Exploring Mental Health: Year 8 Health & Physical Education

Introduction

Welcome!

Students you are about to undertake a journey where you will be challenged at a whole new level.

Understanding mental health is an important aspect of everyday life (and assessment this term). This WebQuest must be completed independently.

(IBtimes, 2014)

Consider yourself Usain Bolt in the 100m Sprint, you will have to put in effort to prepare yourself for a final challenge. Our training for this task is exploring mental health resources through this Webquest and understanding how to answer the questions below. Our final sprint/assessment is a Blog which will advertise the importance of understanding Mental Health and how you can create an environment that is supportive of people who may experience mental health issues.      

Focus QUESTions: 

What are the benefits of valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity, for individuals and communities?

What strategies can be undertaken to seek help for myself and others?

What are three strategies I can use to manage personal, physical and social changes that occur as I get older?

Using health information within this Webquest what are some mental health issues that impact Youth in my local community (home, school, sporting clubs, etc)?

 

(ACARA, 2013). 

One in four teenagers currently has a mental health condition (Beyond Blue, 2016). It is because of this that it is essential for you to understand how to support each other and yourselves. 

Task

Today's Mission

The target of today's mission is to explore a range of websites that will inform you about an array of mental health issues. Throughout your quest it will be your duty to answer the questions provided on the Process Page. Questions will scaffold your final assessment which is to create an informative and persuasive text. This persuasive text will be in the form of a Blog (which you will see many of throughout the WebQuest).

 

Creating the Blog (450-550 words):

-      Choose a Mental Health issue relevant to Youth in the local community.

-      Define the related mental condition/s.

-      What are some causes of mental health conditions?

-      Explain the pathways you should take if you believe you are suffering from a mental health issue (justify with referenced information).

-      Explain at least two benefits (to the individual and community) of valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity.

-      Reference three websites, used from within the WebQuest. 

You will use this template to complete your blog after you have gathered your information about Mental Health within this WebQuest. 

Goodluck with your challenge!!! 

Process

Ready, Steady, Go!!!

Complete the following steps in order, we cannot run the 4th lap before we run the 1st!

Firstly, access the Time-To-Change website:

http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/

Read one personal story (Blog), watch one video and flick through Talking about Mental Health tab.

 

Complete the following information…

Age of person:

Experience with mental illness:

Strategies undertaken to improve mental health:

Interesting Fact:

 

                                                                                                                            

You will receive two minutes of free time or one Dojo if you silently tuck your chair in and do 5 push ups or sit ups… It is proven by Magill that physical activity will help stimulate learning (2007).

Step Two requires you to delve into some Stats and Facts about Mental Health Conditions about young people in Australia. Use Beyond Blue to gather evidence for your persausive text.

Beyond Blue -  https://www.youthbeyondblue.com/footer/stats-and-facts  

How many Australians say they are unhappy with their life?

What is the biggest killer of Young Australians?

Name the five most important issues according to young Australians? 

Reflect on why you believe it is important to be educated about mental health conditions (3 dot points)

Your third mission is to pinpoint the pathway to take to gain help.

Access the following links and record organisations designed to help young people having difficulty with mental health:

Head Space      

http://headspace.org.au/ 

Mental Health Australian Government

http://www.australia.gov.au/information-and-services/health/mental-health  

MIND Australia

https://www.mindaustralia.org.au/resources/youth-in-mind/on-line-resources-for-young-people.html 

Final Task:

Use the Mental Health Commission to find strategies that can boost mental health in your community. 

http://strategy.mentalhealthcommission.ca/strategy/promoting-mental-health-and-preventing-mental-illness/ 

Summarise 3 benefits (to the individual and community) of valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity.                                                                                                                     (Dot Point Form)

How can valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity help teenagers with mental health conditions?

Analyse why creating an 'inclusive environment' can be defined as a prevention strategy.  

Assessment: Persausive Text

This WebQuest has taken you on an informative journey, giving you all of the knowledge you need to write an informative and persausive Blog. The questions within the WebQuest will be worth 30% of your final assessment mark. 

You have read Blogs throughout the WebQuest, but if you would like further information on how to write persausive text in the form of a blog you can access the following link. 

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml 

Remember your audience is young people within the community, more information about how your engagement with the WebQuest will be assessed can be found in the Evaluation Tab. 

Well done on your participation... Nearly at the finish line!!! 

Evaluation

Task One: Year 8 HPE, Mental Health

Unit 2: How can my knowledge of Mental Health help to improve my local community?

Year 8 Health and Physical Education

 

Standard A

Standard B

Standard C

Standard D

Standard E

Acquire

40% 

 

identify,

describe,

recall, comprehend,

use textual features

In the blog you have;

  • Accurately identified a mental health condition relevant to the teenagers in your local community            
  • Designed a detailed explanation of possible pathways to seek help                                
  • Explained in detail two or more benefits (to the community and individual) of valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Submitted detailed, accurate and informative answers to all questions                                    
  • Consistently participated in exploring all websites to the best of your ability

 

In the blog you have;

  • Mostly accurately identified a mental health condition largely relevant to the teenagers in your local community                                   
  • Designed a mostly detailed explanation of possible pathways to seek help                                                                  
  • Explained two or more benefits (to the community and/or individual) of valuing diversity and promoting inclusivity

                                     

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Submitted detailed answers to most questions, with largely accurate information                                                       
  • Participated in exploring most websites to the best of your ability

 

In the blog you have;

  • Identified a mental health condition mostly relevant to the teenagers in a local community                                                          
  • Designed an explanation of a possible pathway to seek help                                                                                       
  • Explained at least two benefits (to the community and/or individual) of valuing diversity and/or promoting inclusivity                                                                 

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Submitted, accurate and mostly informative answers to most questions                                                                
  • Mostly participated in exploring all websites to the best of your ability

 

In the blog you have;

  • Identified a mental health condition                                                                                                                        
  • Provided an invalid or unclear explanation of possible pathways to seek help              
  • Explained a benefit (to the community and individual) of valuing diversity and/or promoting inclusivity                                    

 In your WebQuest you have;

  • Submitted answers to a limited range of questions

                            

  • Participated in exploring some websites

 

In the blog you have;

  • Not identified a mental health condition relevant to a community

                                                                     

  • Provided no explanation of possible pathways to seek help                                                  
  • Not explained any benefits (to the community and/or individual)

 

                                

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Not submitted answers to WebQuest

                                                                                             

  • Not participated in exploring links in WebQuest

 

Apply

40% 

 

select,

interpret,

analyse, manipulate,

use genres

In the blog you have;

  • Shown very clear evidence of using the WebQuest to scaffold Blog          
  • Used clear and informative language, appropriate to young people                                 
  • Correctly referenced at least three websites from within the WebQuest              
  • Developed a logical, persuasive argument about mental health in relation to your local community

                                                                                              In your WebQuest you have;

  • Accurately explained the importance of addressing mental health conditions through creating an inclusive environment

In the blog you have;

  • Shown clear evidence of using the WebQuest to scaffold your Blog                          
  • Used persuasive and mostly informative language appropriate to young people                                    
  • Referenced at least three websites from within the WebQuest, with limited errors        
  • Developed a persuasive, mostly logical argument about mental health in relation to your local community

                           

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Explained the importance of addressing mental health conditions through creating an inclusive environment, using mostly accurate information

 

 

 

In the blog you have;

  • Shown some evidence of using the WebQuest to scaffold your Blog                               
  • Used some persuasive and mostly informative language mostly appropriate to young people                                  
  • Referenced at least three websites from within the WebQuest, with several errors        
  • Developed a mostly logical argument about mental health in relation to your local community, limited use of persuasive language

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Stated that addressing mental health conditions through creating an inclusive environment is beneficial, need more explanation on why

 

 

In the blog you have;

  • Shown little/no evidence of using the WebQuest to scaffold your Blog                
  • Used mostly informative language, inconsistently appropriate to young people    
  • Referenced less than three websites from within the WebQuest                           
  • Developed an argument about mental health

 

                                                                                                  

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Mentioned ‘inclusive environment’ with little or no explanation on benefits to mental health.

 

 

In the blog you have;

  • Shown no evidence of using the WebQuest to scaffold your Blog                       
  • No demonstration of clear, persuasive or informative language                                        
  • Not referenced any resources from WebQuest                              
  • Shown no evidence of an argument about mental health

 

                                      

                      

In your WebQuest you have;

  • Completely omitted relevant information about an inclusive environment

 

Evaluate

20%

 

evaluate,

predict,

justify,

problem solve, communicate

In the Blog you have;

  • Accurately and insightfully related mental health information to issues in your own community             
  • Demonstrated excellent writing skills throughout, including using 450-550, with no spelling and grammatical error

 

 

 

In the Blog you have;

  • Informatively related mental health information to issues to your own community                                            
  • Demonstrated strong writing skills throughout, including using 450-550 (approximately), with little spelling and grammatical error

 

 

In the Blog you have;

  • Related some mental health information to issues to your own community                                       
  • Demonstrated good writing skills throughout, including using 450-550 (approximately), with little spelling and grammatical error

 

In the Blog you have;

  • Related some incorrect mental health information to issues of teenagers         
  • Improvement of writing skills needed, using incorrect word allocation, several spelling and grammatical errors

 

In the Blog you have;

  • Used incorrect or no information.

                                                                                     

  • Nothing was written and/or submitted that can be marked

 

Conclusion

Conclusion

Now that you have engaged with some digital text about mental health, you are better equipped to be a leader in your community and help your peers. 

Well done, you have finished the race!!!

If you would like to further enhance your knowledge, have a look at the what you already know by completing this short online quiz from Time-To-Change... 

 

                   http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/mental-health-quiz

You can then return to the Process Page to revisit the links and gather new information.

Consider the differences between Mental Health Issues in the UK compared to mental health issues on the Sunshine Coast?

Credits

Rationale

There are a diverse range of pedagogical advantages that are a result of using WebQuest within a Year 8, health and physical education (HPE) unit. Through being able to scaffold an engaging lesson on WebQuest, students can develop key ICT, English, social and HPE skills, which are a necessary focus in a Year 8 classroom (ACARA, 2013).

The WebQuest is based on a foundation of content descriptors and general capabilities (ACARA, 2013). Use of WebQuest allows students to be assessed on a summative and formative level. This is linked to the fact that I can monitor gradual student progress and participation both online and face-to-face. The incorporation of a summative assessment piece (persuasive blog) along with WebQuest activities, benefits me as a HPE teacher as at the end of the unit I have a culminating piece of evidence reflecting several aspects of student knowledge.  

Another significant benefit to incorporating ICT through the use of a WebQuest, is that I can clearly scaffold learning to hit key components of the Australian Curriculum. A clear instance of this can be found within this WebQuest as I have based all my questions, as well as the blog structure, on content descriptors from year 8 HPE content descriptors. For example the question ‘Using health information within this WebQuest what are some mental health issues that impact Youth in my local community (home, school, sporting clubs, etc)?’, directly links to the content descriptor ‘plan and use health practices, behaviours and resources to enhance health, safety and wellbeing of their communities (ACPPS077)’ (ACARA, 2013). This is an example of just one component of the WebQuest being directly linked to the curriculum, all other aspects including the application of mental health skills, are also designed to meet the needs of Australian students through catering for the curriculum.

At a grade 8 level it has been proven that many students are still developing the skills needed to independently synthesise relevant information from online resources (Armstrong, 2010). This WebQuest is a platform where students are set up in a safe online environment and are still given freedom of choice in regards to learning (Glasser, 1965). Students are simultaneously being guided and taught the skills to syphon through appropriate information. WebQuest is a resource which is easily accessible at home and school, meaning it is a tool that is engaging and can extend learning beyond a classroom setting.

There is a vast amount of research that indicates technology contributes to boosting motivation of modern day teenagers to participate (Caja & Weiss, 2012). In a HPE classroom it is crucial to incorporate different modes of technology in order to extend on ICT capabilities including; ‘learning to use ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively’ (ACARA). WebQuest is a tool that can develop every component of the ICT capabilities, and is ultimately a bold way of boosting student's skills and knowledge in a safe online environment.  

 

References

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2016). Health and Physical Education Foundation to Year 8 Curriculum by rows - The Australian Curriculum v7.3. Retrieved 22 April 2016, from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/health-and-physical-education/curriculum/f-08?layout=1#level7-10. 

Armstrong, T., (2010). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. RELC Journal, 28(2), 165-171.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/003368829702800210.

Beyondblue. (2016). Youthbeyondblue.com. Retrieved 24 April 2016, from https://www.youthbeyondblue.com/footer/stats-and-facts. 

Caja, E., & Weiss, M. (2012). Predictors of Intrinsic Motivation Among Adolescent Students in Physical Education. American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Dance. Vol.71. No. 3. University of Oregon. 

Glasser, W. (1965). Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom. Ohio. Reality Therapy. 

Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation » headspace. (2016). Headspace.org.au. Retrieved 23 April 2016, from http://headspace.org.au/. 

Magill, R. (2007). Motor learning and control. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Mental health | australia.gov.au. (2016). Australia.gov.au. Retrieved 22 April 2016, from http://www.australia.gov.au/information-and-services/health/mental-heal….

MIND. (2016). Pathways for Help. Retrieved 21 April 2016, from https://www.mindaustralia.org.au/resources/youth-in-mind/on-line-resour….

Mind & Rethink Mental Illness. (2016). Retrieved on 21 April, 2016, from http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/mental-health-and-stigma. 

Promoting mental health and preventing mental illness | Mental Health Strategy. (2016). Strategy.mentalhealthcommission.ca. Retrieved 23 April 2016, from http://strategy.mentalhealthcommission.ca/strategy/promoting-mental-hea…;

 

Teacher Page

Rationale