Social Action to Meet Human Needs:
Promoting Healthy Habits

The objectives of this lesson plan are:

to plan and conduct a variety of activities to promote healthy habits in oneself and in others by understanding proper nutrition, disease prevention, and first aid techniques

Suggested procedures

Students of any age can be engaged in a wide variety of relevant activities:

-- Learning about nutrition and sharing what you have learned with friends and family

-- Starting a nutrition club, designing healthy menus, and preparing meals to share with others

-- Teaching senior citizens about good nutrition and making healthful snacks to take to senior citizen's homes

-- Distributing information about the importance of regular physical and dental check-ups

-- Starting an exercise club for people of all ages

-- Holding a walk-a-thon for a charitable cause

-- Volunteering to teach others about a sport in which you excel, e.g., swimming, jogging, tennis, skiing, etc.

-- Surveying your community to find out which children have not been immunized and informing parents of times and places where their children can be immunized

-- Learning about eating disorders and informing others about the dangers that exist

-- Learning about diseases such as AIDS, alcoholism, and tuberculosis and how they can be prevented and sharing this information with others

-- Starting an anti-smoking campaign, e.g., collect non-smoking pledges from community members, write public service announcements, write and perform a skit about stopping smoking, and inform the media about the campaign

-- Starting a campaign against drug and alcohol abuse, e.g., collect pledges, write a public service announcement, write and perform a skit about this issue, and contact the media and ask them to cover the campaign (as you did for smoking).

-- Starting a campaign against early sexual activities (using the same approaches as noted above)

-- Writing pamphlets for people who are dealing with grief, illnesses, emotional stress, teen suicide, and other physical and mental health issues

-- Learning about and sharing with others information about chemicals, preservatives, sprays and other organic treatments used on foods

-- Starting an informational campaign to inform others about the need for organ donor

Activities for middle and junior high school age students

-- Developing and distributing lists of recommended (healthy) snacks for younger children, e.g., carrots, celery, juices, fruits, raisins, pretzels (instead of potato chips), and bread with apple butter or peanut butter

-- Creating "good health" books for younger children with such suggestion as covering one's mouth when sneezing or coughing, washing hands before eating and after using the toilet, keeping foreign objects out of one's mouth, getting enough rest, eating nutritious foods, and not playing with matches

-- Educating yourself and your peers about substance abuse and the dangers of smoking

-- Taping books for the visually impaired, senior citizens or classmates in the hospital

-- Writing information briefs on summer safety for younger children on water behavior, what to do about insect bites, and bicycle safety

-- Organizing and conducting a community health fair with information and speakers on nutrition, diseases, inoculations, first aid, and safety

-- Distributing to families "Vials of Life," small tubes containing a form with vital medical information about illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes; having them translated into foreign languages for non-English speaking Americans

Activities suitable for children of all ages

-- Learning about first aid, caring for minor injuries (e.g., animal bites, falls, bruises, and mild burns), and - for older children - caring for more serious injuries (making a sling, washing wounds, stopping choking, taking care of bee stings, and giving artificial respiration)

-- Informing people of all ages how and where to seek help in emergencies

-- Publicizing the importance of physical activity, i.e., exercising your body instead of exercising your fingers on the TV remote.

Web resources

National Self-Help Clearinghouse (www.selfhelpweb.org/) is a not-for-profit organization that facilitates access to self-help groups and works to increase the awareness of the importance of mutual support. The clearinghouse provides a number of services including consultation to public agencies to promote their capabilities to encourage and sustain mutual support groups.

Public Health Service (www.os.dhhs.gov/about/opdivs/phs.html) performs a number of roles, e.g., coordinating with the states to set and implement national health policy and pursue effective intergovernmental relations; sponsoring and administering programs for the development of health resources, prevention and control of diseases, and alcohol and drug abuse; providing resources and expertise in the planning, direction, and delivery of physical and mental health care services; and enforcing laws to assure the safety and efficacy of drugs and protection against impure and unsafe foods, cosmetics, medical devices, and radiation-producing projects.

The American Red Cross (www.redcross.org/) is one of several community organizations working to respond to multiple crises and natural disasters. Since the founding of the Junior Red Cross in 1917, youth and the Red Cross have been partners. The goal is to provide young people with meaningful opportunities for education, training, and volunteer community service so that they remain a part of the Red Cross family throughout their lives.

Sources

The Complete Guide to Learning Through Community Service: Grades K -9 by Lillian S. Stephens (1995).  Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Over 400 interdisciplinary activities drawn from teachers' experiences

The Kids Guide to Service Projects  by Barbara A. Lewis. (1995). Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing, Inc.

Over 500 service ideas for young people who want to make a difference