Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: New Designer Steroid Detected Among Top Athletes, 11/05/03
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec03/steroid_11-05.html

Initiating Questions:

1. What are steroids?
2. Why are athletes discouraged from using steroids?
3. Do you know of any athletes who have been in trouble for using steroids?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What top athletes have been called as witnesses in the Grand Jury inquiry into the new steroid scandal?

A grand jury investigating the company accused of manufacturing the drug has heard from stars like sprinter Marion Jones and baseball players Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds, who were subpoenaed to testify as witnesses.

2. Why are steroids banned by some sports organizations?

Because steroids, illegal performance-enhancing drugs, are banned by most athletic organizations because they provide athletes who use them an unfair physical advantage, the discovery could put a stain on the careers of some of the sport world's top athletes, including lifetime bans from competition and dismissal from future Olympic Games.

3. How did authorities find out about the new steroid, THG?

In June a vial of clear liquid was sent anonymously to the Olympic drug testing laboratory at the University of California at Los Angeles by an athletic coach who suggested testing the liquid for an undetectable steroid.

After months of tests, the lab discovered the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, in the liquid. According to UCLA chemists, the drug had been specifically designed to go undetected. The chemists then developed a test for the drug and worked with Anti-Doping officials to begin testing past urine samples of various athletes. According to officials, "several" athletes have tested positive.

4. Which athletes have been in trouble for taking steroids in the past?

In 1998, at the height of his bid for the homerun record, baseball star Mark McGwire admitted to using the muscle-enhancing steroid Androstenedione, a drug banned by the NFL and the Olympics but not by major league baseball. In 1988, Olympic officials stripped Canadian runner Ben Johnson of his gold medal and world record at the games in Seoul, Korea, after he tested positive for steroids. Johnson was banned from competition for life.

5. What steps are professional sports organizations taking following the discovery of the steroid THG?

Following the discovery of THG, several athletic organizations have taken steps to discourage their athletes from taking the drug. The International Olympic Committee added THG to their list of banned substances and warned that they will test for the drug at the 2004 Athens Games; USA Track & Field officials have proposed a plan that would place a lifetime ban and a fine of up to $100,000 on any athlete who tests positive for steroids; and International Ski Federation officials and Rugby World Cup officials have said they will test competitors in the coming season, according to the Associated Press.

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. Do students in this school or this area use steroids?

2. Do you think this story will make student athletes more or less likely to try to obtain steroids?

3. Research the restrictions regarding the use of steroids at your high school? What are they? Are they similar to professional sports? If so in what ways?

4. What punishment should athletes face for taking steroids? Is a lifetime ban from competing in their sport too severe, or does the punishment fit the crime?

5. What are some of the legal uses for steroids? For instance what medical conditions sometimes require the use of steroids?

Write a 300-500 word essay on any of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org]. Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.