LEARNING OUTCOMES

Project skill: Awareness of the number of decisions students make everyday.

Life skill:  Making decisions.

Educational standards: Functional knowledge and skills. 

• S5.4.8. Explain how family, culture, media, peers, and personal beliefs affect a health-related decision.
• S5.7.8. Choose a healthy alternative when making a health-related decision.
• S5.8.8. Analyze the effectiveness of a final outcome of a health-related decision.

Success indicator: Students create a decision tree and list the factors that impact the decision.

INTRO

We make decisions nearly every minute of every day...what to wear, what to eat, what route to take to get to school, where to sit in class, who to talk to. How might we help students make healthy decisions? By showing them a technique for increasing their skills in evaluating the decisions they make on a daily basis and applying it to their everyday decision-making.

Materials: Computer; 25 copies of decision tree example and template. 

Time Required: 30 min. 

Demonstration (if necessary): Review the decision tree included in the activity with students. 

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Activity 1

• Have your students generate a list of things they decide on every day. Copy and paste the words into a word cloud generator. (i.e. https://www.mentimeter.com/features/word-cloud; https://www.freewordcloudgenerator.com/) Both create word clouds for free. See sample below.
• Review the decision tree included (in the student logbook). 
• Have students consider decisions they have made and the factors that influenced them.
• Have students complete a decision tree for an upcoming decision and evaluate the possible health consequences.

Activity 2

• How do you make decisions? What are the factors that lead to your decisions and how often do you evaluate the outcomes or consequences? Some of the consequences may increase your health while some of the consequences may not.
• Businesses use decision tree software to help them analyze choices and make decisions. We can also use decision trees to help us make decisions.
• Discuss the candy bar decision tree in the logbook with students. Ask students to assess the decision at the various levels on the tree. Each “maybe” leads to the next “yes”, “maybe”, or “no” options.

Activity 3

• Discuss the differences between the types of decisions we might make (habitual or routine, no choice, etc.).
• Ask students to discuss with another person or their group what three things they decided that were related to habits.
• Possible answers: the way they got to school, whether to brush teeth before or after breakfast, the way they walk to this classroom, etc.
• Ask them to think about a recent decision that they actively made. What did they each consider before deciding? (individual answers)
• Ask about consequences of their decision. Info: A lot of our decisions may not seem to have major consequences...does it really matter if you wear your shirt tucked in or not? But some decisions do have consequences: for your future, for your mental health, and/or for your physical health. Many factors may impact our decision-making, such as family, culture, media, peers, and personal beliefs.
• Ask if they think there are health consequences related to the three things you considered?
• Ask students to make a decision tree about one decision they have made recently or are planning to make: i.e. going out for a sports team or joining a club, taking an online course, changing your look (make-up, clothing, hair style), starting an exercise program, deciding on what to eat, etc. Ask them to list the factors that may help them make the decision and the health consequences (if any) of the decision.

ASSESSMENT

• Ask students to label the umbrella to illustrate that decision making covers all of these areas and that there are multiple career choices within this area that are related to these areas.
• Assessment. At the end of the unit, students will revisit this umbrella and fill in information about what they have learned about decision making and how it impacts their health. 

LOGBOOK ACTIVITY

• Decision tree description
• Decision tree example
• Decision tree template
• Label umbrella

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How do you make decisions about your health? What decisions impact your health? How might you evaluate the decisions you make in terms of health?

BACKGROUND INFO

Decision making impacts all of our lives. This lesson shows students how to use a decision tree and to look back to evaluate the consequences of making the decision.

Habitual decisions may impact our health in positive or negative ways (think about whether you climb the stairs or use an escalator or elevator when you go to the mall; whether you park your car close to an entrance or farther away). You might describe an example to students such as how you brush your teeth...start on the lower back teeth, move to the front, brushing back and forth or up and down. You don’t give much thought to how you do it, it just gets done and you rinse your mouth and start your day.

Students are not always able to choose between healthy or unhealthy alternatives—their parents may smoke and they do not get a choice; they may have to eat whatever is served for dinner; they may need to babysit their brothers or sisters while their parents are at work—so we can consider those no choice decisions. The goal of this activity is to help students become more aware of the choices they are making, and the consequences on their eating, exercise, and mood.

EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES

Word Cloud Generators
https://elearningindustry.com/the-8-best-free-word-cloud-creation-tools-for-teachers
https://www.mentimeter.com/
https://wordart.com/
http://www.freewordcloudgenerator.com/

Link to Blank Decision Tree Template

Introduce Kürzi

Students are going to focus on healthy eating, activity, and mood during the next few lessons. The Kürzi will help them to understand the effects their decision making has on it in terms of its overall health. Hopefully, Kürzi will help them make healthier decisions.

Tonight's activity is to begin to explore the Kürzi. How does it move? What does it do? They must interact with it for at least one “day” this evening. That includes moving it from room to room, playing mini games, feeding it, and trying an exercise with it.

Ask students to fill out a decision tree for something they decided for Kürzi.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Project skill: Evaluating food choices.

Life skill:  Making decisions.

Educational standards: Functional knowledge and skills. 

• Understand the variety and amounts of food needed based on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
• Describe the benefits of eating healthy.
• Explain the influence of personal values, family, perceptions of norms, and social expectations on food choices.

Success indicator: Students evaluate a food log using the guidelines of My Healthy Plate.

INTRO

Students eat a variety of foods but may not evaluate their choices. This activity asks them to log their food choices (or use a log provided) to evaluate how closely they match the guidelines presented on https://www.myplate.gov/

Materials: 

• Nutrition labels
• Food logs
• List of servings of common foods and servings for each
• Computer for students to use to determine the proportion of their food intake from each area

Time Required: Homework assigned the night before; 40 min for in class activity  

PRE-ASSIGNED HOMEWORK

What did you eat today? Ask students to list the foods they ate. Be sure to accurately count servings. Determine from https://www.myplate.gov/ which of the five food types the food represents (fruit, vegetables, grain, protein, or dairy). Some foods may represent more than one category.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Activity 1

Discuss how to read a nutrition label. What are the sections? Where are the ingredients listed? How can we make decisions about the health of a food by looking at the label? Use the linked label pictured to the right to lead a class discussion on learning how to read and make sense of food labels to make informed decisions on what we eat; refer to https://www.fda.gov/media/135197/download.

Activity 2

Nutrition labels. Read and compare food labels on the following pages.

• Compare the labels provided at the end of lesson.
• Choose five labels and rank which are the best choices OR choose which foods are the least healthy choices.

Activity 3

Pre-assigned homework: What did you eat today? Ask students to list the foods they ate. Be sure to accurately count servings. Determine from https:// www.myplate.gov/ which of the five food types the food represents (fruit, vegetables, grain, protein, or dairy). Some foods may represent more than one category.

Discuss how to read a nutrition label. What are the sections? Where are the ingredients listed? How can we make decisions about the health of a food by looking at the label?

Use the food log worksheet. Write down the food you have eaten for the day. Make sure to include the serving size and food group or category the food comes from; refer to the example below. 

Activity 4

Evaluate a food log. Students may use their own food logs or ones provided. (Student food log and pre-made logs are at end of lesson.)

• Divide the students into 5-6 groups.
• Give each student a food log or ask them to get out their own log from the previous day’s homework.
• Work in small groups to evaluate the foods on the food logs/their own logs.
• Evaluate each food in the log as healthy or unhealthy.
  a. If the food is unhealthy, circle it.
  b. Count up the number of servings in the areas of grain, protein, dairy, fruits and vegetables. 
  c. Count up the number of servings that are marginal (sugar, salt or fat is prevalent; i.e. fried foods, salty snacks, a food item that lists sugar as one of the first 3 ingredients).  
• Brainstorm healthier alternatives with your group. If you need help, go to https://www.myplate.gov/ to see healthy eating choices in each of five food groups. 
• Determine which categories the foods you eat daily fit into. 
• Does the food log for your group show whether that person has reached the governmental recommendation for healthy eating for the day?

Activity 5

Kürzi. Play the Fridger mini game. You will see a food falling down from the top of the screen and must click on the right decision (unhealthy left, or healthy right) before the food leaves the screen. If you chooses the incorrect answer three times, the game will end. Each time you play Fridger, you will earn coins for every correct answer. At the end a screen showing your results.

Answer these questions after you play:

• Feed Kürzi with the food choices in the game. Make note of what you fed Kürzi. How similar are the foods Kürzi ate to your food choices?
• Play the Fridger game on Kürzi.
• How might you make healthier choices on food? (see reflection questions)

ASSESSMENT

• Have students compare prices of healthy foods to convenience foods (consider the marginal foods in the food logs) by “shopping” online at Kroger, Walmart, and Whole Foods and filling their carts.
• Use these resources as game elements to encourage students to Eat More Color.
  Eat more color image: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/16/12/84/161284dd9d782ca40f3eb6c8bf538cf1.jpg
  American Heart Association: https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/add-color/fruits-and- vegetables-serving-sizes

LOGBOOK ACTIVITY

See Activity 3 in Classroom Activities.

BACKGROUND INFO

Middle school is an important time for children and establishing their eating habits. Some students are experimenting with food choices (vegan, vegetarian, meat eaters) and they may not realize that they need to have a wide range of foods to get the needed energy and nutrients for them to reach their full potential, both physically and mentally.

When choosing foods, nutrition labels can give a good look at what is healthy. The amounts of sugar, salt, and fat may be major contributors to weight issues and health-related problems in the future. If sugar or salt are one of the top three ingredients, perhaps a different choice should be made. If the content is over 30% of the daily value for adults, it might be a better decision to avoid that food on a regular basis. (see nutrition label example on last page).

Many of students’ nutrition choices are limited by their parents’/guardians’ decisions and budgets. Helping students to understand the extent to which they can make healthy choices and guiding those decisions by helping them to evaluate the health of foods will make a difference even when they don’t believe that they have many choices.

Worried about fresh vs frozen? See https:// goaskalice.columbia.edu/answered-questions/nutritional- differences-between-canned-frozen-and-fresh-veggies for the facts.

Worried about GMOs? See https://gmoanswers.com/ for scientific answers to common questions.

Information about the new Nutrition Facts Label (15 PSAs): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLey4Qe-UxcxaZlZKEArX33qrQvrHfixv4

EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES

Healthy Eating Guidelines
https://www.myplate.gov/
https://www.heart.org/en/ healthy-living/healthy-eating/add-color/fruits-and- vegetables-serving-sizes

Link to Food Log Template and Pre-made Food Logbooks

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Project skill: Learning to track physical activity. 

Life skill:  Tracking and maintaining physical fitness through activity. 

Educational standards: Functional knowledge and skills. 

• 3.A.1. Describe various forms of technology to monitor fitness (e.g., heart monitor, pedometer, phone, and iPod apps).
• 3.A.2. Apply target heart rate and rates of perceived exertion (using RPE scale) to improve or maintain cardiorespiratory endurance.
• 3.A.4. Develop a series of activities to improve flexibility and to warm up/cool down for each activity.
• 3.A.6. Apply nutritional concepts and strategies to balance healthy foods, snacks, and beverages with fitness levels.

Success indicator: Students apply the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) to a set of physical activities.

INTRO

Students are probably aware of various physical fitness monitoring apps and devices. This process is designed to increase students’ own awareness of their physical activity and compare it to monitored activities.

Materials: RPE description (from: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/measuring/exertion.htm#); videos or physical activity choices to use for practice

Kürzi. Student worksheet: Tracking Physical Activities + Kürzi

Time Required: 40-45 min

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Activity 1

• Use Kürzi to find RHR (add instructions here for using Kürzi)
• Lead students in some stretching/warm-up activities in class. They can follow along with this short video Brain Break: Stretching (https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=0L3W0pcHU50) or a video of your choice
• Discuss the RPE scale with students and have them practice...they could use the Brain Break: Mountain Hike (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GghrfH_YTYE) or Brain Break: Run in Place, What’s the Pace? (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9pp5kD2gts) or a video of your choice
• Use your Kürzi to determine your HR; see how accurate your prediction of RPE was.

Activity 2

• Divide students into 6-12 groups of twos or threes.
• Assign students to create a physical fitness routine. Use the activity list provided to create a “workout routine” that you can do at home.
• Check your RHR before doing the activity set you planned from the list. As you are doing the exercise/ physical activity, try to estimate your RPE. Check the pulse meter on Kürzi to see how close your estimate is. (Pulse instruction in about Kürzi section.)
• After the activity is completed, check your heart rate to see how high it got.
• Then every two minutes check your heart rate to see how long it takes to return to your original RHR. (The goal of this lesson is to see how long it takes your pulse to return to your RHR.)

Activity 3

Kürzi. Play Which Burns More? mini game. Students are given two activity options on the left and right side of the screen. Students choose which activity burns more calories. If they choose the incorrect answer three times, the game will end. After showing the game results, the screen will redirect to the PC Options Menu.

ASSESSMENT AND MORE CHALLENGES

Students may want to challenge each other by trading routines to try out.

LOGBOOK ACTIVITY

See Activity 2 in Classroom Activities.

SAFETY TIPS

When introducing physical activity in the classroom, be sure that there is adequate space for what is expected and encourage students to use caution when exerting themselves during the activity.

VOCABULARY

RPE = Rating of Perceived Exertion: is a rating method that can be used to estimate your exertion using a scale of 6-20 to determine your heart rate.

Beats per minute - bpm: the number your heart beats per minute (also known as pulse).

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

How do you monitor your fitness? Is fitness important? Why? How do decisions you make about fitness or physical activity affect your diet and your mental health?

BACKGROUND INFO

The Rating of Perceived Exertion is “based on the physical sensations a person experiences during physical activity, including increased heart rate, increased respiration or breathing rate, increased sweating, and muscle fatigue.” This rating is an excellent chance for students to estimate their rate of exertion and is highly correlated to the actual heart rate of respondents. This measure can be combined with resting heart rate, another measure of fitness, and how long it takes for someone’s heart rate to return to resting heart rate (RHR)* after exercise. The sooner the pulse returns to RHR, the better the fitness level. Not all people have the same RHR, so do not ask students to compare these numbers. RHR is affected by several factors: level of fitness, the amount of time since your last meal, genetic background, temperature, dehydration, stress, and more.

*Normal heart rates for youth ages 6 to 12 are 70 to 120 BPM, and for ages 12 and up they are 60 to 100 BPM. Well- trained athletes may have even lower heart rates.

Have students write out their list of activities they choose and try it out at home for homework with their Kürzi. Have them estimate their RPE while they are doing the exercise, then check their pulse on Kürzi.

EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES

RPE Information
CDC Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion

Exercises
Stretching 
Mountain Hike
Run in Place, What's the Pace

Link to Activity List Example

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Project skill: Learning to describe the difference between mood and overall mental health.

Life skill:  Determining how to adjust attitude and mood through positive behaviors and how to mitigate stress. Determining when stress becomes detrimental to mental health.

Educational standards: Functional knowledge and skills. 

• 4.7.8. Demonstrate the use of effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills to enhance health. Demonstrate how to effectively ask for assistance to improve personal health. (related to protecting personal info; peer resistance; asking for help)
• 7.3.8 Demonstrate healthy practices and behaviors to improve the health of oneself and others. (responsible for personal health behaviors)
  
  Explain appropriate ways to express needs, wants, emotions, and feelings.
  Demonstrate how to prevent and manage stress in healthy ways.
  Explain the interrelationship of physical, mental, emotional, and social health.
  Examine personal stressors at home, in school, and with friends and describe how to effectively manage the stress.

Success indicator: Understands how to determine the difference between mood, stress, and other mental health issues. 

INTRO

This series of lessons is designed to make the connection between healthy decision-making and nutrition, physical activity, and mood (attitude). Mental health in adolescents is particularly difficult due to the varying situations students find themselves in and their development into adulthood as they go through puberty. This lesson attempts to illustrate that mood or attitude may be affected by situational factors, but also by brain development, and that stressors may exacerbate the things that are going on as they navigate the brain changes they are experiencing. Eating a well-balanced diet, exercising and getting enough sleep will also help adolescents navigate this sometimes upsetting time.

Materials: Review this video for background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzyXGUCngoU&t=57s (from beginning to 3:40)

Study.com: https://study.com/academy/lesson/g-stanley-hall-storm-stress-in-adolescence.html (if you have an account)

Consider showing students this video: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYuH3BqbSlE&t=6s Or this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROwIojQmtjs

Stressor cards (final page of lesson)

Time Required: 40 minutes; 10 minutes to review stressor cards to determine which ones you might use.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Students individually write down things that put them in a “bad mood.” (This could be assigned as homework before class.) After a brief discussion of the difference between mood and mental health/illness, they rank order stressors and determine the ways to help deal with those stressors.

Activity 1

Logbook Activity. Students individually write down things that put them in a “bad mood.” (This could be assigned as homework for the previous night.) Have them share with their group. Discuss the difference between being in a bad mood vs having poor mental health. What are the factors that contribute to “bad mood” and how are they different from anxiety and depression?

Activity 2

Students will use the Situation cards to rank stressful situations according to their perspectives. Students then share their rankings with others. (Optional: rankings could be collected and the most stressful situations shared with the class.)

Activity 3

Students will use the stress reduction list to choose their top three strategies for reducing stress.

Activity 4

Kürzi. Students will use Kürzi to play the Stressy Guess mini game and determine which stress reduction strategies are best for reducing stress. After students pick their choice, the game will reveal which option was considered relaxing or stressful to Kürzi. 

After playing have students answer the following question:

How do the decisions you make within the game play of Kürzi affect the mood bar?

ASSESSMENT AND MORE CHALLENGES

• Students can identify people in their lives they could turn to in order to get help.
• Additionally, while students are discussing their stressors and strategies for reduction, this music could be played to illustrate the effect of music on heart rate: (use the Kürzi to measure heart rate after each) https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gsM2H03xkI or this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBD2B9bDD5I. Which clip helped to lower heart rate more?

LOGBOOK ACTIVITY

See Activity 1 in Classroom Activities. 

VOCABULARY

Mental health: includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

Mental illness: is common in the United States. Nearly one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness (51.5 million in 2019). Mental illnesses include many different conditions that vary in degree of severity, ranging from mild to moderate to severe.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What is mental health? How do we become healthy mentally? What is the difference between a bad mood and mental issues? What situations do you find to be most stressful? What can you do to reduce stress?

BACKGROUND INFO

Mental health and mental health impairment are far more common than we’d like to admit. Unfortunately, adolescents are vulnerable to mental illness due to the changing landscape of their development through puberty and into adulthood. Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14 and 75% by age 24. Suicide is the #1 cause of death for adolescents and young adults.

Read this article for facts about adolescents and mental health: America’s mental health crisis (and how animals can help), https://www.certapet.com/emotional-support-animals-and- mental-health/.

Stress in adolescence might be triggered by situations around these topics: academic/school-related stress; social stress; family discord; world events; traumatic events; and significant life changes.

Stress is one of the most common experiences in everyone’s lives.

“Stress is a feeling of being tense, overwhelmed, worn out, or exhausted. A small amount of stress can be motivating, but too much stress makes even small tasks seem daunting. Sometimes stress is the accumulation of many small hassles, while other times it is the result of major life changes or long-term problems.”

https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheet/stress-exploration/stress/adolescents

Stress can have effects on your heart rate and on your long term health. Managing stress is an important skill to master!

Managing stressors is sometimes difficult. “Stress is emotional pressure. Stress causes chemical changes in the body that can raise blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels. It may also lead to feelings of frustration, anxiety, anger, or depression.”

Here are some people with careers who may be able to help you deal with stressors: teacher; school counselor; social worker; mental health counselor/therapist; psychologist; school nurse; religious leader (pastor, minister, reverend, priest, clergy, rabbi, elder, etc.)

ADDITIONAL TIPS

Here are some additional tips that may help you lower your stress level: Laughter - watch a funny video or movie; Chew gum; Get a house plant - caring for plants has been shown to help people feel more comfortable, soothed, and natural; Relaxing/meditation techniques/routines - yoga, stretching; Smells that stimulate your olfactory system (i.e. essential oils); Listening to music; singing along; Go for a walk; Play with a pet; Write in a journal; Spend time with friends; Leisure activities; Play a game; Read a book; Take a break from the activity you are in; Spend time in nature; Eat a healthy meal/ snack; Exercise; or Talk about problems with a trusted friend/ adult.

RESOURCES

Music Choices for Lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gsM2H03xkI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBD2B9bDD5I

Other Mental Health Resources
https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheet/stress-exploration/stress/adolescents
https://www.stress.org/6-common-triggers-of-teen-stress
https://www.excelatlife.com/depression.htm
https://divethru.com/benefits-of-house-plants/

SITUATION CARDS