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Information About Student Vaping for Curriculum Coordinators, Health Educators, and Teachers

Quality school programs to prevent tobacco use.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides evidence-based recommendations to help design and implement quality school programs to prevent tobacco use. While the tobacco industry continues to engage schools and offer free tobacco prevention curriculum, industry-sponsored school-based programs are ineffective and may ultimately promote tobacco use among youth. 

Here's what you can do.

Table of Contents

Educate yourself about e-cigarettes

Knowing what these products are and what they look like can be a helpful part of addressing student use at school.

sample of e-cigarettes that come in all shapes, sizes and types

Update curriculum to address the harms of nicotine and e-cigarette use

Use relevant, youth friendly lesson plans

  • Vaping Prevention: CATCH My Breath –CATCH My Breath is a free, evidence-based youth vaping prevention program with published evidence of reducing students’ likelihood to vape. Aligned to national and state education standards, CATCH My Breath can be taught by individuals who serve youth in grades 5-12, including educators, local and state government agencies, public health specialists, and community volunteers. The program is divided into 4 sessions lasting 35-40 minutes each and uses a variety of educational strategies including: cooperative learning groups, group discussions, goal setting, interviews, and analyzing mass media. Available in English and Spanish.
  • The Tobacco Prevention Toolkit – Stanford University School of Medicine. A toolkit for teachers with in-classroom units and lesson plans on e-cigarettes, tobacco, and nicotine. The toolkit includes PowerPoints, discussion guides, worksheets, and activities.
  • New! You and Me, Together Vape-Free Curriculum. Part of the Stanford Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, the curriculum launched in September 2022. Middle and high school versions are available, with an elementary school version coming soon. To receive access to the new curriculum materials email tobprevtoolkit@stanford.edu, as they will not be posted to the Toolkit website immediately. You can request trainings on You and Me, Together Vape-Free Curriculum (as well as trainings for all Stanford's toolkit curricula) by visiting https://tinyurl.com/TPT-Training.
  • New! Empower Vape-Free Youth. The Empower Vape-Free YouthTM campaign (September 2023) encourages middle and high school educators to speak with students about the risks of e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction. The campaign includes resources for educators to help students avoid or quit vaping. 
  • New! Vaping: Know the truth. Vaping: Know the truth is a prevention-forward digital learning experience that gives students core knowledge around the health effects associated with using vaping products (nicotine, cannabis, or co-use). It was created by Truth Initiative, the public health organization behind truth®, the nationally recognized youth tobacco prevention and education campaign, and Kaiser Permanente, in collaboration with the American Heart Association. Two lessons have been added that address the health risks and consequences of short-and long-term cannabis use. This course also offers resources to help young people who are currently using e-cigarettes to quit through Truth Initiative’s text message quit vaping program This is Quitting. 
  • ASPIRE – MD Anderson Center. ASPIRE is a free, bilingual, online tool that helps middle and high school teens learn about being tobacco free.
  • smokeSCREEN: A Smoking Prevention Videogame – play2PREVENT
  • New! FDA Tobacco Education Resource Library – Vaping prevention and education resources for talking with students. Includes lesson plans, handouts, teen-focused magazine, standards-oriented activities, and more.
  • Know the Risks: A Youth Guide to E-cigarettes – A presentation from the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health to educate youth on e-cigarettes. This resource is intended for adults who educate or serve youth 
    ages 11–18 and includes a document with talking points.
  • Consider incorporating the facts and information from Vapes and Cigarettes: Different Products. Same Dangers. and Facts. No Filters. into lesson plans or using them to spark classroom discussion or projects.

Resources on substance use disorder prevention (not specific to tobacco/nicotine)

For middle schools only:  Project Here - Through integrated in-classroom and digital learning experiences, Project Here educates young people about the risks and consequences of using and experimenting with substances, empowers them to help others, and gives them the tools they need to make healthy decisions. 

Consider being an adult advisor of an 84 Chapter

The 84 Movement is a statewide youth racial justice and tobacco prevention program that promotes youth leadership to improve public health. Specifically, The 84 supports young people in middle and high school (within schools or community organizations) to fight the influence of the tobacco and vaping industries in their communities. Chapters of The 84 educate peers and adults about the deceptive marketing practices and racial inequities perpetuated by these industries. Visit The84.org for more information and watch videos about The 84.

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