• Course Description

    Health education provides students with the skills and functional knowledge to develop lifelong wellness.  Lifelong wellness is the ability to care for oneself within all dimensions of health; physical, mental/emotional, environmental, social, spiritual, intellectual, and occupational-making continuing adjustments throughout our lives.  Our goal is to encourage students to recognize that their choices impact lifelong health.  

    Students will develop high-level comprehension and understanding in the areas of personal wellness, mental and emotional health, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, body systems and disease, nutrition and fitness, consumer and environmental health, and human sexuality.

    Grade Level(s): Eighth Grade

    Related Priority Standards (State &/or National):  

    Essential Questions

    • How does one notice different dimensions of wellness working together in their life? 
    • What lifestyle choices can one make to keep one's body healthy?
    • What knowledge is necessary to promote health and prevent disease?
    • How can one reduce their risk of disease?
    • How can one take care of one's developmental and sexual health in adolescence? 
    • How can one set boundaries related to one's sexual health and respect the boundaries of others?
    • How do you know when you or a loved one needs help, and where do you go for that help?
    • What makes a healthy relationship?
    • Why are empathy and inclusion necessary for developing personal health and a safe and healthy community?   
    • How do we reduce the stigma around health-related topics to empower students to advocate for themselves and their physical, social, and emotional needs?
    • Who or what influences health-related decisions?
    • How does one make good decisions for themselves? 
    • How does substance use and abuse impact people’s lives? 
    • How does one manage peer pressure and use refusal skills? 
    • How can one make informed health decisions using valid and reliable resources while recognizing their sources of influence?
    • What is the difference between gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation?

    Enduring Understandings

    • Students will evaluate the presence of each dimension of wellness in their lives.
    • Students will explain how their lifestyle choices affect their wellness.
    • Students will evaluate the effects of various influences on their health-related decisions.
    • Students will apply their knowledge of influences to make healthy decisions.
    • Students will evaluate their resources to ensure validity and relevance.
    • Students will recognize their own risk factors for substance abuse. 
    • Students will demonstrate effective refusal skills.
    • Students will identify the parts of the endocrine and reproductive systems, as well as how their body changes during puberty.
    • Students will explain how to care for their reproductive health.
    • Students will recognize the effectiveness of contraceptives and that abstinence eliminates the risk of STIs and pregnancy.
    • Students will sequence the development of a fertilized egg from conception to birth.
    • Students will understand the importance of consent and what that might look like in personal relationships.
    • Students will evaluate the negative consequences of sending sexually explicit pictures or messages by e-mail or cell phone or posting sexually explicit pictures on social media sites (e.g., chat groups, e-mail, texting, websites, phone and tablet applications).
    • Students will learn how society may reinforce ways in which each gender should act and behave, to which a person may not always conform.

    Course-Level Scope & Sequence (Units &/or Skills)

    • Unit 1: Concepts of Wellness

    Students will learn about the different dimensions of wellness and how they interact with each other. They will find evidence of these in their lives and work toward a balance among them in order to thrive. *Components of fitness and the effects of exercise on the muscular, skeletal, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems will be taught in physical education. 

    • Unit 2: Mental, Emotional, and Social Health & Goal Setting

    Students will develop self-awareness around their own mental, emotional, and social health and learn about strategies to manage them. They will learn about various mental health disorders and recognize signs of them in themselves and others. Students will also practice the skill of goal setting to impact their own health positively. 

    • Unit 3: Analyzing Influences & Decision Making

    Students will learn how to recognize health influences and make decisions about substance use and abuse. They will learn about the nervous system and digestive system and their relation to substance use and abuse.

    • Unit 4: Healthy and Safe Relationships

    Students will learn about disease risk factors and prevention as well as how the immune system fights against them.  Students will learn how to be health advocates for themselves and others.  Using the latest medically factual and developmentally appropriate information students will learn about the endocrine system, the reproductive system, abstinence, contraceptives, conception, and fetal development.  Students will learn how to protect themselves and others from sexually transmitted infections and understand the role of abstinence in prevention.  They will also learn about the importance of consent in personal relationships.  Students will learn about the difference between gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.  Students will learn there are a variety of gender expressions and identities, and all deserve to be shown respect.  Students will learn how society may reinforce ways in which each gender should act and behave, to which a person may not always conform.

    Students will be provided training that includes:

      • Instruction providing students with the knowledge and tools to recognize sexual abuse
      • Instruction providing students with the knowledge and tools to report an incident of sexual abuse
      • Actions that a student who is a victim of sexual abuse could take to obtain assistance and intervention
      • Available resources for students affected by sexual abuse

    For additional information about this unit, including opt-out letters for families, please visit the Health Education website.

    Date Last Revised/Approved: 2022