Standard of Learning

6.1The student will apply critical thinking skills and personal management strategies to address issues and concerns related to personal health and wellness. Key concepts/skills include:

1. the importance of significant friends or adult mentors;
2. the relationship between self-image and gang-related behaviors;
3. the effects of environmental influences on personal health;
4. refusal strategies related to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs;
5. prevention of communicable and noncommunicable diseases.

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Understanding the Standard

The student will understand the difference between communicable and non-communicable diseases and how to reduce or prevent the risks of contracting a disease.

Essential Knowledge and Skills

The student will:

• define communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
• identify ways to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
• identify how to decrease your risk of contracting a communicable disease, such as the common cold, influenza, strep throat, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
• describe ways to prevent noncommunicable diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Sample Lessons

Allergies vs. Viruses
Students will understand the difference between an allergen and a virus upon completion of this lesson. Students are asked to create a flowchart comparing the common cold or hay fever. The diagnosis and treatment of allergies and viruses is also discussed.
Two class periods are needed to complete this lesson.
Sponsor: Discovery School
Contact: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/allergiesviruses/
Free

Be a Germstopper
Encourages healthy habits to prevent the spread of illness in schools and at home. Provides links and resources for teachers on food safety, hand washing, the flu and nutrition.
Sponsor: CDC
Contact: http://www.cdc.gov/germstopper/index.htm
Free

Fighting Invisible Enemies
Students learn about antibiotics to fight bacterial infections and the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
Sponsor: Discovery Channel
Contact: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/invisibleenemies
Free

Glo Germ
Hand washing lesson plan that teaches about disease transmission, germs and how frequent hand washing helps to prevent illness.
Sponsor: Glo Germ
Contact: http://www.glogerm.com
Free

Introduction to Bacteria
Covers how bacteria move, where they live, and how they reproduce and that they can be harmful.
Sponsor: Discovery Channel
Contact: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/bacteria/
Free

It’s a Snap
A hands-on initiative for middle schools that's designed to help keep students in school and learning by improving overall health through promoting clean hands. Schools can use the SNAP program to increase student and staff hand cleaning and help them stay healthy. SNAP offers a free teachers toolkit to use to integrate hand hygiene into the curriculum and schoolwide activities.
Sponsor: CDC, Department of Health and Human Services and Soap and Detergent Association
Contact: http://www.itsasnap.org/index.asp
Free

New York Times Daily Lesson Plan> Healthy Hearts: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Diseases Affecting the Cardiopulmonary System
In this lesson, students focus on advanced technologies used to treat disease impacting the cardiopulmonary system; they then reflect on the experiences of having and overcoming illnesses. The final project requires student groups to investigate four common diseases affecting the cardiopulmonary system: heart attack, congestive heart failure, stroke, and diabetes.
Sponsor: The New York Times in partnership with the Bank Street College of Education in NYC.
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons
Free

New York Times Daily Lesson Plan> Nothing to Sneeze At: Creating Informational Pamphlets About a Range of Allergic Reactions
In this lesson, students learn about allergic reactions; they then synthesize their knowledge by creating informational pamphlets that help new allergy patients learn more about the nature of allergies.
Sponsor: The New York Times in partnership with the Bank Street College of Education in NYC
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers
Free

Polio Web Quest
Grades: 5-8
A WebQuest about polio. The activities are Internet based. In the 1950's one of the most terrifying words to any parent was "polio". As a child of the fifties, I remember my mother being very careful about things like playing with the garden hose, splashing in the rain and stomping in mud puddles. No one knew where polio came from and parents were terrified of their children catching this crippling disease. Do you know who Dr. Salk is? Have you ever seen an iron lung? Come with me on a journey into the past and listen to survivors tell about their experience with this debilitating disease.
Sponsor: Ask Eric
Contact: http://www.eduref.org (select lesson plans – health – health)
Free

Texas Department of Health
This lesson will help children recognize that personal health decisions and behaviors affect health throughout life. Following this lesson students will be able to identify and practice personal health habits that help individuals stay healthy. Sponsor: Texas Department of Health
Contact: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/kids/lessonplans/default.shtm
Free

Toxic or Not?
Aimed at grades 5-8, this site was sponsored by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The site focuses on our surroundings and the hazards present in everyday life. The environment is defined and broken into components, and the hazards present in our environment are discussed in terms of means of exposure. Each instructional unit includes an introduction, pre-test, activity, post-test and teachers' notes.
Sponsor: Texas A& M University
Contact: http://peer.tamu.edu/curriculum_modules/Environ_Hazard/index.htm
Free

Virus Encounters: Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Presented in five activities students learn about a viruses’ internal structures and functions, about diagnosing and treating viral infections. In activity three, students access the CDC’s Live Event video links. Students investigate a viral disease from perspective of a patient or a doctor in activity four. In order to understand disease outbreak, students examine a CDC case study.
Sponsor: U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Contact: http://turnerlearning.com/fyi/virusencounters
Free

Additional Instructional Resources

• American Museum of Natural History - http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/infection/
• American Society for Microbiology - http://www.microbe.org/index.html and http://www.washup.org
• Center for Disease Control - http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/student.htm
• Center for Disease Control - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/infectis.htm
• Diet, Nutrition, and Chronic Diseases - http://www.wiley.com/cda/product/0,,0471971332%7Cdesc%7C2699,00.html
• Food and Drug Administration - http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/anti_resist.html
• Germs Everywhere - http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/health/germs041999.html
• Get Smart Virginia - http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epi/getsmart/index.asp- Health Department
• Health Textbooks and Materials on Nutrition and Exercise
• Illness & Disease – http://www.pbs.org/teachersource (health & fitness 6-8)
• National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases & National Institute of Health - http://www.niaid.nih.gov/publications/microbes.htm
• Nemours Foundation - http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/
• PBS Antibiotic Resistance - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/survival/clock/index.html
• School Nurse
• Toxin "Bugs"! - http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/redbug/home.htm
• Virtual Museum of Bacteria - http://bacteriamuseum.org/

Assessment Ideas

The student will:

• create a dietary and exercise plan.
• write a short paper on ways to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.
• research noncommunicable diseases in their family.

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