobacco companies spend so much money trying to make smoking look normal?

    9. How Your Work will be Evaluated
     

    1. Your report on the assigned readings will be evaluated using the Criteria for Summary Reports and on how well you have answered the assigned questions. If you are working with other students on this webquest, then that report should be a joint report.


    2. Your understanding of the trends on youth smoking rates will be evaluated using the Criteria for Line/Bar Graphs and on how well you answered the assigned questions that followed this activity. Each students must also hand in a Summary-Commentary Report based on the evaluation criteria.
       
    3. After writing down a few private thoughts in your > Personal Health Journal, your teacher may ask you to comment on why you think tobacco companies spend so much money trying to persuade us that smoking is a normal activity practiced by many people.

    Conclusions and Extensions

    Go to the webquest on A Report on Tobacco Company Tactics for an interesting exposé on corporate strategies, ethics and activities.