Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

Comprehensive School Health Education/Methods in Teaching Health Education (Face-to-Face)

PE 3720-01

Course: PE 3720-01
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: PEHP
CRN: 31560

Course Description

The comprehensive school health education portion of the class will focus on the learning and understanding of the policies, procedures, and activities designed to protect and promote the health, well-being, and safety of the students and staff. The eight components of a comprehensive school health education program will be the emphasis. The second part of the class will focus on the methods and techniques of instruction, creative use of media, and practical teaching experience for prospective school health education teachers. (Fall) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Registration Restriction(s): None

Required Texts

Required:  Health Education Utah State Core Curriculum, Utah State Board of Education (on line) www.schools.utah.gov

Recommended: Benes, Sarah, Alperin, Holly. (2016) The Essentials of Teaching Health Education. Human Kinetics

 Meeks, L., Heit, P. Comprehensive School Health Education. 8th Edition. Meeks Heit Publishing Co.  Blacklick, Ohio.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

·         Identify the components of a comprehensive school health education program and the Leading Health Risk Behaviors.

·         Demonstrate understanding of unique requirements, laws, and aspects of health education as it relates to Human Sexuality Instruction, First Response, violence/abuse, mental health issues, eating disorders, chronic and acute infectious disease prevention, treatment, and care, in teaching the health curriculum. 

·         Design and teach health education lessons that are age appropriate, well managed and organized, utilize multiple instructional strategies, and incorporate instruction, practice, and evaluation consistent with the Utah State Office of Education Core Curriculum for Health Education, the 7 National Health Education Standards, and that address the leading health indicators (LHI’s) and Health Risk Behaviors.

·         Students will access valid and reliable information regarding the development, identification, intervention, and treatment of mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, OCD, ADD/ADHD, PTSD, and phobias.

·         Students will access valid and reliable information regarding prevention, risk factors, warning signs, and how to access help for self-harm and suicide.

·         Students will demonstrate a familiarity with the relationship between technology, including online/social media, advertising, and all other electronic media and its potential impact on mental and emotional health.

·         Students will identify and become familiar with the Mental Health Resources available on a local, state, and national level, how to access them and when they may be required.

·         Students will discuss ways to assist students and families in accessing professional assistance in managing mental, emotional, and social health issues and ways to reduce the fear and reluctance to ask for help.

·         Students will develop a lesson plan on health-enhancing behavior for mental health and suicide prevention.

·         Show lesson improvement through collaboration by peer evaluation, lesson critiquing, instructional strategy sharing, reflection, and self-reflection.

·         Demonstrate a familiarity with the Utah State Office of Education Core Curriculum for Health Education.

Course Requirements

1.      Reflections: Periodically, following a unit of study, an exercise in assessing what you have learned, or reflecting on how you would apply what you have learned, will be conducted. (20 pts. Each)

2.      Article review: You will write a 2–3-page review of a Health Education related article from a scientific or scholarly publication. (Instructor approved). The article should be of particular interest to you regarding health education. The article will be evaluated on structure, (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) as well as content using the following format:

a-      Introduction: What the article is about.

b-      Purpose: Why the article was written.

c-      Body: What in the article supports its purpose? (Statistics, evidence, argument, etc.)

d-      Conclusion: How is the article summated?

e-      Opinion: What you thought about the article. Agreed with or disagreed with and what you learned from it or how it influenced you as a prospective health education teacher. (100 pts.)

3.       Peer teaching: You will teach a health education lesson to the class. The format and components will be discussed prior to teaching. You will provide a written lesson plan following the outline provided. (Lesson plan 50 pts., teaching 100 pts.)

4.      Teaching Evaluation: The instructor will evaluate your demonstration teaching using an instrument currently used to evaluate Inservice teachers in public education. (100 pts.)

5.      Peer and self-evaluation: You will turn in an evaluation for a peer’s lesson, as well as a self-evaluation of the lesson you will teach using the evaluation rubric provided. (50 pts. Peer eval., 50 pts, self-eval.)

6.      Philosophy statement: At the end of the semester, you will submit your belief/philosophy statement as a health education teacher. (100 pts.)

7.      Tests: Comprehensive midterm and final. (100 pts.)

Course Outline

 | Syllabus and course overview, Writing a Philosophy 
 | USOE Core, rules, and requirements 
 | Comprehensive School Health Programs, LHI’s & Leading health risk behaviors
 | Teaching mental health, suicide prevention, and assessing help with mental health issues
 | Teaching the National Health Education Standards
 | Instructional strategies for teaching mental, social, emotional, and physical health.
 | Health education lesson planning and delivery. Midterm Test Review
 | Midterm Test
 | Preparation for Peer teaching and evaluation
 | Peer teaching and evaluation
 | Peer teaching and evaluation
 | Peer teaching and evaluation
 | Peer teaching and evaluation
 | No Class All Week
 | Evaluation and Final Test Review
 | Final- Thursday, Dec. 11, 3:00-4:50 pm

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

If something happens requiring you to need additional time on a submission, you will need to communicate that need to me as soon as possible. Requests for additional time on a submission, after it is already due, will be denied. There is no “make up” work, don’t ask. On just about anything else, it’s ok to ask, the worst that can happen is I’ll say no. 

Attendance Policy

● Class Attendance is Required: If you are registered for a Face-to-Face, Synchronous Remote, Hybrid, or Remote Hybrid course, attendance is required. If you are ill or instructed to isolate or quarantine, you may request a faculty member record the class and share it with you, but evidence of your illness or other status may be required. In order for you to receive academic accommodations and ensure that your request is communicated to faculty, you must submit the self-report form. 

Course Fees

none

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.