GACE Health and Physical Education (737) key terms

The ability to obtain, interpret, and apply basic health information to make informed decisions and take action about one's own health and the health of others.

A framework explaining that a person's preventive health behavior depends on perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy.

A theory holding that behavior is shaped by reciprocal interaction among personal factors, behavior, and environment, with observational learning and self-efficacy as central mechanisms.

A learner's belief in their own capability to organize and perform a specific action successfully; a strong predictor of whether a student attempts and sustains a health behavior.

A stage-based model of behavior change describing movement through precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance, with relapse possible at any stage.

A person-centered counseling style that uses open questions, reflective listening, and affirmation to help a student resolve ambivalence and articulate their own reasons for changing a behavior.

An illness caused by a pathogen such as a bacterium, virus, fungus, or parasite that can be transmitted from one person, animal, or surface to another.

Indirect protection of susceptible people that occurs when a high enough proportion of a population is immune, interrupting chains of transmission of an infectious agent.

The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and learn, including income, housing, food access, and school climate, that shape health outcomes.

The principle that all people should have a fair opportunity to attain their highest level of health, requiring removal of avoidable barriers rather than identical treatment for everyone.

A nutrient the body needs in relatively large amounts to supply energy and building material, namely carbohydrate, protein, and fat.

A vitamin or mineral required in small quantities for normal metabolism, growth, and disease prevention, without providing energy itself.

Energy from foods and drinks that supply little or no beneficial nutrients, such as added sugars and solid fats; a key concept for teaching nutrient density.

The standardized Nutrition Facts panel and ingredient list that report serving size, calories, and nutrient amounts per serving, used to compare products and make dietary choices.

The relationship between energy consumed from food and energy expended through metabolism and physical activity; a positive balance promotes weight gain and a negative balance promotes loss.

The energy a body expends at rest to maintain vital functions, typically the largest component of total daily energy expenditure in most students.

A framework for designing exercise programs by specifying Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type of activity to meet a health or performance goal.

A prescribed range of heart rates, often estimated from a percentage of maximum heart rate, used to monitor aerobic exercise intensity and keep it in a safe, effective zone.

A student's current position along the continuum from not considering activity to maintaining it, used to select instruction that matches rather than outpaces their readiness.

A screening ratio of weight to height used to classify weight status in children and adolescents by percentile for age and sex; it is not a direct measure of body fat.

The capacity to adapt and recover from adversity, stress, or trauma while maintaining functioning, built through supportive relationships, coping skills, and a sense of purpose.

Deliberate cognitive or behavioral responses used to manage stress, such as reappraisal, exercise, seeking support, and relaxation, distinguished from avoidance-based responses.

Paying attention to present-moment experience with openness and without judgment, a practice used in schools to reduce stress reactivity and improve emotional regulation.

Instruction that develops self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making, typically integrated across the school day.

A mark of social disapproval that leads people to avoid seeking help for conditions such as mental illness; reducing it is a core objective of mental health instruction.

A lay-responder approach for recognizing signs of a mental health or substance crisis and connecting the person to appropriate help without attempting to diagnose or treat.

A communication skill in which the listener attends fully, reflects back content and feeling, and asks clarifying questions to confirm understanding rather than planning a reply.

A statement that expresses the speaker's feeling and need without blaming the other person, structured as a description of the behavior, its effect, and the feeling it produced.

Rehearsed verbal and nonverbal strategies, such as clear no statements, suggesting alternatives, and leaving a situation, used to resist pressure to engage in risky behavior.

A structured process in which parties identify the problem, listen to each perspective, and negotiate a mutually acceptable solution without coercion or violence.

A person's perceptions of what peers typically do and what peers approve of; overestimating peer substance use predicts greater use and is a frequent target of prevention instruction.

A prevention approach that corrects exaggerated beliefs about peer behavior by publicizing accurate data about how many students actually abstain or use substances rarely.

A substance whose use is statistically associated with later use of other substances; the concept is often oversimplified and should be taught with attention to shared risk factors.

Infection-control practices applied to all blood and body fluids, including hand hygiene, gloves, and eye protection, to protect both the responder and the injured person.

A written, rehearsed protocol specifying who calls emergency services, who provides care, where equipment is kept, and how students are supervised during an emergency.

A stepwise return-to-learn and return-to-play procedure requiring removal from activity after suspected head injury, evaluation by a health professional, and gradual staged progression.

A view of motor development in which movement emerges from interaction among the mover, the task, and the environment, rather than from maturation alone.

Foundational locomotor, manipulative, and stability patterns such as running, throwing, and balancing that underlie more complex sport and lifetime activity skills.

A person's degree of proficiency in executing a wide range of motor skills, associated with higher physical activity participation and lower injury risk.

Information a learner receives about performance; intrinsic feedback comes from the senses, while augmented feedback from a teacher can be descriptive or prescriptive.

The principle that fitness improves only when training load is gradually increased beyond current capacity, applied to frequency, intensity, time, or resistance.

The use of body segments as levers around joints to produce force and speed; longer levers and proper sequencing increase the effect of a movement.

Components such as agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, and speed that support performance in sport, distinct from health-related fitness components.

The components of cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition that are linked to reduced disease risk and functional capacity.

A curriculum planning approach that begins with desired learning outcomes, then determines acceptable evidence of learning, and only then designs instruction and activities.

Ongoing checks during instruction, such as exit tickets or peer observation, used to adjust teaching and give feedback rather than to assign a final grade.

A scoring guide that lists criteria and describes levels of quality, making performance expectations explicit and grading more consistent across students and raters.

Teaching deliberately aligned to published content and performance standards, with learning activities and assessments selected to address those specific expectations.

Adapting content, process, or product to students' readiness, interests, and learning profiles so that all can meet the same essential learning goal.

A framework linking health education, physical education, health services, nutrition, counseling, family involvement, and community partners into one coherent system for student well-being.

A committee of parents, staff, students, and community members that advises the district on health and physical education policy, curriculum, and program coordination.

A systematic process of gathering data on student health behaviors, resources, and gaps to set priorities and justify program decisions to administrators and stakeholders.

Deliberate action to build support for a health or physical education program, such as presenting outcome data to decision makers and mobilizing parents and partners.