Designing a PBL Unit

I wanted to try and get a spin on a hot topic that has been plaguing our country for decades.
The War on Drugs. We have been trying to win this war for so long and it only seems to be getting worse by the day, month, year, and decade.

Looking at a possible Project Based Learning technique can allow me to really drive the curriculum in a creative way. Giving them a sense of what they can do and why is an important concept to grasp. The best part is that there isn't a right or wrong answer. Students should know that the war on drugs is not a simple, quick fix. It is many decades of decisions and policies as well as thousands of factors that play into where we are today as a society.

The students have already completed an entire 1 week unit on the War on Drugs seen with details seen here. This unit shown in the link above will help guide them to make an informed opinion on the performance task of creating a national budget for the War on Drugs.

After our drug unit concludes and we have discussed some of the key points regarding where we are as a nation in the war on drugs, students will have the opportunity to see all of the possibilities on a “fix” for the war.  We have watched movies, clips, had in depth discussions on each of the solutions….but now we turn the tables and have them decide what they think will help end it.  Since there are so many variables, there is no right answer.  So many pieces of this puzzle need to be looked at and analyzed.  Having a good base of knowledge is what is built prior to this activity (the drug unit concludes with this activity)


They will then be presented with the task of creating a budget for the war on drugs and figure out where they want the $ to be allocated to.

Students will be shown this slide presentation and asked this question to help guide their research:

YOU HAVE 20 BILLION DOLLARS TO SPEND ON THE STOPPING “WAR ON DRUGS.”  

HOW WOULD YOU ALLOCATE YOUR MONEY?

*Education                           *Building jails                     * Local Law enforcement

*Drug testing                      *AA/NA programs             * Federal Law enforcement

*In-patient treatment          *DARE programs                 * Anything else?

*Out-patient treatment        *Diversion programs

Each group will be asked to share their final budget with the class.  As a collective group each class will then have to decide on a class budget for how they would most effectively spend their budget.