Objectives and Rationale
I am hoping that through this lesson, my students will deepen their knowledge of the role of society in our lives and the role of each individual within a society. Our lifestyle choices will ultimately impact the “healthspan” that we enjoy throughout our lives, but it is also important to understand that some of the lifestyles choices that we make are the result of the society around us; the rules and norms that we follow, the ideas that are presented to us throughout our lives, and the social structures that we adhere to all have an impact on us, even, from current research by Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and Dr. Elissa Epel, down to a cellular level.
I hope that through our research that my students’ knowledge of varying societies and cultures is broadened beyond what we see in our city and to understand that what happens within our city has an impact on them as well. Throughout this unit, we will try to see the world from multiple perspectives and participate in the practice of examining data and utilizing it to help form our opinions. Through examination of our own country and others throughout the world, students will begin to develop their own opinions of how to address issues of public health.
And ultimately, I hope that students will be able to understand, not only the role of public policy in their lives, but to also more fully understand how they can impact the policies that exist around them. By utilizing Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale, Dr. Ian Shapiro’s, research and knowledge that he shared with us in the Yale National Seminar on Public Policy in the United States, my students will have the opportunity to go beyond just thinking about the surface level of how policy is enacted through our government and examine the building blocks necessary to create change in a complex democratic system.
Through the connection of these different topics, I hope that students are able to create their own ideas and make their own plans for how to create change.
Comments: