Whether dealing with a whole K-12 curriculum or just one topic, instructors in health education are encouraged to use methods that are likely to influence behavior, not merely impart knowledge. In general, methods that work best are interactive ones that encourage students to personalize the messages and apply them to their own lives. As with learning any skill, practice and feedback are essential. For example, students can construct healthy menus, role-play alcohol refusal skills, identify personal pressures to engage in risky behavior, or compare the trustworthiness of information about medications obtained from various Web-based information sources.
The likelihood of students learning and applying health skills increases if those skills are practiced in a variety of situations. For example, students can be asked to demonstrate goal-setting skills when constructing a personal plan for increasing their level of aerobic exercise, and these same skills can later be applied to designing a healthy weight-loss plan.
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