23rd Annual Student Research Conference
The Effect of an Active Learning Health Education Unit on the Health Knowledge of Students in an Academic Recovery Program
Megan E. Temme*, Samantha D. Goode, Joan M. Scacciaferro, and Rachel L. VanCleave
Dr. Carol Cox, Faculty Mentor
Community-based, health education volunteers taught a 6-lesson unit of general health education content to a sample of seven adolescents from a Northeast Missouri alternative high school. A public alternative education school uses non-traditional environments to address the special needs of students at-risk for educational failure. Successful alternative education programs include certain curricular characteristics that seem to be most effective for at-risk youth. Curricular practices recommended for this group include application of real world problem-solving, smaller class size, integrating more challenging curriculum, setting high expectations, and community involvement. These guidelines for successful alternative education programs were followed, recommended teaching strategies were used, and a pre-post Health Knowledge test was administered in the classroom before the first and after the last lesson. Although results of this pilot study demonstrated no significant difference in outcomes from pre- to post-intervention, the results should be considered preliminary and confirmed using a more advanced, experimental design.
Keywords: at-risk youth, alternative high school, health education, pilot study, health knowledge
Topic(s):Health Science
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 5-2
Location: SUB-GEO
Time: 4:15