The Healthy Challenges Project was developed to increase hours of school health instruction in grades 3-12 and to address deficits noted by the CDC's School Health Policies and Programs Study.1 The project aims to increase comprehensive health instruction by training teachers in Problem-Based Learning (PBL), a proven effective instructional method,2 and by giving them material resources and incentives to develop class projects addressing a specific health issue. The SHPPS notes three areas in which barriers to comprehensive school health education (CSHE)are common. One, many persons responsible for implementation in schools lack training. Two, few incentives for coordination and collaboration exist therefore, this occurs least frequently at the school level. Three, classroom instruction often lacks adequate depth.1 The Healthy Challenges Project considered these barriers and developed program elements to address them. In-service training is provided in the form of two-day workshops. Coordination and collaboration is encouraged at the school-level between teachers and among teachers and community members. Incentives are built into the program to defray costs of attending training, to provide classroom resources, and to fund class health projects. Healthy Challenges also trains teachers to increase the depth of health instruction by using scenarios which lead students to discover how health content is relevant to their lives. Preliminary results find that Healthy Challenges is successful in increasing hours spent on health instruction, increasing teacher training and enthusiasm to teach health, and increasing student interaction with health content.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Children and Adolescents, School-Based Programs
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.