(Grades Six-Eight) Health and Wellness grade six, grade seven, and grade eight, provides for the continued development of attitudes and behaviors related to becoming a health-literate individual as part of a planned, sequential, comprehensive health education curriculum that uses the Indiana Academic Standards for Health and Wellness to support student development of essential health skills within the ten health content areas. Developmentally appropriate concepts of personal and community health; safety and injury prevention; nutrition and physical activity, mental health; alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; and family life and human sexuality are areas used for skill development. The adolescent student has instructional opportunities to investigate how health behaviors impact health, well-being, and disease prevention and to accept personal responsibility for health-related decisions. Along with the current academic standards for this subject, the Science/Technical Studies Content Area Literacy Standards are incorporated with the expectation of a continuum of reading and writing skills development. In grade six, students focus on continued skill development and skill applications that assist in building competencies for health literacy. These may include decision-making skills, stress management skills, communication skills, social skills, and assertiveness skills. In grade seven, students focus on continued skill development and more opportunities for analyzing, modeling, and applying skills that will assist in building competencies for health literacy. These may include decision-making skills, stress management skills, communication skills, social skills, and assertiveness skills. In grade eight, students focus on continued skill development and more opportunities for analyzing, modeling, and applying skills that will assist in building competencies for health literacy. Students apply health education concepts and health literacy skills, e.g., practicing interpersonal communications that promote health; analyzing positive and negative, internal and external influences on health decisions, and demonstrating self-care practices in managing personal daily activities.
