Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.1A Grade 12 CPI 3

 

Standard: 2.1 - Wellness

 

Strand: A - Personal Health

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 -  The student will use health data to make predictions about wellness and recommend behavior changes to improve lifelong wellness.

 

Grade: 12

 

Sample Activities:

 

·    DARE TO BE 100 - Brainstorm attitudes about senior citizens. Explain that the process of aging is very misunderstood. Older citizens may be treated differently depending on the cultural background of the family. Students develop a plan to achieve old age entitled “Dare to Be 100.” Students list at least 20 suggestions to help them achieve the “ripe old age” of 100 years. Students consider ethnic and hereditary factors in the development of the plan.

Variation: Invite a panel of adults at various life stages to speak to the class about ways they stay young and healthy.

Variation: Students interview senior citizens about the positive things in life that have kept them active and healthy and ask them how they deal with the changes and problems of aging.

 

      Variation: Students shadow a senior citizen for a typical day and write a journal outlining his/her activities. Compare the day’s events with the stereotypical perceptions of “A Day in the Life of a Senior Citizen.”

Variation: Interview a local citizen who is at least 100 years old. Plan a life celebration, hold the event, and record the day’s events on videotape.

 

·    LIFE EXPECTANCY - Students research and compare health problems that affect adults such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, cancer, or depression. Students collect information about the incidence of the condition by age, race, ethnic background, and gender; investigate trends in the disease in the last 10 years and 5 years; and make predictions for individuals with the disease. Based on the information, students write a letter of advice for an imaginary friend that has a history of the disease in his/her family.

 

      Variation: Divide the class into small groups, and assign each group a case study similar to the one that follows. Using the data provided in the study and additional information obtained from other resources, groups discuss the implications of the condition for the individual, family members, and any future children.

 

·    ENVISION YOUR LIFE - Ask students: “What is your life like right now? How do you expect it will change as you grow older?” After a brief discussion, explain that there are certain factors that impact health and well being as individuals grow older. Students make predictions about their life, addressing the four important areas noted on the chart below. Students complete the chart, share their predictions, and justify their responses. After discussing the charts and predictions, emphasize that having goals contributes to wellness. Students write an action plan on their life goals, outlining how they expect to achieve them.