Health Education Statement: Lesson

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THOMA MASTER’S PORTFOLIO 1

Health Education Statement

Participation in physical education (PE) must be combined with effective health

education to encourage children to lead healthy lifestyles. A healthy and active lifestyle can lead

to a longer life, and health class can guide children to the understanding of how and why they

should lead that type of lifestyle. Healthy students tend to learn better, therefore schools should

educate children on how to make healthy decisions. This is because health education promotes

“health and prevent disease, disability and premature death through education-driven voluntary

behavior change activities,” and its purpose is to “positively influence the health behavior of

individuals and communities as well as the living and working conditions that influence their

health,” (Coalition of National Health Education Organizations, 2018).

Because of its importance, I teach health regularly in my classroom and integrate it with

other subjects, like I did in this lesson on infectious diseases that I taught to 6th grade students in

Alaska. I integrated this health lesson with reading, writing, and cultural standards in order to

make it more effective. “Because health and health risks are determined by multiple causes,

efforts to effect behavioral, environmental and social changes must be multi-dimensional or

multisectoral,” (Governali, Hodges, & Videto, 2005). Combining health with other subject

matters helps students to become more flexible in decisions relating to their health. Health is also

an easy subject to relate to one’s life, so integrating it into literacy lessons can increase

engagement. Health is “a powerful incentive for learning because looking after one's health is

part of every learner's experience. When learning arises from learners' lives and involves them as

partners in the process, people become empowered to have their say, direct their lives, and have

their opinion heard,” (Morrish and Jones, 1996). Combing health with literacy helps children to

engage and effectively meet their learning goals in both areas.


THOMA MASTER’S PORTFOLIO 2

To gage student’s prior knowledge and discover what aspect of health they are interested

in I had a deep discussion with them. This inquiry-based learning is exceptionally effective and

important when learning health topics. A study on college students in a health education program

concluded that students participating in an inquiry-based program had higher GPAs than students

that were in a traditional program (Donnon & Hecker, 2008). “Inquiry-based teaching transforms

the aims of school from short-term memorization of facts into disciplined questioning and

investigating,” (Wolk, 2008). These are skills that are vital to making healthy choices and

creating a healthy lifestyle.

I also utilized computers in the above lesson to increase engagement because students get

very excited about being able to do research in this hands-on way. A research group “observed

one-to-one laptop classrooms and reported that students in the laptop classes used computers

more for collaborative work, participated in more project-based instructions across the

curriculum, and were engaged more in learning, (Hur & Oh, 2012). Using technology helps

students to better understand and be more engaged in health subject matters.

References

Coalition of National Health Education Organizations. (2018). What is health education?

Retrieved from http://www.cnheo.org/files/health_ed.pdf.

Donnon, T. & Hecker, K. (2008). A model of approaches to learning and academic achievement

of students from an inquiry based Bachelor of Health Sciences program. Canadian

Journal of Higher Education, 38:1, 1-19. Retrieved from EBSCOHost.

Governali, J.F., Hodges, B.C., & Videto, D.M. (2005). Health education and behavior: Are

school health educators in denial? American Journal of Health Education, 36:4, 210-214.

Retrieved from ProQuest.


THOMA MASTER’S PORTFOLIO 3

Hur, J.W. & Oh J. (2012). Learning, engagement, and technology: Middle school students’ three-

year experience in pervasive technology environments in South Korea. Journal of

Educational Computing Research, 46:3, 295-312. Retrieved from EBSCOHost.

Morrish, E. & Jones, H. (1996). ABE/literacy and health education. Adult Learning, 7:1.

Retrieved from EBSCOHost.

Wolk, S. (2008). School as inquiry. Phi Delta Kappan. 90:2, 115-122. Retrieved from

EBSOHost.

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