Please note: You are viewing archived content that is no longer being updated or recommended for educational use by NIDA. NIDA cannot guarantee that all of the links or information in these materials will be current or accurate. NIDA has pivoted curriculum resources to support educational materials that also align with evidence-based approaches to substance use prevention. These include the Mind Matters series, which includes classroom activity suggestions in the Teacher’s Guide, and teachers’ resources available through Scholastic Head’s Up: Real News About Drugs and Your Body (discontinued in 2022), which includes lessons like How Nicotine Affects the Teen Brain.
Brain Power! is designed to take students through a step-by-step exploration of the processes of science and how to use these processes to learn about scientists and the different work they do, the brain, the nervous system, and the effects of drugs on the nervous system and the body. Through hands-on science investigations, a videotape, and supplementary activities that are linked to other areas of the curriculum, students with different learning styles and strengths receive numerous opportunities to encounter the material. In addition, the overall goals of the project are to make learning fun and engaging and to instill in young students a lifelong interest in science. The program begins with the premise that a group of children has formed a Brain Power! Club that receives missions from NIDA. Each module is built around a mission—a problem or scientific question.
