Developing Skills in Health Literacy
Health-related information from family, friends, social media, and the internet bombard our lives every day. We make decisions as consumers about questions such as these:
- Why is caffeine powder dangerous when people consume caffeinated drinks every day?
- Why do people get a flu shot every year? Isn’t once enough?
- Who should take multivitamins daily?
- Why are some treatments used in other parts of the world not available in the United States?
Answers about health topics can be complicated. Understanding the science behind these questions requires the ability to ask questions and find and evaluate information from different sources.
BSCS Science Learning’s Developing Skills in Health Literacy project aimed to help middle and high school students develop critical thinking skills in topics about health that enabled them to accurately evaluate the information they got from various sources. This five-year project (2015-2020) worked with teachers from across the country to develop and study innovative instructional materials designed to enhance students’ skills and abilities in understanding human health.
In 2022, online curriculum modules for middle school and high school students were released and are freely available.
This project was supported by the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25OD020208. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
