Health & Wellness

This 8th-grade course is part of a planned, sequential, comprehensive health education curriculum that uses the Academic Standards for Health and Wellness to support student development of essential health skills within the ten health content areas.

Health and Wellness students focus on continued skill development and more opportunities for analyzing, modeling, and applying skills that will assist in building competencies for health literacy. Students apply health education concepts and health literacy skills, e.g., practicing interpersonal communications that promote health; analyzing positive and negative, internal and external influences on health decisions; and demonstrating self-care practices in managing personal daily activities.

Developmentally appropriate concepts of personal and community health; safety and injury prevention; nutrition and physical activity; mental health; alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; and family life and human sexuality are areas used for skill development. The adolescent student has instructional opportunities to investigate how health behaviors impact health, well-being, and disease prevention and to accept personal responsibility for health-related decisions.