Critical Thinking in Health and Human Development.

ANNA ROSSETTO, HEAD OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION & HEALTH

The much-anticipated wait for the introduction of Health and Human Development (HHD) into The Geelong College VCE subject repertoire is now finally over.

This year’s introduction of the new engaging and relatable subject, Health and Human Development, has been welcomed with much enthusiasm from both students and staff alike.

Health and Human Development is a unique subject; one that allows students to connect to the course content through not only what they cover in class, but also through tangible, real-time examples. Whether it’s through a conversation at the dinner table, something we might be watching on Netflix or something that’s trending on TikTok, health is all around us.

So, what about critical thinking? How does this tie in with Health?

Fostering critical thinking, from my experience as an educator in a range of schools including government and independent systems is about preparing our students to be 21st century learners. Learners who are in our classrooms right now, who are going to be stepping into the workforce, into a lot of jobs that don’t exist yet.

21st century learning can include a range of strategies and theories.

In HHD this is centred around the Four C’s:

- Collaboration

- Communication

- Critical thinking

- Creation

What does this mean for our students?

It means in HHD our students have exposure to a range of engaging topics and we will build upon their skills using strategies from the Four C’s above. Students are provided with opportunities to develop their communication and collaboration skills in group and paired tasks, think critically through challenging and engaging classroom activities and gain ownership of topics of interest to them within the HHD course.

Unit 1

We begin at Unit 1 creating some foundations and skills around HHDspecific language and how marking schemes operate in our subject. We have embedded a range of activities to teach students to understand buzz words (specifically linking to health and concepts that they will link their learning to) which will appear throughout the course.

We encourage and create opportunities for our students to collaborate and test their understanding by allowing them to be the teacher and assess pieces of work to have practice in how the marking works and what common errors are appearing in responses and how they can fix them.

Unit 2

In this unit, we begin to unpack yet another topic that resonates within everyone – how life begins from conception through to birth and the entire lifespan – we are all going through this, albeit at different stages. Students can take their own experiences, and their knowledge of their own families and friends and link these into their learning. Students also unpack new advancements in medical technologies, look at ethical considerations and how our health care system can work to improve our quality of life.

Units 3 and 4

This is where we can really examine some worldwide events to lock in understanding. The Year 10 Fulfilling Lives Program is a unique College experience that allows our students to genuinely connect with the content in HHD, specifically how physical environments and cultures can affect quality of life and health outcomes.

The global pandemic has created different experiences and situations for every individual, however; this health emergency has also allowed HHD students to connect with data and data measures used to assess the number of cases, how organisations like the World Health Organisation have worked with countries to help control the spread and how low-income countries have been affected compared to highincome countries. Again, a real-life experience that helps us solidify the interesting and engaging topics in HHD.

Health is a subject that we hope becomes popular here at the College. We hope it will spark the curiosity of our students as they work through the course, and be something that they can consistently refer to as they navigate their way through their lives. It may assist them in making informed decisions about their health and wellbeing, and open their eyes to issues other countries are encountering, and understand how lucky we are to live in a high-income country with a strong educational and values system.