Transitioning to skills-based health can be overwhelming, so let’s simplify it by exploring what you really need to know about health education skills.
#1 Skills-Based Health Education is Effective
The first thing you need to know about health education skills is that including them in your curriculum makes your program more effective. According to the CDC, effective health strategies include “developing the essential health skills necessary to adopt, practice, and maintain health-enhancing behaviors.” More than anything else, health educators, like you and I, want to make a lasting impact on the health and wellness of our students. The best way to do this is to whittle down our content to the bare essentials, and spend time with our students teaching skills and shaping the values, norms and beliefs that support healthy living.
If you’re concerned that student’s don’t know enough, you’re not alone.
It can be difficult for teachers to transition from a content-based program to one that is skills-based. They worry that students won’t know enough to make healthy choices if they spend more time on developing their skills. If this is one of your concerns, you’re not alone.
Despite the popularity of the Ad Council’s “The More You Know” campaigns, our knowledge is not the most powerful influence on our behavior. You would be hard-pressed to find a smoker who is unaware that smoking cigarettes is detrimental to their health. They know there are severe health consequences to their behavior, yet they are still smoking. Pop in a local donut shop and ask any patron for an example of a healthy breakfast. The majority will know a healthy food to suggest, yet there they are choosing a donut instead.
Evidence-based programs focus on social skills, norms and beliefs.
It’s not surprising that the evidence-based health programs listed in the What Works Clearinghouse focus on social skills, norms and beliefs. Too Good For Drugs & Violence, is an example of one such program. Unfortunately, this program like many others can be cost-prohibitive. The 10-lesson, 6th grade Too Good For Drugs curriculum costs over $300 for use with just 24 students.
#2 You Can Overcome The Barriers
The second thing you need to know about health education skills is that you don’t need to purchase expensive curriculum or text books to include them in your program. If you’re like most health educators, you are working with a limited budget.
To create your own skills-based health education program you need guidance and time. It’s helpful to learn about skill pedagogy (the way to teach a skill). When teaching a skill, I generally follow these 5 steps:
- First, I introduce and demonstrate the skill. This allows students to see what it looks like in action.
- Next, I give time for guided practice, by slowly walking students through the steps.
- After students have tried the skills, I provide specific feedback to help them refine the skill.
- Once students have received feedback, I give them additional opportunities to practice a skill and encourage them to give it a try outside of class.
- Finally, I ask students to reflect on their experiences. At this point I can also assess their skills to determine if they’re ready to move on to something new or if they need additional support.
There are engaging teaching methods that allow students to practice skills.
It’s also helpful to learn about methods that will engage your students while allowing them to practice a skill in an authentic setting. I’ve found that case studies and scenarios are an excellent way to give students authentic practice. Methods that involve a variety of group work and independent work, provide opportunities for movement, and those that allow students to connect what’s happening in class with what’s happening in their lives seem to be the most effective.
Post-pandemic, our busy lives have returned and time can be difficult to find. Having model lessons to look at and build from can help speed up the process. It’s also worthwhile to comb through your existing curriculum to find lessons, activities and projects that can work in a skills-based model. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.
#3 Skills-Based Health Education Will Engage Your Students & Energize You
The third thing you need to know about health education skills is that they will bring an energy and life to your classroom that is hard to achieve in a content-based program. Looking back on my first year of teaching, I was overwhelmed and exhausted as many first year teachers are. I put in countless hours of work and can’t say that my students were any healthier as a result. My students set a goal, worked through the decision making model and practiced refusal skills, but they spent the majority of class time learning about the classification of drugs, the gory details of disease, and the purpose of micro and macronutrients. I spent more time teaching my students how not to die than I did how to live. The skills were an after-thought, an add-on, not the main event.
I switched schools and began my second year teaching where I had an ideal environment to transition to skills-based health. I had an equally motivated and collaborative teaching partner, a supportive supervisor and an administrator who saw the value in health education. She connected us, encouraged us, and even demanded that we get relevant, high quality professional development.
Together, we spent the year creating a skills-based curriculum that met the standards and engaged our students, putting them at the center of each lesson. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to have difficulty finding us in our classroom. We were connecting with groups of kids each and every day instead of being the talking head at the front of the room. We surveyed students at the end of each unit and were thrilled to know that our students felt more skilled.
Students really enjoy skills-based health programs.
When asked what they liked most about class, students said things like,
“Mrs. Mead seemed like she really cared about the things she was teaching and was able to get other students to actually learn things related to their own health. The skills we were taught seemed useful for real life unlike some past health classes.”
“The fact that we learned how to research about health instead of having facts drilled into our heads and having tests on the facts. I liked that the course was interactive instead of just lectures and notes.”
“I learned about how common bullying really is. I don’t think I really see the bullying because my friend group doesn’t usually experience it. I think I really learned ways to prevent bullying and stop it when I see it. I think I learned how to advocate for issues that are important to me.”
2018 Health Education Students
Receiving feedback like this from our students was motivating and meaningful. It encouraged us to keep growing our skills-based curriculum; and I haven’t looked back since. If you’re looking to make the switch but are missing the ideal environment I benefited from, please grab The 5 Steps to Transition to Skills-Based Health. All you have to do is sign up, follow the steps, and commit to the journey. I’ll share my tips, tricks and even hook you up with some additional resources.
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