Using a curricular approach called personal practical knowledge, this health education methods textbook takes you on a transformational journey that will help you become a master teacher of health education for children in grades preK through 8. That journey begins with an in-depth exploration of your uniqueness as a professional who will educate for health. Dr. Ubbes helps you turn your personal narrative into your professional identity and then guides you toward an understanding of children’s learning styles and the practical knowledge you will use to shape a relational pedagogy with your learners.
Educating for Health explores pedagogical strategies that will help you bridge your understanding of health issues with your teaching. This book will help you translate education and health theories into practice as you
focus on the acquisition of cognitive-behavioral health habits in your students,
adapt your instruction and assessment options based on individual learning styles,
structure relationships and environments that are optimal for learning,
examine nine evidence-based instructional strategies that you can use as tools in educating for health, and
study design as an inquiry-based process for teaching and learning
Dr. Ubbes also applies the ecological model of public health and Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences in a new way and shows how to help children develop through a sensory-motor, cognitive-behavioral approach to health and well-being.
Each chapter features several tools that will aid your understanding of the content:
Principles of Practice provide key point summaries.
Professional Voices showcase real-world teacher experiences as they relate to the chapter’s content and are ideal for professional discussion and dialogue.
Seeds of Growth: Signs, Symbols, and Patterns of Living and Learning provide student learning activities.
Web Links for Living and Learning offer additional student activities using the Internet.
Books for Living and Learning supply activities related to children’s books.
Educating for Health will help you reflect on your professional identity and abilities as a teacher and give you the information you need for fostering the growth and development of your students.
Chapter 1 Who We Are: Identity Formation
Chapter 2 Ways to Be: An Ontological Study
Chapter 3 Ways to Think: An Epistemological Study
Chapter 4 Ways to Know: Multiple Language Forms of Communication
Chapter 5 Ways to Structure Stories: Personal and Professional Frameworks
Chapter 6 Ways to Design: Curriculum and Pedagogical Frameworks
Chapter 7 Ways to Build Relationships Between People and Their Ideas
Valerie A. Ubbes, PhD, CHES is an associate professor in kinesiology and health at Miami University. She has taught pedagogy courses since 1980 and has developed three pedagogy courses for which she has published three books.
Dr. Ubbes is also project director of the Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University (www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks). Her multidisciplinary database was recognized by the International Society for Technology in Education (2005) as one of the 101 best Web sites for elementary teachers. In 1995, she wrote the first integrated curriculum book that was aligned with the National Health Education Standards, and she has served as the health in education network facilitator for the Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. She is an active member of the American Association for Health Education.
In her spare time, Dr. Ubbes enjoys landscaping, flower gardening, bicycling, reading, playing her bassoon, and traveling with her family. Her life goal is to promote human well-being across the life span, leading to a higher quality of life and learning for all.