MTLE Health (Grades 5-12) key terms

The ability to find, understand, and use health information to make informed decisions and take action. Instruction builds skills in analyzing influences, accessing resources, and communicating about health.

A framework of eight standards describing what students should know and be able to do in health education, organized around concepts and skill practice rather than topics alone.

Health content that is accurate, current, and directly useful for guiding personal health decisions and behaviors, as opposed to trivia or disconnected facts.

Teaching that explicitly models, practices, and assesses health skills such as refusal, goal setting, and advocacy, rather than relying on lecture and memorization alone.

An open-ended question that frames a unit around enduring understandings, such as how personal choices interact with community health, and guides student inquiry.

A planning approach that starts with desired results and acceptable evidence before designing learning activities, ensuring assessment and instruction align with standards.

An evaluation in which students demonstrate a skill or create a product in a realistic context, such as delivering a persuasive health message or demonstrating refusal skills.

A scoring guide listing criteria and levels of quality so students and teachers share expectations for a performance or product, improving feedback and consistency.

Ongoing checks for understanding during instruction, such as exit tickets or quick demonstrations, used to adjust teaching before summative grading occurs.

Temporary supports, such as checklists, sentence frames, or modeled steps, that help students succeed at a complex task and are gradually removed as competence grows.

Practicing a health skill in a simulated scenario, such as refusing an offer or asking a partner to use a condom, to build fluency before real-world use.

Verbal and nonverbal strategies, such as saying no firmly, suggesting alternatives, and leaving a risky situation, taught and practiced to resist unwanted pressure.

A person's belief in their capability to perform a specific behavior successfully; strong efficacy predicts persistence and is built through mastery experiences and modeling.

A behavior theory holding that personal, behavioral, and environmental factors interact; learning occurs through observation, modeling, and reinforcement, and efficacy influences action.

Acquiring behaviors by watching others, especially credible peers or adults, and then imitating them; a core mechanism for teaching health skills through demonstration.

A theory explaining health behavior through perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy; useful for designing prevention messages.

A transtheoretical model describing movement through precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance, with relapse possible; interventions match the person's stage.

A person-centered counseling style using open questions, reflective listening, and affirmation to strengthen a person's own reasons for change rather than arguing or advising.

Perceptions about what peers typically do and approve of; adolescents often overestimate risky peer behavior, and correcting these misperceptions reduces risk.

A prevention strategy that communicates accurate data about peer behavior and approval to correct exaggerated beliefs and reduce risky behavior.

Fully attending to a speaker, reflecting content and feeling, and asking clarifying questions to ensure understanding; foundational for counseling, conflict resolution, and peer helping.

A statement expressing feelings and needs without blame, structured as a behavior, its effect, and the speaker's feeling, reducing defensiveness in conflict.

A process of addressing disagreement through communication, negotiation, and compromise rather than aggression, often taught with mediation steps and practiced in scenarios.

The components of fitness tied to health: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition, each improved by specific training.

A framework for designing exercise programs by specifying frequency, intensity, time, and type, adjusted to a person's goals and current fitness level.

A heart-rate range, often calculated from estimated maximum heart rate, that indicates moderate to vigorous exercise intensity and guides safe aerobic training.

Gradually increasing training demands, such as load, duration, or intensity, so the body adapts while limiting injury and plateaus.

A visual nutrition guide dividing a plate into fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy, emphasizing proportion, variety, and limiting added sugars and sodium.

The amount of beneficial nutrients a food provides relative to its calories; nutrient-dense choices support health within calorie needs.

The relationship between calories consumed and calories expended; a positive balance supports weight gain, a negative balance weight loss, and equilibrium weight maintenance.

An illness caused by pathogens that can spread from person to person or through vectors, prevented by hygiene, vaccination, and safe food and water practices.

A model of disease spread with six links: pathogen, reservoir, exit portal, mode of transmission, entry portal, and susceptible host; breaking any link prevents transmission.

Indirect protection when a sufficient proportion of a population is immune, limiting spread to those who cannot be vaccinated, such as infants or immunocompromised people.

Infection-control practices applied to all people regardless of diagnosis, including hand hygiene, gloves, and safe handling of sharps and body fluids.

Potentially traumatic events in childhood, such as abuse or household instability, linked to elevated risk of chronic disease and mental health problems across the lifespan.

An approach assuming trauma is common, prioritizing safety, trust, choice, and avoiding re-traumatization in classroom interactions, referrals, and discipline.

The capacity to adapt and recover from adversity, supported by caring relationships, coping skills, and a sense of purpose and competence.

Cognitive and behavioral techniques, such as reappraisal, breathing, exercise, and seeking support, used to manage stress and difficult emotions.

A legal duty of educators to report suspected child abuse or neglect to designated authorities promptly, following district procedures and without investigating themselves.

Protecting student health information and disclosures, sharing only on a need-to-know basis and within legal limits such as danger to self or others.

A federal law governing access to and disclosure of education records, including many student health records held by the school, and granting parents and eligible students rights.

A legally binding plan developed by a team that specifies goals, services, and accommodations for a student eligible for special education under IDEA.

A plan providing accommodations and services so a student with a disability can access the general curriculum and school activities, without requiring specialized instruction.

Adjusting content, process, or product based on readiness, interests, and learning profile so all students can access and demonstrate health learning.

Speaking up and taking action to influence decisions and conditions affecting personal or community health, such as promoting a school wellness policy.

Structured learning in which students apply knowledge and skills to address a genuine community need and then reflect on the experience.