Pre-service teacher perceptions of teaching health education online

PurposeThe forced shift to online teaching delivery during COVID-19 suppression measures in 2020 was a complex challenge for Australian teachers. Teachers were given very little time to prepare online content and very little professional development to teach online. Their experiences prompted discussion about the abilities of pre-service teachers (PST) to adapt content to online delivery if another pandemic occurred while they were teaching in the future.Design/methodology/approachPST majoring in Health and Physical Education were required to adapt a 4-weeks high school health education unit for online delivery. This study analysed data from PST personal reflections and focus groups to gain a better understanding of their perceptions about teaching health education online and their confidence to adapt tasks and activities from face-to-face delivery or develop unique online tasks.FindingsPST reported varied confidence and competence to plan for and engage in online health education teaching. PST were concerned about student learning and engagement online, and unsure how to best differentiate activities to ensure all student could meet the intended outcomes.Originality/valueLittle is known about the confidence and competence of PST to deliver fully online school health education. It is important to know more about this phenomenon to inform teacher education and teacher professional development to ensure teachers are better prepared for online delivery in the future.

Dialogic spaces in divergent and convergent collaborative learning tasks

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how dialogic spaces were co-constituted (opened, broadened and deepened) between students engaged in divergent and convergent collaborative learning tasks, orchestrated by teachers in Finnish primary and secondary schools. The concept of dialogic space refers to a dynamic, shared resource of ideas in dialogue and has come to represent an ideal form of educational interaction, in the contexts of collaborative learning, joint creative work and shared knowledge-building. Design/methodology/approach A socio-cultural discourse analysis of video-observed classroom dialogue, entailing the development of a new analytic typology, was undertaken to explore the co-constitution of dialogic space. The data are derived from two qualitative studies, one examining dialogue to co-create fictive video stories in primary-school classrooms (divergent task), the other investigating collaborative knowledge building in secondary-school health education (convergent task). Findings Dialogic spaces were opened through group settings and by the students’ selection of topics. In the divergent task, the broadening of dialogic space derived from the heterogeneous group settings, whereas in the convergent task, from the multiple and various information sources involved. As regards the deepening of dialogic space, explicit reflective talk remained scarce; instead the norms deriving from the school-context tasks and requirements guided the group dialogue. Originality/value This study lays the groundwork for subsequent research regarding the orchestration of dialogic space in divergent and convergent tasks by offering a typology to operationalise dialogic space for further, more systematic, comparisons and aiding the understandings of the processes implicated in intercreating and interthinking. This in turn is of significance for the development of dialogic pedagogies.

Overweight and Obesity among Primary School Going Children in Urban Agra

Introduction: Childhood obesity is global nutritional concern. It is precursor of various non- communicable diseases and metabolic disorders in adulthood. Objective: To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among primary school students in urban Agra. Method: This cross-sectional study was done among 200 children studying in grades 1st to 5th in government and private school of Agra. List of all schools in Agra city having 1 to 5 classes was obtained from official website of Agra District Authorities. One government and one private school were selected. 100 students were selected from each selected school. A pre-designed and pre-tested administered questionnaire was used to collect information and anthropometric measurement; height and weight of the student measured to calculate Basal Metabolic Index (BMI). Overweight/obesity was defined using age and sex specific body mass index cut off points. Result: Prevalence of overweight and obesity was 16.5% and 7% respectively. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was more in boys as compared to girls. Obesity is seen only in private school students. Conclusion:In the present study, the magnitude of overweight and obesity is high among boys and children studying in private school. Health education should be given in the schools so as to educate children as well as parents regarding risk factors, preventive measures and the consequences of overweight and obesity.

Finnish adolescents’ selection and assessment of health information sources

Introduction. It is challenging for young people to determine who or what information sources they can trust in health issues. This study examines adolescents’ understanding of health, health information needs and credible health information sources and discusses the ways some information sources can be regarded as adolescents’ cognitive authorities in health matters. Methods. Thirty-seven Finnish secondary school students from fourteen to sixteen years were interviewed during a school health education project. Analysis. The data were transcribed verbatim and analysed qualitatively through open, axial and selective coding. Findings. Two broad categories of young people’s understanding of health and well-being were identified: a narrow disease-oriented view and a wider view including aspects of mental and social well-being. These views were connected with recognised health information needs, preferred health information sources and credibility evaluation. Conclusions. The interviewed young people found family members and health professionals to be the most credible information sources in health problems. Thus, they can be regarded as adolescents’ cognitive authorities who are likely to influence their opinions. In more general health information needs and in lifestyle issues, the range of the information sources was wider and credibility assessments were dependent on the subject.