Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: Thinking about oral health messaging

20 minutes

Find Out: Analysing the features of oral health messages

15 minutes

Take Action: Create your own message

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: Thinking about oral health messaging

Step 1.

One at a time, share these Oral Health Images with students.

Explain to students that all these images have something to do with our teeth, and all are trying to tell us something about our teeth. Engage students in a class discussion around what they think these images might mean - what messages are they trying to tell us?

The aim here is not for students to provide the correct answer but instead to have a go and share their knowledge of teeth and oral health.

For example:

the image of the baby with the small teeth might be telling us that our first teeth are baby teeth, and these teeth will fall out from around age 6 when our adult teeth start to push through our gums
the image of the boy drinking water might be telling us that water is the best drink for our teeth, rather than sugary energy drinks, even when we’re hot and bothered.

You could record some key messages and ideas on the board.

Step 2. Explain

We get messages about our oral health from lots of different places, including from our parents, our schools, our dentists, our friends, and from the TV/internet. Messages around oral health are also influenced by age and culture. For example, people from our grandparents generation might have different ideas about looking after teeth than younger people because that is what they were told was the right thing to do when they were young. This doesn’t mean the people sharing these ideas are bad or trying to harm us, it’s just that the science around looking after our teeth is always changing and we are always learning new and better ways to care for our health. Because we’re not scientists or experts in oral health, it’s not always easy to know when to believe something and when we shouldn’t believe it.

Pose the questions:

Whose opinions can we trust about our health? Who might we listen to when it comes to messages about oral health?
What information might be included in a message that would mean we could trust it?

Explain to students that in the next activity, students will be exploring the answers to this question.

Find out: Analysing the features of oral health messages

Step 1.

Create a T-chart on the board. Label one column as ‘sources of information’ and the other as ‘language’. In the language column add two subheadings with a space in between and add the following headings ‘fact’ and ‘opinion’. (See T-chart example below.)

Step 2. Explain:

When we see messages about our health, we must look carefully at where the information comes from. Some sources (where we get information) are more trustworthy than others because the people sharing the information are experts. In the case of oral health, the experts are dentists and dental nurses or places where dentists work to share messages about oral health, such as government organisations.

On the T-chart, add dentist, dental nurse, and government organisation under the ‘source of information’ column. (See T-chart example below.)

Step 3. Explain:

The other thing we need to pay attention to in oral health messages are the types of words used. Even though the oral health advice our family and friends give us generally comes from a good place, it’s always a good idea to do some fact checking to make sure you’re getting the right information for you. In this case, the best place to get your information from is a dentist.
Some language you might see in factual messages includes anything that refers to research, science, data, or statistics.
Language you might come across in messages based on opinion could include things like, “I/we think…”, “I/we reckon…”, or “I/we heard…”. These phrases sound convincing but they don’t talk about any real facts or research so we need to be careful with these types of messages.

On the T-chart, add research, science, data, or statistics under the Fact sub-heading, and add think, reckon and heard under the Opinion sub-heading. (See T-chart example below.)

Step 4.

Working as a class, invite students to work through these messages one at a time, using what they’ve learned about language and sources to identify those messages that are based on fact and those that are based on opinion. (Messages are available on the Oral Health Messages sheet if you would prefer to distribute them to students.)

Message	Fact or opinion?
Message 1: Someone in your class says to you, “I heard that you only really need to brush your teeth once a day”.
Message 2: Your dentist tells you, “After brushing your teeth, you should spit out the toothpaste but don’t rinse your mouth with water. The toothpaste that stays in your mouth will help to protect your teeth.”
Message 3: A website run by dentists called https://www.teeth.org.au/ says that “drinking sugary drinks too often can damage teeth because the sugar can cause tooth decay.”
Message 4: Your friend’s mum tells you, “I reckon you only need to go to the dentist when you have a problem.”
Message 5: Another friend’s dad, a dental nurse, told you and your friend, "You should try not to snack too much between meals because then your saliva can work to neutralise the acids that cause plaque and cavities in your teeth. You're best sticking to the main meals and snacks - breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner."

Students can check their guesses against the information on this Oral Health fact sheet

All the information comes from responsible sources and can be considered as ‘fact’.

Step 5.

Students can then work in pairs to analyse the following messages (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Message	Fact or opinion?
Message 6: Your aunty tells you that “If you eat sugar, all your teeth will fall out”.
Message 7: You read the following in a brochure in the dental van that visits your school: “Never use your teeth as ‘tools’ for opening packets. This can cause teeth to break and crack.” (Source: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/teeth-cleaning)
Message 8: You saw something on YouTube that said “I don’t think you need to use toothpaste when brushing your teeth. The way you brush is the most important thing.”

Again students can use the Oral Health Fact sheet to help them identify the facts.

Extension

Students requiring extension could create some of their own messages based on Fact or Opinion, using the features of each type of text to differentiate them. This could be used to satisfy the literacy general capability for this lesson.

Step 6.

Invite students to share their responses with the class, addressing or clarifying any uncertainties.

Take action: Create your own message

Step 1.

Students will now conduct their own research and create their own oral health message. The message could be serious or funny but needs to convey a fact about oral health from a responsible source (suggested sources are provided below).The message could be in the form of a meme, a bumper sticker, or a poster. Students must include a reference to the source that they used in their design.

Differentiation

Students could work individually or in pairs/small groups for this task.

Suggested sources for this task could include:

Smile Squad (https://www.health.vic.gov.au/smile-squad/smile-squad-oral-health-resources)
Teeth.org.au (https://www.teeth.org.au/)
Health Direct (https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/teeth-cleaning)

Step 2.

Invite students to display their designs as a gallery walk.

A gallery walk enables students to provide feedback on their peers’ work. Display students’ work around the classroom and place a piece of blank paper next to each work. Invite each student to focus on 2-3 posters. For each poster the students should identify the action/decision/behaviour that will support better oral health and record this on the blank paper next to the poster.

Reflection

Students respond to the following questions, either through class discussion or using the Student Worksheet:

One thing I learned about looking after my teeth
One thing I learned about telling the difference between fact and opinion.

Differentiated learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool.org, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this. In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance to positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

Smile Squad - The Features of Oral Health Messages

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