Health Education Statement: Lesson
Health Education Statement: Lesson
Health Education Statement: Lesson
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
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,
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
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
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
References
Donnon, T. & Hecker, K. (2008). A model of approaches to learning and academic achievement
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.
Hur, J.W. & Oh J. (2012). Learning, engagement, and technology: Middle school students’ three-
Morrish, E. & Jones, H. (1996). ABE/literacy and health education. Adult Learning, 7:1.
Wolk, S. (2008). School as inquiry. Phi Delta Kappan. 90:2, 115-122. Retrieved from
EBSOHost.