Teaching Health and Sex Education

This article provides an overview of the objectives and central issues involved in teaching health and sex education. The article explains the main considerations in formulating health education programs, including the importance of health education, methods of teaching health education and the components that should be included in any health education curriculum. This article also describes some of the important issues that teachers and administrators face in developing sex education programs. These issues include determining the ideal approach to sex education, developing appropriate curriculum materials and lesson plans, and establishing the goals of any sex education program. In addition, the overview provides a discussion of some of the most important factors that arise in the implementation of a health or sex education program, such as creating a positive learning environment, developing appropriate measurement and evaluation techniques, and using instructional media. Finally, a brief examination of some of the issues that health and sex education teachers are facing today is provided. These issues include teaching children with special education needs and learning difficulties, those grappling with sexual orientation and sexual identity questions and young people who are learning to properly manage stress and emotional difficulties. The following sections explain these concepts in more detail.

Keywords Abstinence; Family History; Nutrition; Physical Fitness; Puberty; Self-Esteem; Stress Management; Substance Abuse

Overview

Health education is the communication of practices and principles that promote health and well-being through a process of planned learning experiences that supply information, change attitudes and influence behaviors of children so that they are equipped to take responsibility for their own health. This process is accomplished as teachers create and facilitate learning experiences that assist students in developing the necessary decision-making abilities to seek out habits that promote their well-being and to incorporate healthy practices into their own lives. Although health education is a lifelong process, children can begin to develop strong health habits during their years in school that they can continue to practice as they move into adulthood. Teaching health education is critically important as young people are increasingly facing situations that affect their physical, mental, or emotional well-being during their school years. The following sections explain the objectives, methods, and components of teaching health education in greater detail.

Teaching Health Education

Health education means teaching children to develop an awareness of the many practices of healthy habits and to incorporate them into their lives. These practices include gradually assuming responsibility for their own health and health care, being actively involved with medical professionals in any decision-making process regarding their healthcare, incorporating new healthy habits and attempting to change unhealthy ones, avoiding unhealthy fads or diet trends, and thinking about their health and well-being as an asset to be nurtured through conscious attention. Ultimately, the goal of health education is for children to learn to strive for self-reliance in personal health matters and to voluntarily adopt practices that are consistent with a healthy lifestyle.

As the school days become increasingly hectic and more schools stress a curriculum that is designed to prepare students for standardized tests, health education programs are at risk of being trimmed or eliminated altogether. However, health education is important because it helps each generation of students learn to become physically, psychologically, and socially fit to be prepared to assume the tasks of adulthood. While health education programs are most effective when they are incorporated into a standard educational curriculum, the concepts of health and a healthy lifestyle can be taught in lessons on mainstream subject areas, such as reading, mathematics, science, art, social studies, and physical education. However, although students may choose many different career paths after the completion of their formal education, they will all have to make critical decisions about their own health, and thus health education is an important addition to a well-rounded curriculum.

Importance of Health Education

Perhaps the best argument for teaching health education is that healthy behaviors are the most important determinant of health status and well-being. Since health-related behaviors are learned behaviors, a formal health education ideally should be implemented during the elementary school years before children have health habits that may be difficult to change or replace with healthier choices. In addition, elementary school children are less likely to have begun experimenting with abusive or destructive lifestyles, and thus the dangers of these practices can be stressed, and children can be armed with the information that will help them to avoid unhealthy choices. Finally, many health problems have been associated with the effects of unhealthy habits such as smoking, poor nutrition, being overweight, stress, abuse of drugs and alcohol and unsafe personal or sexual practices. Thus, health education can help children to not only make better health-related choices but can also help them to avoid behaviors that lead to disease or health problems later in life.

Although children are often eager to learn about good health habits and caring for their bodies, even by the time children enter elementary school, they have already learned and developed significant attitudes and preferences regarding their health. For instance, they have learned food likes and dislikes and they have developed certain hygiene practices and personal patterns of interacting with family and friends. They also have developed well-established attitudes and value systems, based on their health-related experiences at home and in their neighborhood and community. These preferences and practices generally become more deeply ingrained as children mature into teenagers and young adults. The aim of health education is to help children learn how to develop positive practices for caring for all aspects of their personal health that are constructive and responsible.

Methods of Health Education

Health education cannot be accomplished through rote memorization or the examination of descriptions of muscle groups, body functions, or anatomy. Instead, health education is accomplished by teaching children the importance of good health and the wide-reaching implications of their health choices so that they learn to value health and healthy habits. Additionally, health education methods provide a means of conveying the techniques and information necessary to make decisions that promote wellness and a healthy lifestyle. Health educators are often challenged when children learn from and observe the poor health habits of their parents, friends, or members of the community. For many children, these observations are their primary source of information regarding health care, diet, lifestyle choices, and exercise habits. Other sources of health information for children are television programs and the Internet. However, these forms of media may often provide access to information that is unhealthy or not appropriate for children, and so some children receive mixed messages about health, even while they lack the reasoning abilities to sort out constructive information from inappropriate information.

To accomplish its objectives, the methods of a successful health education program must be sequential, planned, comprehensive, and informative.

• Health education is sequential when it is provided throughout the educational experience, generally from kindergarten through high school. The curriculum at each educational level should be based on what has been learned in previous years while providing a foundation for information that will be taught in future years.

• Planned instruction should be based on goals, educational benchmarks, outcome-related objectives, and clear evaluation techniques. It should be taught within the total curriculum framework and not substituted by physical education classes that lack instruction on health education and lifestyle choices.

• Health education should be comprehensive in that it should include instruction on the range of health content areas, such as health behavior and promotion, disease prevention, lifestyle, risk factors, and self-care.

• Finally, health education should be taught by qualified health teachers so that the information presented is informative. Ideally, health teachers should possess a concern for the total wellness of their students and have been trained in both the content and the strategies of health education. Effective health teaching involves providing students with opportunities to personalize positive health habits by implementing the information learned in health education programs into their daily lives as well as creating an atmosphere that encourages and promotes this process.

Components of Health Education

The need for health education programs is becoming ever more vital. In the twenty-first century the choices that children and teenagers must make have become increasingly complex, and young people are facing these choices at a younger age. For instance, children may be exposed during their educational experience to issues such as drug abuse, adolescent suicide, stress management, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), child abuse, and prescription medications used for behavior management. Thus, to be truly effective, health education programs must contain several components that address sensitive issues. The following components are important parts of a successful health education curriculum.

Health Behavior & Promotion

Health behavior involves the sum of the choices, actions, and decisions that each individual makes that affect their health. Health behavior includes such lifestyle practices as eating habits, exercise patterns, and stress management techniques. Health behavior also includes personal attributes such as beliefs, expectations, motives, and values as well as other cognitive elements that relate to health maintenance and wellness. Health promotion includes the development of choices and lifestyles that maintain or enhance health. Thus, health promotion is the sum of the educational and environmental factors that impact positive actions, and lifestyle patterns that are conducive to health maintenance, restoration, and improvement.

Disease Prevention

Disease prevention consists of proactive behaviors or choices that individuals assume to avoid poor health or to treat the onset of illness. Disease prevention measures are generally based on the current knowledge of sound health practices as well as disease causation and progression. Disease prevention may occur before, during, or after the detection of illness or disease, but its primary motivation is to maintain or restore optimal health. For instance, primary prevention is practiced before a disease occurs by taking measures to maintain health and protect against disease, such as routine physical examinations, sound nutrition and immunizations. If disease is diagnosed, secondary prevention includes prompt attention to treatment of the disease and monitoring warning symptoms of disease advancement. Disease prevention can also include rehabilitation from illness or injury, such as learning motor skills after a handicap or working to resume normal life activities after an accident, disease, or other significant health problem.

Lifestyle

The concept of lifestyle covers the decisions made and actions taken by individuals that affect their health and over which they, more or less, have control. Lifestyle is an important part of a health education program because unhealthy personal decisions and habits create self-imposed risks that heighten an individual's susceptibility for illness, injury, or disease. Among such self-imposed risks are drug use, smoking, alcohol abuse, poor dietary choices, reckless, impulsive behaviors, and unsafe sexual behavior. These practices and behavior patterns, together with physical activity and safety practices, constitute the set of personal actions that lead to an individual's lifestyle. All these practices can be altered or even avoided. Thus, teaching students to take responsibility for developing a healthy lifestyle is an important component of a comprehensive health education program. Particularly, because these patterns become more difficult to change as children grow and mature, a strong health education curriculum that stresses the effects of lifestyle choices is a vitally important element of an elementary and middle school education.

Risk Factors

Risk factors are the characteristics or behavioral patterns that increase a person's risk of disease or disorder. Risk factors include characteristics that cannot be modified—age, sex, family history, and personality type—and those that are amenable—blood serum cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and obesity from chronic overeating. Health education can teach children to differentiate between the risk factors that they cannot change and those that they can, and to learn to monitor risk factors over which they have no control while adapting their behavior and health habits to improve those risk factors that can be altered.

Self-Care

Self-care includes the active involvement of each individual in their own health in health promotion and disease detection, prevention and treatment. Self-care is not a substitute for professional care, but a partnership with it. Even small children can participate effectively in self-care activities. For instance, children can learn to practice good hygiene and make healthy dietary choices and they can learn to identify and communicate the warning signs of an illness.

Teaching Sex Education

Teaching sex education can be a difficult task since these areas often generate controversy. These controversies may stem from differences in religious beliefs, public versus private morality, or control of the school curriculum. Moreover, students bring deeply rooted personal values and attitudes to any discussion of these topics. Teachers can avoid many problems by carefully planning their approach to any discussions relating to sex education. Before any sex education program is initiated, teachers and school administrators should seek active communication between parents, parent-teacher organizations, health practitioners, and even community leaders. The greater the level of input in any sex education program from a diverse group of community members, the greater the sense of cooperation with the goals and objectives of such a program. In addition, teachers should prepare themselves for the process of teaching sex education. This means they must consider how to communicate sensitive materials, respond to inappropriate questions or comments, and interact with parents and community members about their curriculum or teaching methods. While teaching sex education is challenging, with careful thought and consideration, it can be an important component of a meaningful educational experience for students and their families.

Approaches to Sex Education

Many school systems have grappled with questions surrounding what information to include in their sex education programs. Some of this difficulty has stemmed from two divergent schools of thought regarding the proper approach to sex education. One view is that any sex education program should emphasize abstinence from sexual activity as the most appropriate option for adolescents. Accordingly, proponents of this view believe that a comprehensive approach to sexuality, which includes contraceptive information, may have the undesirable side effect of promoting sexual activity. In addition, many argue that discussions about sexual practices and contraception should be reserved for parents, who are in the best position to determine the appropriate time and manner of approaching these conversations.

Another view of sex education involves a comprehensive approach that would include discussions about a wide range of issues related to the sexual experience. These discussions may include abstinence as well as topics such as contraceptive options, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual abuse.

Developing Sex Education Curricula

An effective sex education curriculum is designed to teach young people how to make responsible and well-informed decisions about their sexuality and personal lives. The objective of sex education is to help and support young people through their physical, emotional, and moral development by including discussions about responsible sexual practices within a well-balanced school curriculum. A successful sex education program will help young people learn to respect themselves and others and move with confidence from childhood through adolescence into adulthood.

One critical aspect of sex education is that certain topics should be introduced at age-appropriate levels. For instance, information about abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases, and changes associated with puberty and adolescence is generally considered most appropriate for teaching at the middle school level. High school is generally thought to be the most appropriate time to introduce information on sexual abuse and rape, parenting responsibilities, reproductive anatomy, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, and responsible relationships.

In addition, sex education curricula should also help students develop the social skills that will enable them to understand their own preferences and sexual beliefs, while respecting the views of others. Thus, sex education programs should teach students how to express their own sexuality in healthy ways, while learning to protect their own sexuality as well as the sexuality of others from unwanted advances. Finally, sex education curricula should ideally contain information that will assist students in understanding all aspects of human sexuality, the benefits of delaying sexual activity until the most appropriate time, and where to go to seek professional help for any reason. In sum, sex education programs should contribute to promoting the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental, and physical development of young people and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of adult life.

Goals of Sex Education

The goals of any sex education program include assisting young people in developing a healthy and responsible view of sexuality and providing the information necessary to help them protect their sexual health and make sound decisions. More specifically, most sex education programs seek to promote four objectives.

• First, sex education should provide accurate information about human sexuality, which includes such topics as human reproduction, anatomy, and physiology; family life, pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood; and sexual response, sexual orientation, contraception, sexual abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases.

• Second, sex education should provide an opportunity for young people to develop and understand their values, attitudes, and beliefs about sexuality. Thus, teachers should help students understand their family's values, develop their own values, and understand their obligations and responsibilities to their families and others.

• Third, sex education programs should help young people develop relationships and interpersonal skills, including communication, decision-making, assertiveness, and peer refusal abilities. In addition, children should learn skills that will allow them to eventually identify and develop relationships that reflect such traits as caring, supportive, non-coercive and mutually pleasurable intimate and sexual interactions.

• Finally, sex education should help young people learn to exercise responsibility regarding sexual relationships. To do this, topics in sex education programs may include abstinence, techniques to diffuse pressure to become prematurely involved in sexual activities or sexual abuse and the use of contraception and other sexual health measures. Thus, effective sex education programs are not designed to promote early sexual experimentation, but to teach young people to understand human sexuality and to respect themselves and others.

Implementing Health & Sex Education Instruction

It is important for students to have an opportunity to personalize information and make decisions relative to their health and sexuality. They also must have a model that helps them assess the possibilities and consequences of their potential actions. If students are to make positive decisions about their health and sexuality, the process of learning how to do so is critical. These skills must be taught and utilized throughout the educational experience, and students must practice making decisions and enhance their decision-making skills. This practice also helps them feel good about themselves so that they develop a healthy sense of self-esteem and discover that they can have control of their own behavior and decisions. To facilitate this process, teachers should strive to create a positive learning environment where sensitive topics can be discussed without shame or judgment, should use impartial and appropriate evaluation techniques and use educational media and resources to supplement their own curriculum materials. The following sections will provide more information on these concepts.

Creating a Positive Learning Environment

One concern about effective health and sex education programs is that many of the issues that are covered in these subjects are controversial. Teachers who handle controversial issues risk offending students and possibly parents. Even some subjects that would not appear controversial, such as nutrition, may actually be sensitive to students who follow certain dietary restrictions due to religious or political beliefs. When controversial topics are raised, students often become polarized and may verbally attack students who disagree with their position. When this occurs, the educational process begins to break down and there is a greater likelihood of dissension and ill feeling among the students. Such dissension can disrupt the optimal teaching and learning environment that is necessary in health instruction.

Further, as health and sex instructors, teachers must battle against students' negative image of health and sex education. Health educators are sometimes viewed in a negative light as someone who tells students to abstain from doing things they are tempted to do or enjoy doing, such as smoking or eating junk food, while encouraging students to do things they may not want to do, such as exercising regularly and maintaining good hygiene. This may translate into negative feelings that the teacher must overcome, especially if students perceive that their teacher's ideas conflict with those of their parents or peers. Also, some students have been taught erroneous information about health and sexuality, and thus may enter the classroom with misconceptions about appropriate health and sexual practices. Because this misinformation might have come from their parents, neighbors, older siblings or peers, teachers must be mindful of their students' backgrounds and cultural perspectives when correcting these misconceptions.

The role of parents and the community in shaping students' understanding of health and sexuality cannot be underestimated. If parents convey the attitude that healthy eating is less important than eating according to personal tastes and preferences, students may have a more difficult time assimilating sound nutrition principles into their own diets. Likewise, if messages are communicated to children that sex is bad, dirty, or inappropriate, children may develop an unhealthy view of sexuality and their bodies. However, parents who teach children about the facts of well-being, health, and sexuality are more likely to have children who can properly assimilate healthy habits into their lives.

Measurement & Evaluation Techniques

Instructional objectives should be regularly evaluated to determine whether they are being satisfactorily achieved. The use of measurement and evaluation techniques is important to track student progress and absorption of the material presented. However, to provide an accurate assessment of student progress, the measurement and evaluation techniques must be fair, accurate, and consider any unique characteristics of the students as learners. Measurement is generally understood to mean the process of obtaining a numerical description of the degree to which an individual possesses a particular characteristic. The various tests, assignments and observation techniques used in schools are all forms of measurement. The data captured through measurement techniques, however, must be evaluated before the effectiveness of the instruction can be assessed, as the raw data alone may be misconstrued if not considered within a proper context. Evaluation is the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to determine the extent to which students are achieving instructional objectives. Evaluation can supplement, clarify, or even counter measurement data. Thus, teachers must use both measurement and evaluation techniques to gain a complete understanding of student learning.

There are several purposes of measurement and evaluation.

• First, measurement and evaluation are used to assess the effectiveness of instruction and learning activities. These techniques are used to help determine whether instruction and class activities have increased knowledge, refined or altered attitudes, or promoted decision-making skills.

• Second, measurement and evaluation are used to motivate students. Tests help students assimilate and internalize information in ways that passive instruction does not promote.

• Finally, measurement and evaluation help develop the scope and sequence of teaching. For instance, if evaluation of a class suggests that student understanding and retention of the instructional material is high, students may need only a simple assessment of the material to confirm this, as measured by high test scores, before they are ready to move on to new subject matter.

The emphasis in years on teacher accountability has made evaluation more important than ever. While assessment techniques are routinely used in classrooms, these tools can be more difficult to apply in health and sex education classes because of the personal nature of the subject matter. However, the need to measure attitudes is critical in health and sex education courses because health and sexuality practices can have a direct impact on the quality of a student's life. Further, while certain physical fitness aptitudes and a basic understanding of the concepts in health and sex education can be measured and evaluated, measuring the attitude or the approach of each student toward practicing and implementing healthy habits into their lifestyle is more difficult. Attitudes involve feelings, values, and appreciation, and one of the goals of teaching health and sex education is to develop positive health attitudes. Thus teachers must work to create measurement and evaluation methods that accurately assess student attitudes toward these concepts. In addition, teachers must often supplement testing instruments with other means of assessment, such as observation, informal conferences and anecdotal record keeping.

Using Educational Media

Instructional media are used to supplement traditional teaching methods and lesson planning and provide a means of involving students in the learning process and enriching the classroom experience. Examples of media include websites and online programs, social media, digital communications, television programs, videos, films, transparencies, PowerPoint presentations, and recordings. Computer-assisted instruction is widespread, as most schools are linked to the resources and information available on the Internet. The resources available online are often dynamic and make use of many forms of multimedia including printed matter, pictures, graphics, video, animation, and sound. In addition, some computer-based instructional resources require active involvement by students and help students interact with the material being presented so that they develop higher-level thinking skills by selecting, observing, reacting to and interacting with the information being presented. In addition, computer-assisted instruction programs often come with built-in measurement and evaluation methods that can help teachers get a sense of how students are mastering the information.

For educational media to be effective, they must be appropriate for the educational objectives sought and the material presented. In addition, choosing the appropriate educational media can depend on factors such as the amount of time and expense involved in obtaining and using the equipment and media and the degree to which the media augment instruction and class activities. Some uses of educational media can be helpful when presenting sensitive information. Television programs, videotapes, and video clips can help teachers present controversial information in a neutral manner. Many of these educational materials have been carefully prepared by professionals so that they are compelling yet age appropriate. However, teachers must be careful to choose instructional media that fit the specific objectives of the lesson and that have been approved by school administrators. In addition, teachers should not rely too heavily on outside educational media. Instructional activities that can supplement educational media include brainstorming activities, buzz groups, critical essays, debates, and small group discussions. In addition, field trips, games, and guest speakers can help teachers to provide students with a greater understanding of the material they are studying.

Applications

Unique Considerations in Teaching Health & Sex Education

Special Educational Needs & Learning Difficulties

Mainstream schools must often ensure that children with special educational needs and learning difficulties are not excluded from regular classrooms and school programs. Thus, health and sex educators who teach special needs learners may need to adapt their lessons and instructional materials to meet the accommodations of their students. Children with special educational needs and learning difficulties nonetheless benefit from health and sex education programs, and can be taught unique ways to care for themselves so they are better equipped to make positive decisions in their lives. In addition, health and sex educators may need to incorporate the families of these students into the course objectives. This is because some parents of children with special educational needs may find it difficult to accept their children's developing sexuality, or the children may need special attention in managing their changing bodies and hormones. Teachers must also be watchful for signs of potential abuse or harmful behavior, either inflicted by other students on special education students or at the hands of special needs students themselves. These students may not always understand the nature or implications of their behavior, and may act out healthy desires in unhealthy ways. Since special education students are often vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, these children will need assistance in developing the skills necessary to reduce the risks of being abused or exploited, and to learn what sorts of behavior are, and are not, acceptable.

In addition, teachers may find that they have to be more creative in planning lessons and evaluation methods in order to enable children with special educational needs or learning difficulties to grasp the material. Teachers may need to consult with professionals from other fields to determine how to best present the concepts covered in health and sex education courses. It is also important that students with special educational needs are not withdrawn from health or sex education so that they can focus on learning traditional curriculum subjects.

Finally, teachers have an important role to play in accommodating the needs of special education students and encouraging their participation in health and sex education programs. Teacher attitudes toward having students with disabilities in their class and their ability to accommodate these students can greatly affect the degree to which these students are included in mainstream classes and the attitudes of other students toward their educational needs. Thus, it is critical for teachers to become knowledgeable about students with disabilities. Teachers should establish a close working relationship with special educators who have been trained in special education and who can answer questions about the various conditions and unique needs of students who have different learning disabilities. In addition, teachers should stress that all students are unique, and urge students to learn to be supportive of their peers, regardless of their differences.

Sexual Identity & Sexual Orientation

Many schools are learning how to meet the needs of students who are struggling with their sexual identity or sexual orientation. These issues must be handled with sensitivity in any health or sex education program. Young people, regardless of their developing sexuality, need to feel that health and sex education classes will provide information that is relevant to them and sensitive to their needs. Thus, teachers should anticipate dealing with issues relating to sexual identity and orientation, and be able to deal honestly and sensitively with these issues by answering appropriate questions and offering assistance in seeking out additional support, if needed.

Any discussion of sexuality and sexual orientation in school classrooms is a significant concern for some parents. Parents may want teachers to adapt certain lessons or eliminate topics from discussion. Teachers must be prepared to deal with these concerns and find ways to balance their educational objectives with the values of their students, their students' families, and the community at large. Ensuring the curriculum is inclusive of LGBTQ students and addresses their questions and concerns ensures all students are set up for success. In addition, schools must be prepared to deal with homophobic bullying or other harassment relating to sexual orientation or gender identity. Teachers and administrators must diffuse difficult behaviors, such as Cyberbullying, and teach that bullying, in whatever form—whether racial, socio-economic, related to sexual orientation, or any other reason—is unacceptable when it causes emotional distress and harm.

Mental Health & Stress Management

One of the most important tasks of health and sex educators is to help students develop sound mental health practices. The fact that many students struggle with mental health issues is evidenced by the realities of alcohol and drug use among the nation's youth, adolescent rates of depression and suicide and reports of school-age children who run away from home each year. While students can be instructed regarding the importance of sound mental health and stress management, the actual practice of good mental health habits can be difficult to teach and measure. This is in part because the habits of good mental health are in many ways more elusive than those of good physical health. Proper nutrition, regular exercise and rest and relaxation lead to good physical health, but good mental health practices and characteristics are less obvious and may vary from individual to individual.

Although the process of achieving mental wellness is a lifelong process, the years students spend in elementary, middle, and high school have a profound effect on their mental well-being. There are many ways in which teachers and educators can promote positive mental health so that students learn to develop a healthy sense of self and well-being. For instance, teachers can treat each child as a unique individual by offering personal observations or words of praise that let a child know that he or she is performing well on a given task or is progressing well. Children can be encouraged to develop their individual talents through creative projects that explore educational objectives using a variety of methods. In addition, children can be taught how to practice positive mental health habits that can augment healthy physical health practices. For example, children can be taught the importance of setting and working towards goals, developing a diverse set of friends and interests, learning to laugh and enjoy life and learning to relate to themselves and others with empathy, introspection, and respect.

In addition, because of its influence on behavior and the expression of emotions that may result, stress is an important topic that should be included in any discussion of mental health. Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to an unanticipated or stimulating event. Children can learn how to identify situations that produce feelings of anxiety or apprehension and appropriate techniques for managing their reaction to these situations. They can then be taught techniques for dealing with stress in healthy ways, such as through exercising, deep breathing, mediation, visualization, humor, and effective time management.

In addition, teachers can foster an emotional climate in the classroom that promotes respect for each individual and personal wellness. For instance, teachers can become familiar with the individual interests and talents of each student, treat students fairly and impartially, discourage unhealthy competition while encouraging warmth and friendliness and listen and respond without judgment to student comments so that students feel free to share their thoughts and feelings. Finally, teachers can remain self-aware so as to avoid communicating verbal or nonverbal reactions that a child may misunderstand or interpret as disapproval or rejection. Because children closely observe the attitudes and reactions of the adults with whom they interact, teachers must always strive to monitor their words and body language so that they create a sense of warmth and respect for the students with whom they interact.

Conclusion

Health is the process of integrating positive practices and behaviors in a way that maximizes personal potential. Health consists of well-being in all aspects of life, including spiritual, emotional, intellectual, physical, social, and environmental. To help students achieve health and wellness, schools can incorporate health and sex education programs to teach students the skills necessary to effectively manage their lives, believe in their ability to accomplish specific tasks or behaviors and take the actions necessary to thrive and reach their goals. Thus, health and sex education is the process of developing and providing planned experiences to supply information, change attitudes and influence positive behaviors toward health, wellness and sexual responsibility. Health and sex education should include sequential, planned, comprehensive lessons taught by qualified teachers. Since factual information alone does not ensure behavioral change, health and sex education programs should also provide means for personalizing information through classroom activities or supporting instructional media. In addition, health and sex education programs should include materials and resources that are designed to reach a wide range of students, including those with special education needs, learning difficulties or those struggling with issues such as sexual orientation, sexual identity, stress management or substance abuse. A school-based health and sex education program can be an important component of teaching young people how to take responsibility for promoting their own optimal health, sexuality, and wellness.

Terms & Concepts

Affective Domain: Relates to the values, beliefs, interests, attitudes, emotions, and feelings of individuals.

Cognitive Domain: Relates to the ability to deal with knowledge and factual information from an intellectual perspective.

Comprehensive School Health Program: The planned coordinated provision of health services, a healthful environment and health instruction for all children in a school, where each of the components complements and is integrated with the others in the total scope of the body of knowledge unique to health education.

Cooperative Learning: A teaching-learning strategy that focuses on teamwork, typically heterogeneous grouping of four students of various abilities, whose work is rewarded as a group, and dependent on the individual learning all its members.

Disease Prevention: Deliberate actions planned and taken for the purpose of maintaining health, protecting against disease, early diagnosis and treatment of suspected disease, and rehabilitating disabled persons to the degree possible.

Health: A quality of life involving dynamic interaction and interdependence of the physical, social, mental, and emotional dimensions of an individual's well-being.

Health Attitudes: Relatively lasting clusters of feelings, beliefs and behavior tendencies directed toward specific objects, persons, or situations related to health.

Health Behavior: Actions customarily taken by an individual that have an impact on personal and community well-being.

Health Education: Systematically organized activities designed to aid students in gaining the knowledge, skills, understanding, attitudes, and behavior patterns necessary for living healthfully.

Hygiene: Personal health care, especially techniques, and standards of grooming and cleanliness.

Lifestyle: Decisions made and resulting actions taken by individuals that typically affect their health.

Risk Factors: Characteristics or patterns of health behaviors that increase a person's risk of disease. These are either unmodifiable (e.g., age, sex, family history) or modifiable, (e.g., cigarette smoking, overweight).

Screening Tests: Preliminary appraisal techniques used by teachers or school nurses to identify children who appear to need diagnostic tests carried out by medical specialists.

Social Learning Theory ("SLT"): The theory that every person exhibits a variety of behaviors that being reinforced by success recur when the stimulus is the same in later situations.

Values: Preferences for ideas, things, or behaviors that are shared and transmitted within a community.

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Ivinson, G. (2007). Pedagogic discourse and sex education: Myths, science and subversion. Sex Education, 7, 201-216. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=24904890&site=ehost-live

Lamb, S. (2013). Just the facts? The separation of sex rducation from moral education. Educational Theory, 63, 443–460. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=91280792

Liller, K. (2005). Let's sell health! Journal of School Health, 75, 187-188. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=17087723&site=ehost-live

Stover, D. (2007). Should we be teaching sex education or sexual abstinence? Education Digest, 72, 41-48. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=24052710&site=ehost-live

Strauss, K. (2003). The birds, the bees, oh my! NEA Today, 21, 38. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=9348499&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Armour, K., & Harris, J. (2013). Making the case for developing new PE-for-health pedagogies. Quest (00336297), 65, 201–219. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=86929591

Gambescia, S.F. (2007). Discovering a philosophy of health education. Health Education & Behavior, 34, 718-722. Retrieved January 17, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=27509208&site=ehost-live

Jalloh, M.G. (2007). Health education careers in schools. Health Education Monograph Series, 24, 18-22. Retrieved January 17, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=26963509&site=ehost-live

Lickona, T. (2000). Bringing parents into the picture. Educational Leadership, 58, 60-65. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=4027092&site=ehost-live

McAvoy, P. (2013). The aims of sex education: Demoting autonomy and promoting mutuality. Educational Theory, 63, 483–496. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=91280787

Practice notes: Strategies in health education. (2007). Health Education & Behavior, 34, 417-410. Retrieved January 17, 2008, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=25312023&site=ehost-live