HealthTeacher
Encyclopedia
HealthTeacher is a health
curriculum
for K-12
teachers at the elementary school
, middle school
and high school
levels. It is considered useful by teachers regardless of whether they have received professional preparation as health educators. HealthTeacher targets teachers in a classroom setting, although people involved in home schooling, community-based health and mental health centers, and other health education
venues have also found it helpful. The curriculum was created in 1999 and launched January 20, 2000.
HealthTeacher addresses the top six health risk behaviors identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC):
Health teacher's lessons also make use of a variety of instructional approaches including role plays, cooperative learning
activities, independent work
, and classroom
demonstrations.
s of teachers reviewed and commented on the developing lesson plans.
Members of the initial National Advisory Board were:
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
for K-12
K-12
K–12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where P–12 is also commonly used...
teachers at the elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
, middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
and high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
levels. It is considered useful by teachers regardless of whether they have received professional preparation as health educators. HealthTeacher targets teachers in a classroom setting, although people involved in home schooling, community-based health and mental health centers, and other health education
Health education
Health education is the profession of educating people about health. Areas within this profession encompass environmental health, physical health, social health, emotional health, intellectual health, and spiritual health...
venues have also found it helpful. The curriculum was created in 1999 and launched January 20, 2000.
Overview
The HealthTeacher curriculum delineates knowledge and skill expectations that are consistent with the Assessment Framework and National Health Education Standards for each grade level. It can stand alone as a school's only health curriculum, or it can support an existing curriculum as an adjunct.HealthTeacher addresses the top six health risk behaviors identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
(CDC):
- AlcoholAlcohol consumption and healthThe long term effects of alcohol range from possible health benefits for low levels of alcohol consumption to severe detrimental effects in cases of chronic alcohol abuse...
and other drug useDrug abuseSubstance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts... - Tobacco useTobacco smokingTobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...
- Physical inactivity
- Inadequate nutritionNutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
- Actions that result in intentionalSelf-harmSelf-harm or deliberate self-harm includes self-injury and self-poisoning and is defined as the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue most often done without suicidal intentions. These terms are used in the more recent literature in an attempt to reach a more neutral terminology...
or unintentionalRiskRisk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
injurySchool violenceSchool violence is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved... - Sexual activity that can cause unwanted pregnanciesTeenage pregnancyTeenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
or infection with HIVHIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
or other STDsSexually transmitted diseaseSexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...
Theoretical underpinnings
A number of psychological, developmental and learning theories and models formed the development of the HealthTeacher curriculum, especially:- Jean PiagetJean PiagetJean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
's stages of cognitive developmentCognitive developmentCognitive development is a field of study in neuroscience and psychology focusing on a child's development in terms of information processing, conceptual resources, perceptual skill, language learning, and other aspects of brain development and cognitive psychology compared to an adult's point of... - Lawrence KohlbergLawrence KohlbergLawrence Kohlberg was a Jewish American psychologist born in Bronxville, New York, who served as a professor at the University of Chicago, as well as Harvard University. Having specialized in research on moral education and reasoning, he is best known for his theory of stages of moral development...
's stages of moral developmentMoral DevelopmentMoral development focuses on the emergence, change, and understanding of morality from infancy to adulthood. In the field of moral development, morality is defined as principles for how individuals ought to treat one another, with respect to justice, others’ welfare, and rights... - Erik EriksonErik EriksonErik Erikson was a Danish-German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings. He may be most famous for coining the phrase identity crisis. His son, Kai T...
's stages of the life cycleBiological life cycleA life cycle is a period involving all different generations of a species succeeding each other through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction... - Albert BanduraAlbert BanduraAlbert Bandura is a psychologist and the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University...
's self-efficacySelf-efficacySelf-efficacy is a term used in psychology, roughly corresponding to a person's belief in their own competence.It has been defined as the belief that one is capable of performing in a certain manner to attain certain set of goals. It is believed that our personalized ideas of self-efficacy affect...
theory and cognitive learning theory - Wallston's locus of controlLocus of controlLocus of control is a theory in personality psychology referring to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Understanding of the concept was developed by Julian B...
- Julian RotterJulian RotterJulian Rotter is an American psychologist who is known for developing influential theories, including social learning theory and locus of control.-Background:...
's social learning theorySocial learning theory-Theory:Social learning theory is derived from the work of Albert Bandura which proposed that social learning occurred through four main stages of imitation:* close contact* imitation of superiors* understanding of concepts* role model behavior... - Lawrence GreenLawrence W. GreenLawrence W. Green is best known by health education researchers as one of the developers of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model, which has been used throughout the world to guide health program intervention design, implementation, and evaluation and has led to published studies, applications and...
's Precede-Proceed Model - Godfrey Hochbaum's Health Belief ModelHealth Belief ModelThe health belief model is a health behavior change and psychological model developed by Irwin M. Rosenstock in 1966 for studying and promoting the uptake of health services. The model was furthered by Becker and colleagues in the 1970s and 1980s...
based on Kurt LewinKurt LewinKurt Zadek Lewin was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology....
's level of aspiration theory - Darwin Dennison's Activated Health Education Model
Health teacher's lessons also make use of a variety of instructional approaches including role plays, cooperative learning
Cooperative learning
Cooperative learning is an approach to organizing classroom activities into academic and social learning experiences. Students must work in groups to complete tasks collectively...
activities, independent work
Open learning
Open learning is a teaching method that is, among others, founded on the work of Célestin Freinet and Maria Montessori.Open learning is supposed to allow pupils self-determined, independent and interest-guided learning....
, and classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
demonstrations.
Objectives
- To build health literacyHealth literacyHealth literacy is an individual's ability to read, understand and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment...
among those who teach health education. The curriculum can help teachers understand skills-based teaching and assessment and how to apply both in the classroom setting through on-line examples and tutorials. - To address the significant health and behavioral issuesHuman Behaviour"Human Behaviour" is Icelandic singer Björk's first solo single, taken from the album Debut. It contains a sample of "Go Down Dying" by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The lyrics reflect on human nature and emotion from a non-human animal's point of view. The song is the first part of a series of songs that...
facing today's youth. The curriculum addresses knowledge, attitude, and skills development and provides opportunities for students to practice skills that promote lifelong health. - To help teachers overcome many of the constraints that now limit the provision of comprehensive and sequential health education in the school setting. Prepared lesson guides can reduce preparation-time constraints for teachers. Basic background that HealthTeacher provides can overcome training constraints or educational deficits and build on a teacher's current knowledge of a subject. The lower cost of Internet-based compared to print-based curriculum can lessen cost constraints and help teachers maintain an up-to-date resource for classroom education.
Development
Originators of the idea to place a comprehensive K-12 health education curriculum for teachers based on national standards on the Internet presented the idea to leaders in the health education community who were receptive to the idea and suggested consultants experienced in developing exemplary health education curricula. The developers established an Advisory Board to advise the project's development and implementation and hired a publishing firm experienced in developing health education materials to lead in writing the curriculum. Focus groupFocus group
A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging...
s of teachers reviewed and commented on the developing lesson plans.
Advisory Board
The Advisory Board guided the development of the project so it would meet the needs of health educators, students, and administrators. The board has provided the broad vision for using this web-site to build health literacy for teachers.Members of the initial National Advisory Board were:
- American Association for Health Education - Becky J. Smith, Executive Director
- American Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development - Janis Tomlinson, Health and Education Initiative Director
- American Cancer SocietyAmerican Cancer SocietyThe American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
- Mary Waters, School Health Division - American School Health Association - Susan Wooley, Executive Director
- Cable in the ClassroomCable in the ClassroomCable in the Classroom is an American organization that assists the cable television industry in providing educational content to schools. The organization was founded in 1989...
- Donelle Blubaugh, Director of Curriculum - ToucanEd Publications - Kathleen Middleton, Assessment Consultant