Adolescent Health:

An Interdisciplinary Project

Overview:
Problem: Low adolescent activity levels and related issues such as obesity and depression are
currently reported at epidemic levels. Five years ago, federally mandated physical fitness in
schools was eased and it is thought that change has had a negative impact in schools,
especially those such as High Tech. Annual testing at High Tech has taken advantage of this!
Why this is a Problem:
Bone HealthOsteoporosis is the most common health problem facing women today. Over the age of 50,
one in two women will break a bone. Men are not immune, one in four fractures occur in
men. By 2040, it is estimated that hip fractures will be the number one consumer of Medicare
dollars.
The window of opportunity to build the strongest bones possible is in childhood. For women,
90 to 95 percent of adult bone mass is attained by age eighteen; and for men, a year or two
later. About 40 to 50 percent of bone mass is accrued in the pre-teen to teen years. These are
the critical bone growing years. The basic tenets of bone health are true for ones entire
lifetime. Over the course of this project you will learn about those basic tenets and work to
implement a plan that will help to prevent bone density related disease.
Source: www.4bonehealth.org
Cardiovascular HealthCardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States with more than
600,000 deaths a year- thats 1 in 4 deaths Coronary heart disease alone costs the United
States $108.9 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services,
medications, and lost productivity.
Source: http://www.cdc.gov/
The lifestyle habits that correlate with Cardiovascular Disease or Coronary Heart Disease
begin during childhood. Thus, children need to be encouraged to make heart healthy choices,
such as following a healthy diet and being physically active and understanding key health
measures, and risk factors that need to be addressed. Making lifestyle changes can be
difficult and in this project you will address those risk factor and come up with solutions in a
school based setting.
Source: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/

Mental Health-

Four million children and adolescents in this country suffer from a serious mental disorder
that causes significant functional impairments at home, at school and with peers. Of children
ages 9 to 17, 21 percent have a diagnosable mental or addictive disorder that causes at least
minimal impairment.1
Half of all lifetime cases of mental disorders begin by age 14. Despite effective treatments,
there are long delays, sometimes decades, between the first onset of symptoms and when
people seek and receive treatment.
School Failure-Approximately 50% of students age 14 and older who are living with a mental
illness drop out of high school. This is the highest dropout rate of any disability group.
As a team we will seek to understand and tackle these devastating statistics in a methodical
and realistic way.
Source: http://www.nami.org

Essential Question:
How do choices about the food you eat and the amount of activity you have
now prevent disease later?
What can schools do to improve teen health? How much of your activity should
come out of schools and in what form?
How does a healthy lifestyle improve mental health?
What steps can be taken to address the issues (anxiety,
depression, etc.)
Specific Focus:
Cardiovascular Fitness, Musculoskeletal Fitness and their connections to
Anxiety, Depression and Learning
Products:

Fitness/Nutrition Challenge for Musculoskeletal and Cardiovascular Health

Everyone will try to meet weekly group nutrition and activity
goals.
Determining Individual Project Health Goals that are fun,
meaningful and achievable
Surveys that Connect to Mental Health
Log of personal health perspectives and stories,
activities and solutions.
Exercise Activities in English/Spanish (4th Graders)
Present a school health proposal to board as policy change
Experiment Report (Math)
Infographics to summarize data and findings-(Math/Biology)
Proposal (Math/Biology)
Come up with physical activity programming in
schools and/or active elective curriculum.
Elective/Class Structure Proposals

Create media to inform others

A-Z of Health Book (Humanities/Spanish/Bio)
4th grade artwork in it (or cover)
Bone Health Video (CSUSM and Bio)
Website (CSUSM) and Project Logo Graphics and for each topic
(Honors)
(Optional-as needed)
Pamphlet
Video Shorts
Infographics (Humanities and Math)
Dissection Display
Activities/Timeframe:
Biology Class (and others):
10/17 Launch Project Sheet
10/20- Systems Physiology Topics/Begin Health Challenge
10/27 Human Genetics and Genomics Topics-Introduce Book Concepts
11/3 No Biology (Challenge in Place)
11/3-11/21
Book Launch
Graphics and Photos Work
Weekly Nutrition and Fitness Topics (Linked to Anatomy and
Physiology)
A-Z Teen Health Book for School Administration and Teachers
Content relates to needs of 4th-6th grade
Writing Complete- Nov. 11/21)
Community Meeting (Week of Dec. 8th)
Team challenge- stickers to meet challenge for the week.
4 hour per week physical activity and weekly nutrition goals.
Pre/Post Active and Resting HR and normalized HR
time
(10/21 &11/21)
Weekly Stress Survey and Health Reflections
(Fridays)
In school interventions on health (separated by class)
Biology Interventions
Per 1-Open activity work time
Per 2-Meditation and Yoga Mix
Per 4-15 min. run and 5 min
strength training

Math Class:
11/3: Create graphs of existing Physical Fitness Test data and highlight where
HTHNC falls in comparison to other HTH schools and other public/charter schools
Math Topics:
Basic Statistical Principles (Experiment vs
Observations, Populations vs Sample)

 Infographics- how to show data in an interesting

way

11/12: Start Write-Up of Experiment (Methods and Procedures sections )

Math Topics: Distribution

11/17: Analyze Data from Biology (Data Analysis and Conclusion sections)
Math Topics: Regression Modeling and Correlation

12/1: Find the statistical significance of your findings (z-scores and p-values)
and make a conclusion on the significance of the data in our experiment.
Math Topics: Confidence Intervals, Significance Tests

12/7: Create graphs of daily nutrition and exercise logs.

Humanities:
October
Teens and Stress: Effects on physical and mental health; coping
mechanisms
Teen Stress Surveys
Stress Health Journal

November
Writing for an Audience: A-Z Teen Health Book for Schools
Interviews with School Personnel and Experts

November/December
Teen Fiction (Physical or Mental Health) and Independent
Reading Blogs
Book Suggestions (but you can pick your own)
Its Kind of a Funny Story by Ned
Vizzini
The Fault in Our Stars by John
Green
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by
Stephen Chbosky
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
If I Stay by Gail Forman
Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida by
Victor Martinez
Dear Zoe by Philip Beard
Infographics (stress and relationship to physical/mental health)
History of Physical Education and Health in Schools

Spanish Class:
10/24 Interview questions drafted in Spanish
Creating and practicing exercise commands

Interviews for Data and Cultural Perspectives

11/3 Drafting A-Z written piece

Exhibition/ Celebration of Work

December Exhibition
Teaching Exercise at Exhibition (English and Spanish)- a la Cross
Fit
Pig Dissection Display
Presentation of Experiment Report/Data (Infographics)
Room of the video showing in a loop/websites/Math DP
Selected readings from team publication(s)
Board meeting - selected students (from application process) will present the
State of HTH Health and use our data and findings to give proposals on what we can
do- January
Community Meeting/Expo (Elementary/Middle/High School)- High Tech VillagesJanuary