Health Works: A Multimedia Health Education Program Applicant proposes to develop Health Works, a multimedia health education program based on a series of problem solving activities for grades 3-12. This will be an engaging learning tool to integrate into existing health and life science curricula to meet state and national guidelines for health education. Each episode will begin with a problem presented by a dramatized character. To solve the problem, students explore various resources including: video-clips, scientific data, articles, and analogous situations. Overall, the program will have a spiral organization whereby essential health topics are addressed at progressive grade levels with increasing sophistication. An individual episode will be tailored to elementary, middle or high school content and cognitive development. Because health bridges personal decision,-making and social policy, episodes will integrate personal, family, and community health issues; and will first involve students in information gathering and problem-solving activities, followed by decision-making activities. The model encourages active learning to increase depth of understanding and retention. While specific content of health curricula may vary over time, problem-solving and decision-making skills are of lasting value. Health Works will include print and software assessment tools to evaluate student progress in developing critical-thinking skills. In Phase I, a prototype episode for Middle School will be field tested to evaluate the effectiveness of the model and multimedia presentation style. Following adjustments based on Phase I findings, 12 episodes will be developed per grade-cluster during Phase II.
