| Health & Physical Education - middle |
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"You are a senior in high school and very athletic. Your mom will be away for a week. You want to impress her with your ability to be 'head of the household' and prove to her you are ready to get your own apartment. This is the perfect opportunity! You're in charge of meals for your grandmother who has high blood pressure and your little brother who tends to be overweight. They both LOVE fast food and encourage you to use the money to feed them by bringing in dinner each night. As you think about the situation you wonder if that's the best idea, given these conditions."
"You and your friends are going to explore the topic of healthy eating. Each member of your team will become an expert for one fast food restaurant. Then you'll have to come back together to decide the positive and negative aspects of each as related to health issues."
Question: Can you 'eat healthy' by frequenting fast food restaurants?
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Some say that Substance Abuse is a matter of choice, that you can just say "No".
Others claim that it is a disease, that you inherit a predisposition to addiction and that it is the physical and psychological power of the drugs that cause addiction.
Which is it? Or is it a combination of both?
Can education change behaviors concerning addiction? Can you defend your answer?
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"It happened in 1918, it happened in 1957, it happened in 1968, and it happened in 1977. Either a pandemic or epidemic of the flu occurred worldwide or in individual countries in those years. Hong Kong of 1996- was that a close call? As a member of a community task force, you will join 3 other people (Virologist, Physician, Public Health Officer, and Historian) and decide if another influenza pandemic, like 1918, can happen again. You will help the public to understand general information about influenza, its history, and its prevention and control."
Questions: How can something as little as the invisible flu virus become a global killer as in 1918? Could this happen again, and if so, can the general public's awareness and vigilance be increased so a potential deadly form of influenza can be prevented or halted in its spread?
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"You have been hired as the nutrition consultant to a major league sports team. Since the team spends a lot of time on the road, and need to travel to their next competition site in a relatively short time, most meals will be eaten on the road."
Question: Is it possible to eat a healthy diet at fast food restaurants?
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"Imagine that you are at home and trying to decide what to make for dinner. You realize while looking through the pantry that you won't have time to make dinner tonight, and honestly don't even have the energy to do so. So you and your family decide to go out to a fast food restaurant. But, a few questions come to mind. What would be healthier for you? Would you still get the nutrition that you need for a particular meal from eating at a fast food restaurant? And the biggest question of all, what is considered healthy anyways?"
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You have just been selected to have a foreign exchange student from Egypt who will be staying with you for the year. You want your new friend to feel comfortable and would like to serve foods that he or she will be used to. At the same time you want to be sure that you can help provide a balanced diet being the good host that you are! Are the foods of Egypt different than the foods of the US?
Question: How do the foods of other cultures fit into our American Food Guide Pyramid?
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"Your family may or may not eat meat loaf. Many people love this traditional dish, but others have been known to hate it! Whether you like a certain food or not, it is wise to check on whether it is healthy for you. It would be terrible if something you liked and ate often wasn't good for you. But on the other hand if you don't like it, then maybe you wouldn't have to eat it if it wasn't healthy...
Your job will be to determine whether meat loaf is a healthy food or a dangerous food that could make you ill unless you eat it only occasionally or start making it differently. You will use health research and science, and some math to make your case."
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"You have been hired by the parents of Icabod, a sixth grade student. They suspect their child of smoking or about to start. He's gone through D.A.R.E. and listened to the lectures of his parents and teachers. However, he thinks they are all just handing him a line. After all, he sees lots of adults smoking and figures it isn't really so bad. In fact, he thinks it's pretty cool. But he might listen to you. After all, you're his peer. That's what his parents are counting on. They've hired you to convince him to quit smoking. To do so, you must show your commitment to the fight against youth using tobacco and create a memorable message for him. Do a good job - it could be a matter of life and death."
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Times are tough right now for our government. The budget is pretty tight. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has to prepare a budget for the upcoming year. In this budget this agency must decide which diseases should receive additional funding for research and which should receive less than last year.
To most healthy people these decisions don’t mean much. But to children with chronic diseases and their families, extra research funding is important. Additional funding may result in a cure or in improved treatments for patients.
Each team of students will research a serious childhood disease. Following your research you will create a presentation designed to convince the National Institutes of Health that this disease warrants additional funding for research.
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