December 2014 Teacher's Guide for So Tired in the Morning: The Science of Sleep Table of Contents

In-Class Activities

1. 
   Students could debate the “pros” and “cons” of delaying start times for schools. The student “pro” team can research the Internet and use scientific data to advocate for later school start times. The “con” team can gather community information regarding the societal effects and problems associated with later start times. This site provides a format for high school student mini-debates: http://www.proquestk12.com/productinfo/pdfs/MiniDebate_Teachers.pdf.
   

2. 
   Ask students to carefully examine the structures shown in Figure 3 in the Harper sleep article and identify the organic functional groups. The molecules shown contain benzene rings, cyclohexene, amino groups, organic (carboxylic) acids, aldehydes and hydroxyl groups. This Purdue University site provides a list of organic functional groups and their structural formulas: http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/2organic/2org_frame.html.
   
3. 
   The “Iodine Clock Reaction” lab can be used to give students hands-on laboratory experience with multi-step reactions: https://www.flinnsci.com/media/621293/91549.pdf.
   

Out-of-class Activities and Projects

1. 
   Before reading the Harper sleep article, students could watch this YouTube video at home, “Matt’s Story Rethinking School Start Times” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aqopRzY2MA) by Kelley Ditzenberger, and complete a questionnaire similar to the one that Matt used in the video, such as:
   

Answer the following questions based on your sleep schedule last week.

Question	Sunday night	Monday night	Tuesday night	Wednesday night	Thursday night
What time did you go to sleep?
What time get up?
How many hours did you sleep?
Did you feel awake and rested when the alarm went off?

Collate the class results and discuss, or use this survey as a springboard for the next activity.

2. 
   This activity is based on results from a class survey similar to the one above.
   

• 
  Students construct a histogram or bar graph to organize class answers to the third question, “How many hours did you sleep?
  

• 
  Students answer the question: “Do you see a correlation between the numbers of sleep hours shown in the histogram and the feeling of being rested?”
  
• 
  Add a horizontal line above the bars on their graph to show the area where the numbers of hours of sleep match where students felt rested.
  

3. 
   An extension to the previous activity: Ask students to share the reasons that prevented them from sleeping for nine hours each night and to answer the following questions as they reflect on this activity.
   

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  Based on your own experience, are you receiving enough sleep each night?
  
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  What can you do to alter your personal schedule to be certain that you allow enough time for sleep?
  

4. 
   Ask students to investigate and collect Internet research on the myths surrounding the importance of sleep. One place to begin is the Sleep Foundation web site: “Myths—Facts—About Sleep” (http://sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/myths-and-facts-about-sleep). If students work as groups in class, assign each group a different myth to investigate, such as these listed on the above web site:
   

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  Snoring is a common problem, especially in men, but it isn’t harmful.
  
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  You can “cheat” on the amount of sleep you get.
  
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  Turning up the radio, opening the window, or turning on the air conditioner are effect ways to stay awake when driving.
  
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  Teens that fall asleep in class have bad habits and/or are lazy.
  
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  Insomnia is characterized by difficulty falling asleep.
  
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  Daytime sleepiness always means a person isn’t getting enough sleep.
  
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  Health problems such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and depression are unrelated to the amount and quality of a person’s sleep.
  
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  The older you get, the fewer hours of sleep you need.
  
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  During sleep, your brain rests.
  

5. 
   Students could prepare creative posters that explain and use scientific facts to dispel these myths. Additional information on myths can be found in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Teacher’s Guide on “Information about Sleep”: (http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih3/sleep/guide/info-sleep.htm).