Health EducationFor the 2020 Generation

THINKING OF A CHANGE

Dr. David Lohrmann, ProfessorIndiana University--Department of Applied Health Science

FORWARD-PRESENT AND PAST

• Where am I now?

• Where have I been?

• Health education setting—PK-12 schools

• Half in public education—teacher/coach, administrator, national evaluator

• Half in higher education—teacher preparation; CSHP

REJUVENATION/REINVENTION

• Futurists—World Future Society

• Scan environment for hints of new trends

• Bookstore—books of interest

• New capacities--text mining• Consider concepts from other fields/disciplines

for application to school health education

Future

HINTS ABOUT THE CURRENT STATUS OF HEALTH EDUCATION

IN SCHOOLS

(BUT WHO KNOWS FOR SURE?)

HOW SHOULD HEALTH

EDUCATION BE TAUGHT?

• Research-based and theory driven• Focus on specific behaviors**• Accurate, basic, and developmentally

and culturally** appropriate information• Learning activities engage students in

interactive and experiential ways• Students are given opportunities to

model and practice skills (communication, avoidance, refusal, negotiation, problem solving, goal setting, stress management, etc.**)

• Social and media influences on behavior are addressed

• Individual values and group norms that support health-enhancing behaviors are strengthened and supported

• Of sufficient duration to allow students to gain the needed knowledge and skills (at least 8 lessons)

• Include teacher training that enhances effectiveness

• Standard 1– Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.

• Standard 2--Students will analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology and other factors on health behaviors.

• Standard 3--Students will demonstrate the ability to access valid information and products and services to enhance health.

• Standard 4--Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

• Standard 5--Students will demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.

• Standard 6--Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.

• Standard 7—Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks.

• Standard 8--Students will demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family and community health.

Effectiveness Characteristics Health Education Standards

Strategies

Health Skill

Health Curriculum *

Role-play Communication, conflict resolution, avoidance, refusal, problem solving

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Group Cooperation(jigsaw, carousel, think-pair-share)

Communication, advocacy, problem solving 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Interactive Technology(videos, websites)

Evaluation, advocacy, problem solving 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

Team Games

Communication, critical analysis 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10

Small Group Discussion Communication, self management, responsibility, critical analysis

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Active Learning Teaching StrategiesIn Research-Based Health Education Units

Herbert and Lohrmann, Its all in the Delivery…..accepted for publication in JOSH

IS HEALTH EDUCATION IN SCHOOLSSUPPORTED?

IS HEALTH EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS SUPPORTED?

• American Cancer Society Survey 1995• Mid-Continent Regional Ed. Lab.

(MCREL)--Robert Marzano, 1999• Alliance for a Healthier Generation--2009

AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY SURVEY (1995)

• Majority of school administrators, students and their families support CSHE

• Majority of parents and administrators believed that adolescents should be taught more health information and skills in schools

• 55% of students said schools should spend more time on health than on English, math or science

MID-CONTINENT REGIONAL ED. LAB. (MCREL)--ROBERT MARZANO, 1999

• Asked American public to rank 142 Standards from across 14 school subjects including:

Language ArtsMathematicsScienceForeign Language

HistoryCivicsEconomicsGeographySocial Studies

HealthPhysical EducationTechnologyLifelong Learning

MCREL RESULTS

• #1 Understand substance use and abuse

• #3 Understand family health/individual health

• #4 Knows essential concepts of disease prevention and control

• #6 Knows how to maintain mental and emotional health

• #11 Knows use of health services, products and info.

• #12 Understands nutrition and diet

• #16 Knows injury prevention and safety

• #19 Fundamental concepts of growth and development

• #24 Knows how to maintain and promote personal health

• #50 Knows environmental health

Rank of Health-Related Standards of 142

ALLIANCE FOR A HEALTHIER GENERATION--2009

2009 Survey Conducted for the Alliance by KRC Research, the survey found

•92 % of parents consider physical education and health education as important as English, math and science instruction.

•96 % of parents believe that physical activity can boost their children’s classroom performance, and virtually all parents (99 percent) recognize that healthy eating also has a positive effect on learning.

•Findings suggest widespread parental concern over the cuts many school systems have made in physical education and recess, often the unfortunate result of budget difficulties and standardized testing pressures.

IS HEALTH BEING TAUGHT?

National Picture

CURRENT STATUS (2006 SHPPS/CDC)?

• Districts require to teach “some” health (at least 1 hour)*• 86.4% of elementary schools• 84.6% of middle schools• 91.8% of high schools

• Most common topics (More than 2/3 teach at El, MS & HS)• Injury prevention/safety• Alcohol and other drug use development• Emotional and mental health• Nutrition• Physical active and fitness• Tobacco use prevention• Violence prevention

* Typical PER DAY Elem = Lang. Arts 120 min; Math 60 min; Social Studies 30 min; Science 30 min

CURRENT STATUS (2006 SHPPS/CDC)?

Mode of Delivery

• Where taught

• Elementary—infused into grade-level curricula

• M.S./H.S.

• Course primarily health = 43.2%

• Combined health and PE = 21.8%

• Other (Sci, SS, Eng.) = 35%

• In M.S. and H.S. most health topics (except environmental health and immunization) more frequently taught in separate health course

Twenty-eight teacher prep students participated in early field placements for 20 hours over a semester. At the end they were asked:

How many of you observed * Knowledge acquisition? * Knowledge application?

Which approach to learning did you observe? * Passive learning? * Active learning? * Skills-based learning?

How is Health Education Being Taught?

IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PUBLIC EDUCATION

ESTABLISHMENT

WHERE DOES HEALTH EDUCATION

FIT IN (OR NOT)?

Question:“Are science, social studies, the arts, and physical education really disappearing from elementary schools? Are critical thinking and deep reading of literature fading from the high school curriculum?

Answer:“A study of a large urban district from 2001-2005 found that as worries about adequate yearly Progress increased, teachers matched contend and format of what they taught to the state test. These researchers concluded that the content of the tests had effectively become the learning goals for students….More than 80 percent of the studies in the review found changes in curriculum content and increased in teacher-centered instruction.”

High-Stakes Testing Narrows the Curriculum by Jane L. DavidASCD* Education Leadership, March 2011

ASCD is sponsor of Whole Child Initiative and Healthy Schools Communities

Wasting Minds Why Our Education System is Failing and What We Can do About It By Ronald A.Wolk (2011)

Focus Evaluating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning by Mike Schmoker (2011)

•What do these say about health and learning?

• Never mention child health, teacher health, or physical activity directly and only a few health-related issues (e.g., self control) even in sections on “what do employers want”, “brain studies point the way” and “the drop-out epidemic”.

Obviously never read John Ratey’s SPARK The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Two Brand New ASCD Premium Membership Books

PARTNERSHIP FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLSCOUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS

Mastery of core subjects and 21st century themes is essential for students in the 21st century. Core subjects* include:

• English, reading or language arts • World languages • Arts • Mathematics • Economics • Science • Geography • History • Government and Civics * Same as Education Goals 2000—NO health education or physical education

ADVICE FROM ROBERT MCDERMOTTHEALTH EDUCATION CIRCA 2035—A COMMENTARY

“In the next 25 years we will have to leave our comfort zones and take a calculated risk with some radical and creative approaches to health behavior change, for as Einstein is credited as having said: “Insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect the same result.”……… I would like to suggest that our prediction of the future will be made easier if we are among those who create the future through a conscious set of decisions and actions.”

Journal of Health Education January/February 2011

One could argue that, with regard to health education in schools, we’re doing the same thing over and over again and actually achieving a worse result (i.e., uncertain support, lower quality teaching, less instructional time, uncertain learning outcomes.)

Should we stop doing the same thing over and over again and try something else?

If so, what?

THINKING OF A CHANGE

• Who is our audience? What are they like? How do they learn?

• What “blips” are out there to inform what we do?

• What non-traditional delivery systems are available?

• Can a new approach connect to 21st Century Education Reform?

WHO ARE THE NEWEST GENERATIONS?

WHAT ARE THEY GENERALLY LIKE?

HOW MIGHT THEY BE DIFFERENT?

FOUR REPEATING GENERATION TYPES*

Type Name Years Description Values

Reactive Lost 1883-1900 Unprotected and criticized youth; risk-taking, alienated; reclusive elders

Liberty, pragmatism, survival

Civic GI (Greatest)

1901-1924 Increasingly protected youth; heroic and achieving adults; busy elders

Community, technology, affluence

Adaptive Silent 1925-1942 Overprotected and suffocated youth; risk-averse, conformist adults; sensitive elders

Pluralism, expertise, social justice

Idealist Boomers 1943-1960 Increasingly indulged youth during spiritual awakening; visionary elders

Principle, religion, education

Reactive Gen X 1961-1981 Unprotected and criticized youth; risk-taking, alienated; reclusive elders

Liberty, pragmatism, survival

Civic Millennium 1982-1999 Increasingly protected youth; heroic and achieving adults; busy elders

Community, technology, affluence

Adaptive 2020 2000- Overprotected and suffocated youth; risk-averse, conformist adults; sensitive elders

Pluralism, expertise, social justice

* Generations The History of America’s Future 1584-2069 by Strauss and Howe

MILLENNIAL GENERATION—1982-1999*• Parents = Boomers and Gen-Xers• Least white and most racially and ethnically diverse generation in history (Latinos

outnumber African Americans with Asian teens rapidly growing presence)• Think of self as “global”• Busiest people in US—reduced unstructured time and in school longer• Have considerable Spending power but with parent’s approval • Except for BMI, are generally healthier (Boomers = do as I say, not as I did)• Never knew a time without computers• Regarding work:

• Work for organization that does something they believe in, supportive, empowering and inspiring

• Blend home and work life (“weisure time”)• Develop new skills and career prospects with employer

* Millenials and K-12 Schools by Strauss and Howe

GENERATION 2020—BORN 2000+ *

• Parents Late Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials

• Digital natives—hyper-networked, stay connected by cell and smart phones

• Know how to access information quickly, also TMI

• Concerned about environment

• Want freedom to get education anywhere in the world, even by phone

• Want mobile access to organize volunteering opportunities and corporate social responsibilities.

• Spend less free time outdoors

• BMI an issue but generally too young to assess other health risk behaviors

• Will work in jobs/careers not yet invented.

The 2020 Workplace by Meister and Willyerd

GENERATION 2020 MEDIA EXPOSURE(VARIES WIDELY FOR INDIVIDUALS)

Do They Really Think Differently? Marc Prensky

Blips from

An Environmental Scan

Why Don’t Kids Like School?By DANIEL T. WILLINGHAM

Learning Results from Thinking about Meaning

Working Memory(site of awareness

and of thinking)

Long-Term Memory(factual knowledge and procedural knowledge)

Environment

NOTE: The greater the capacity in workingmemory the better

the thinker

Learning Remembering

Attention

Information

WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT WHAT WE

OUGHT TO BE DOING?

The Political BrainThe Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the NationBy Drew Westen

BRAIN RESEARCH AND ADVERTISING

• Humans make decisions based more on emotions (80%) than reason

• Political advertising designed to arouse emotions, not reason

BRAIN RESEARCH AND ADVERTISING

• Works physiologically through Amygadala region of brain• Forms and storages memories associated with emotional events.

• Greater emotional arousal following a learning event enhances a person's retention of that event

• Can respond to stimuli even when the person has no awareness of having seen them

DUAL SYSTEMS OF EMOTIONAL PROCESSING

Behavioral Approach System

Behavioral Inhibition System

Pleasurable Emotional States

Fear and Anxiety

Dopamine

Norepinephrine

• Whether individual aware or unaware, messages can activate one or the other and create either a positive or negative emotional association with an object

• Words, images, sounds, music, backdrop, tone of voice, etc. crucial

MediaMessage

ADVERTISING TO DISTORT SYSTEMS• Function of Dual Systems

• Provides internal checks and balances, leading to pursuit enjoyable activities but putting on the brakes when about to get themselves into trouble (doesn’t work as well for adolescents).

• Those too high on one and too low on the other risk psychological problems.

• Vulnerable to depression and anxiety on the one hand or to excessive risk taking and antisocial behavior on the other.

• Given time and repetition, [emotional appeal] media messages can distort reality and cause malfunction of internal regulation and individuals will made decisions that are against their own best interests*

*Consistent with How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer

The End of Overeating Taking Control of the Insatiable American AppetiteBy David Kessler

BUSINESS OF FOOD: CREATING HIGHLY REWARDING STIMULI

• Layer food with three most satiable ingredients—sugar, fat and salt (SFS)

• Take advantage of brain chemistry

• SFS can be reinforcer even if not hungry

• Utilize consumption reinforcers—sight, smell, location, anticipation

OVEREATING AND THE BRAIN• Brain activity stimulated by cues in anticipation of reward

• Neurons activated by taste and other features of SFS part of opioid/endorphin circuit

• Opioids produced by high-sugar, high-fat foods can relive pain or stress and produce calming

• Positive emotions (comfort, stress relief) imbedded in cues to eat

• Involves dopamine to motivate reward-seeking behavior

DUAL SYSTEMS OF EMOTIONAL PROCESSING

Behavioral Approach System

Behavioral Inhibition System

Pleasurable Emotional States

Fear and Anxiety

Dopamine

Norepinephrine

• Whether individual aware or unaware, messages can activate one or the other and create either a positive or negative emotional association with an object

• Words, images, sounds, music, backdrop, tone of voice, etc. crucial

MediaMessage

FOOD MARKETING AND EMOTIONS

• Designed to influences behavior by creating anticipation

• Create positive perception of a food product• Sell pleasurable emotions—food promises to make us feel good• Present with cues associated with rewards—pictures,

words, expressions, location, etc.

• Effective marketing is itself an emotional reinforcer, driving to reinforcing food

COUNTERING FOOD MARKETING• Mandate calories of foods on all restaurant menus

• Prominently identify sugar, fat and salt on food labels

• Public education campaign to expose SFS foods as negative and unhealthy

• Monitor and expose food marketing of SFS foods as harmful

• Protect children from food advertising

WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT WHAT WE MIGHT CHANGE?

MAJOR EMPHASIS ONMEDIA LITERACY

The ability to interpret and create personal

meaning from the hundreds, even thousands, of

verbal and visual symbols we take in everyday.

Center for Media Literacy, 2010

EMPOWERMENT

The ability to:

Choose and select;

Challenge and question; and

Be conscious

about what’s going on

around you and not be

passive—and therefore,

vulnerable.

MEDIA LITERACY

How??• Learn to interpret media

messages

• Create media products

FIVE IDEAS ABOUT MEDIA MESSAGES

ALL MEDIA MESSAGES ARE CONSTRUCTED

• Text combined with visuals and audio by creative designers

• “The way it is”

• What is left out?

MESSAGES ARE CONSTRUCTED USING A CREATIVE LANGUAGE WITH ITS OWN RULES

• Visuals• Music • Camera angles• Metaphor• Grammar• Syntax

MEDIA HAVE EMBEDDED VALUES AND VIEWPOINTS

• Characters

• Appearance

• Behavior

• Speech

• Reactions of others

MEDIA HAVE EMBEDDED VALUES AND VIEWPOINTS

• Stories and story lines• Place

• Subtext

• Appeal

• Target

DIFFERENT PEOPLE EXPERIENCE THE SAME MEDIA DIFFERENTLY

• Vary in many ways

• Try to make sense of media

• Questioning helps make sense

MEDIA ARE PRIMARILY BUSINESSES DRIVEN BY A PROFIT MOTIVE

• Entertainment creates an audience

• Products sold to audience

• Audience sold to advertisers (scientific)

• Audience segmentation

• Audience size

FIVE KEY QUESTIONS

• Who created this message and why are they sending it?

• What techniques are being used to attract my attention?

• What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in the message?

• How might different people understand this message differently from me?

• What is omitted from this message?

2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop and Keep Tomorrow’s Employees Today by Jeanne Meister & Karie Willyard

FUTURE WORKPLACE

•Why a book about workplace?

• Business/economics driving US education reform*

• Education reform focused on 21st Century Skills

• Health education must contribute to 21st Century Skills to remain (become?) relevant in the school curriculum

*Health and economic competitiveness inextricably linked

HOW IS WORK CHANGING ALREADY?

• New Uses of Technology—especially smart phones

• Apply for jobs and interview via social networks

• Use of social networks to conduct collaborative projects

• Mentoring by senior leaders through blogs

• Professional development by digital games

Reality is BrokenWhy Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the WorldBy Jane McGonigal

WHAT IS A GAME?

WHAT IS A GAME?

• All forms, platforms, and genres• Single-player, multi-player, massively multiplayer

• Personal computer, console, hand-held device, mobile phone

• 5 seconds, 19 minutes, 8 hours, endless role-play games

• Four defining traits• Goal

• Rules

• Feedback system

• Voluntary

“Almost all of us are biased against games today—even gamers. We can’t help it. This bias is part of our culture, part of our language.”

DEMOGRAPHICS--COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES?

• Who Plays• 69% of all heads of households

• 97% of youth (10K hrs)

• 40% of women

• 25% over 50

• Average player is 35 years old playing for 12 years

• Most gamers intend to play throughout life

• US biggest gaming market in world

MOTIVATION TO PLAY

• Happiness—direct emotional opposite of depression• Good hard work/hard fun: High-stakes, busy,

mental work, physical work, discovery, teamwork, creative work

• Fiero—what we feel after triumphing over adversity, most powerful rush

• Flow—satisfying, exhilarating feeling of creative accomplishment and heightened functioning

• Make happiness by working hard at activities that provide their own reward

• Achieving something that is very difficult releases nor-epi, epi and dopamine

Gamers spend less time watching television than anyone else on the planet.

INTRINSIC BENEFITS• Satisfying work every day

• Success—will experience at some time (80% of time failing)

• Social connection—multi-player, massively multi-player, chat rooms, mentor

• Meaning—chance to be part of something larger than ourselves

RISKS TO PLAY

• Too much flow = exhaustion

• Too much fiero = addiction

GOAL AND POTENTIAL

• Goal of industry: lifelong gamers who balance favorite games with full and active lives

• Potential to change the world

Children who play gamesthat require them to help others are more likely tohelp others in real life

ALTERNATE REALITY GAMES(ARG)

• Games played to get more out of real life—anti-escapist

• Premises• Compared to games, reality is hard to get into; ARG motivate fuller participation

• Games in which online quests correspond to real world actions

• If avatar, can become more powerful as skills increase

• Individual success magnified if multi-player

• Status• Newest ones designed to improve quality of life

• Example—Quest to Learn Magnet School in NYC

WHAT DOES THIS TELL US ABOUT WHAT WE MIGHT CHANGE?

“If we take everything game developers have learned about optimizing human experience and organizing collaborative communication and apply it to real life , I foresee games that make us work up in the morning and feel thrilled to start our day…that reduce stress at work and dramatically increase our career satisfaction….that fix out educational system….that treat depression, obesity, anxiety and attention deficit disorder….that tackle global-scale problems like climate change and poverty…that augment our most essential human capabilities and empower us to change the world in meaningful ways.

Jane McGonigal in Reality is Broken

Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

Strategies

Health Skill

Health Curriculum *

Role-play Communication, conflict resolution, avoidance, refusal, problem solving

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Group Cooperation(jigsaw, carousel, think-pair-share)

Communication, advocacy, problem solving 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Interactive Technology(videos, websites)

Evaluation, advocacy, problem solving 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

Team Games

Communication, critical analysis 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10

Small Group Discussion Communication, self management, responsibility, critical analysis

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Active Learning Teaching StrategiesIn Research-Based Health Education Units

Herbert and Lohrmann, Its all in the Delivery…..accepted for publication in JOSH

Learning Results from Thinking about Meaning

Working Memory(site of awareness

and of thinking)

Long-Term Memory(factual knowledge and procedural knowledge)

Environment

NOTE: The greater the capacity in workingmemory the better

the thinker

Learning Remembering

Attention

Information

HEALTH GAME PROGRESSION

• Single-player • Learn, practice and master skills

• Develop confidence/self-efficacy

• Experience success

• Multi-player and alternate reality games• Practice social skills

• Connect to real world

• Build social connections

• Massively multiplayer• Change the world

DELIVERY OPTIONS• Platforms

• Laptop/game console

• Smartphone/handheld device

• Notepad/notebook

• Other (not yet invented)

• Instructional• All virtual (on own)

• Classroom plus virtual (on own)

• Classroom with virtual (in class)

• Combinations with blogs, chat-room, helpdesk, etc.

• Other

EXAMPLE HEALTH GAMES AND APPS

Despite their reputation as promoters of violence and mayhem, digital games have in fact been shown to help children gain content and vital foundational and 21st-Century skills….Well-designed digital games show significant potential to promote children’s growth andhealthy development. Games for:•Physical Health•Developing healthy long-term habits•Disease Management

The Joan Ganz Cooney Centerat Sesame Workshop, 2009

IMPRESSIONS FROM THE PUBLIC EDUCATION

ESTABLISHMENT

WHERE DOES HEALTH EDUCATION

FIT IN (OR NOT)?

PARTNERSHIP FOR 21ST CENTURY SKILLSCOUNCIL OF CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICERS

Mastery of core subjects and 21st century themes is essential for students in the 21st century. Core subjects* include:

• English, reading or language arts • World languages • Arts • Mathematics • Economics • Science • Geography • History • Government and Civics * Same as Education Goals 2000—NO health education or physical education

Council of Chief State School Officers Partnership for 21st Century Skills

1. Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes

2. Learning and Innovation Skills: Creativity and Innovation; Critical Thinking and Problem Solving; Communication and Collaboration

3. Information, Media and Technology Skills: Information Literacy, Media Literacy, ICTechnology Literacy

4. Life and Career Skills: flexibility and adaptability; initiative and self direction; social and cross-cultural skills; productivity and accountability; leadership and respoinnsibility

Whole Framework

INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS:

MEDIA LITERACY• Analyze Media• Understand both how and why media messages are constructed,

and for what purposes • Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how

values and points of view are included or excluded, and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors

• Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of media

• Create Media Products• Understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools,

characteristics and conventions • Understand and effectively utilize the most appropriate

expressions and interpretations in diverse, multi-cultural environments

INFORMATION, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ITC)

•Apply Technology Effectively: Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information •Use digital technologies (computers, PDAs, media players, GPS,  etc.), communication/networking

• tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create

• information to successfully function in a knowledge economy

• Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies

21ST CENTURY THEME (NOT A SKILL SET)• In addition to these subjects, we believe schools must move

beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects:

• Global Awareness

• Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy

• Civic literacy

• Health literacy

• Environmental literacy Health Literacy

INTERDISCIPLINARY THEME:

HEALTH LITERACY

•Obtaining, interpreting and understanding basic health information and services and using such information and services in ways that are health enhancing •Understanding preventive physical and mental health measures, including proper diet, nutrition, exercise, risk avoidance and stress reduction•Using available information to make appropriate health-related decisions• Establishing and monitoring personal and family health goals•Understanding national and international public health and safety issues

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Will Rogers

ADVICE FROM ROBERT MCDERMOTTHEALTH EDUCATION CIRCA 2035—A COMMENTARY

“In the next 25 years we will have to leave our comfort zones and take a calculated risk with some radical and creative approaches to health behavior change….I would like to suggest that our prediction of the future will be made easier if we are among those who create the future through a conscious set of decisions and actions.”

Journal of Health Education January/February 2011

INTO THE FUTURE

They are willing to bypass or throw out old goals if a more achievable or a more epic goal presents itself. And they are constantly zooming out to construct a much bigger picture…..”Jane McGonigal in Reality is Broken Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change theWorld

“Extraordinary collaborators……practice possibility scanning: always remaining open and alert to unplanned opportunities and surprising insights—especially at bigger scales.

Health activatorsBehavioral psychologistsComputer engineersInstructional designersProgrammers

Game designersGraphic artistsFundersEvaluatorsKids and teachers

Health Education

Health Activation