Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Junior Secondary School 2

FIRST TERM

SUBJECT: BASIC SCIENCE

CLASS: JSS 2

REFERENCE

• Precious seed BASIC SCIENCE FOR JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS BOOK 2

WEEK NINE

TOPIC: BODY IMAGE II

CONTENT

• Pubertal stage 
• Effect of Pubertal changes on body image and behaviour   
• Misconceptions about beauty as presented in the media
• Individual uniqueness

Pubertal and body Image

Puberty is the natural process of hormones signaling the growth of estrogen and female sexual characteristics in girls or testosterone and male sexual characteristics in boys. It usually begins between the ages of 10 and 14. However, “precocious puberty” is defined as the beginning of this physical transformation before the age of 8. Precocious puberty may be diagnosed in girls under 8 years old who experience menstruation, breast development, the growth of pubic or underarm hair, acne and/or a rapid growth in height. It may be the diagnosis in boys under 9 years old who experience the growth of pubic or underarm hair, enlargement of the genitalia, a deepening voice, acne and/or a rapid growth in height.

Young girls, especially, are subject to psychological turmoil as a result of an early sexualized body and identity confusion, often resulting in lasting negative effects to their concepts of body image and self-worth.

EVALUATION

1. What is puberty?
2. What is precocious puberty?
3. What is the age range of puberty?

Effect of Pubertal changes on body image and behaviour   

1. Girls who develop early face a difficult choice: whether to associate with their cognitive age group or with the age group that their bodies more closely resemble.
2. The shape of a woman’s body, such as large breasts and round hips, is explicitly sexualized in our society; and young girls are not mature enough to shoulder this societal burden.
3. Girls who develop physically faster are assumed to be more sexually active than their peers, and must struggle with that social stigma.
4. Adults tend to feel uncomfortable with precocious girls with shapely bodies, often associating them with social deviance.
5. Early developers are also more likely to engage in relationships of a sexual nature before they are emotionally prepared to do so.
6. The lasting impact of excessive body consciousness, as well as a premature exposure to sexual exploitation, affects precocious girls into their adolescence and adulthood.
7. The physical maturation of young males is considered a socially positive and rewarding endeavor, while the development of the mature female shape is associated with provocative or deviant behavior.
8. Precocious puberty, or more precisely society’s reactions to early maturation, has the potential to harm the self-esteem and body image of girls and boys alike.

Misconceptions about beauty as presented in the media

Where do we get our ideas about bodies and beauty? The list is seemingly endless. We inherit such ideas from our parents, our peers, our teachers and mentors, from our places of worship, our schools, and increasingly from the mass media. In high-tech societies such as ours, there are few settings into which the mass media do not intrude. And even if we are beyond the reach of TVs, billboards and MP3 players, we still carry in our minds media messages about appearance and desirability. The mass media powerfully influence our perceptions of beauty, our attitudes toward others, and our own self-image.

EVALUATION

1. Where do we get our ideas about bodies and beauty?
2. How does the mass media powerfully influence us?

INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS 

People are not equal in value or worth. Only in the rights to their own lives and property are people equal. Those and only those rights are inalienable for all human beings. By nature, no one has an automatic or natural right to anything else in life. Moreover, beyond the equality of individual or property rights, nothing is, can, or should be equal between human beings. Profound differences exist among people in their self-made qualities such as character development, earned skills, self-worth, extrinsic worth, aspects of intelligence, self-esteem, life-lifting capacity, psychuous-pleasures capacity.

CERTAIN FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUENESS ARE:

(1)    Genes influence (Heredity)            (4)    Social habit

(2)    Influence of homes                (5)    Environment

(3)    Nutrition

EVALUATION

(1)    Mention five factors which influence individual uniqueness.

(2)    What are the profound differences that exist among people?

GENERAL EVALUATION

1. Where do we get our ideas about bodies and beauty?
2. How does the mass media powerfully influence us?
3. In what are people equal?
4. What are the profound differences that exist among people?
5. What is precocious puberty?

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. By ---, no one has an automatic or natural right to anything else in life. A. nature B. right C. kindness D. experience
2. Profound differences exist among people in their  ---- qualities. A. self-made B. self inflicting C. human right D. none of the above
3. The mass media powerfully influence our  ---- of beauty, our attitudes toward others, and our own self-image. A. perceptions B. understanding C. scope D. level
4. Young girls, especially, are subject to psychological turmoil as a result of an early sexualized body and identity confusion, often resulting in lasting negative effects to their concepts of ---- and self-worth. A. body image B. experience C. self-worth D. self esteem
5. The lasting impact of excessive body consciousness, as well as a premature exposure to sexual exploitation, affects ---- girls into their adolescence and adulthood. A. precocious B. infancy C. adolescent D. age group

THEORY

1. What happens to the Girls who develop physically faster?
2. Mention five effect of Pubertal changes on body image and behaviour

READIND ASSIGNMENT

Precious seed BASIC SCIENCE FOR JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS BOOK 2 page 93-98