https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IzLNBtWu8
This is the second year I have taught the Foundations of Health Education (HLPE 1540) here at Flinders University to first year pre-service teachers. During 2013, my colleague Grant Banfield and I started a research project to investigate how our topic helped students develop a social view of health (see prior blog post from the AARE conference for further details). This year in response to the findings of our ongoing research project, we introduced a new component to the topic - an Inquiry Project.
The Inquiry Project required students to work in groups to explore a social issue that has health consequences for specific community and/or identified group of people. Once a social issue had been identified, they were to become actively engaged in an activity or community initiative that is directed to address the issue and its health consequences. A the end of the semester, they were to present an educative representation of their exploration and engagement to fellow Flinders University students.
The assignment was purposefully open ended. It required students to take initiative and involve themselves in a social health issue and present their learning from the project and how it has helped them to understand what good health education is. The last two lectures of the semester were spent having students present their Inquiry Projects, and share their learning on a social health issue and the responses to it from a local, national, and/or international standpoint. Our over 150 students become involved in social health issues such as homelessness, food security, community gardens, mental health awareness, community swaps, sexual health education, and much more.
The presentations were well done and through their assessment tasks student's reported high levels of learning from their projects. When compared to the previous year, student's understanding of a social view of health was clearly augmented through 'hands on' involvement in a social health. The Inquiry Projects greatly helped students to understand the social nature of health and how it ties into what good health education might look like in classrooms, schools, and the greater community.
From a teaching standpoint, it has been exciting to see students grasps topic content more meaningfully. However, from a health educator standpoint, the really exciting part is watching students move from a narrow and individualistic view of health to a broader view that encompasses social issues and grapples with what might be needed to address them.
I'd like to finish off this post with an example of one of the Inquiry Projects by a group of my students who created a mental health awareness video (link). It's a beautiful example of the work being done here by health students at Flinders University and something that should be seen by the widest audience possible.
