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Reviewed Site: http://besmartbewell.com/childhoodobesity/index.htm
Site Content Area: “Making good health choices requires information. And that's where this Web site comes in. Watch real-people videos, learn from subject experts and find information resources.”
Introduction:
There are many sections on this website, which all have good attributes, but we need to narrow our focus a tad thus this review will be focusing only on the obesity section. This site’s focus is helping children with serious health risks such as heart disease and diabetes, due to their weight. The site has various stories from children and their families; videos with health, fitness and nutrition experts; articles; links; and resources. Their goal is to inform families of this epidemic so they are better able to understand the problem and make healthy food choices and improve exercise habits.
Overview:
This site draws attention to the important health topic of childhood obesity by utilizing real-people videos, tip for families, and resources that may assist in informing and empowering families.
Navigation:
The navigation is on the top but not easily detectable; look for the drop-down menu box; that’s where you’ll find the actual navigation links. Once selecting a section the navigation bar will appear in gold on the top. Be sure to go to the obesity page for this review.
The Look:
This site looks more like a blog than a website with the boxy look, dark colors, and mixed number of columns. Once on the selected page, the navigation is easily understood and will take you to a short description for that particular section. Each page has access to the video clips, making it convenient to move between sections. The other main piece to this site is the option to leave comments, which are abundant.
Features of the Site:
The main Childhood Obesity page has a small paragraph regarding the facts of obesity; links to various video clips; resources; comments; news; and links to their social networking sites.
There are several segments under the Childhood Obesity section:
What Is It? gives a loose definition of obesity and a few causes; this information is not new nor is peppered with research or statistics. Recommendations to watch two personal story video clips for more information are included. I felt this two-paragraph description should have been more detailed, although it may be enough information to get younger students started.
Why Does It Matter? Again, a very small description with information we have all heard repeatedly, and two personal story video clip suggestions.
What Can I Do About It? is a resource primarily for parents. Included are some tips that parents have been hearing for years, but they also had a few other ideas that may be beneficial to share with your community. I did like the statement regarding no one if perfect all the time; we do eat things that are not the most healthy choice and that’s OK. It is the way we teach our children about having a healthy relationship with food that is important.
They endorse the 5-4-3-2-1 Go! formula from Obesity in Chicago Children, which at first glance looks lame, but do take a second look at it as it does hold some truths and could be a cool little chant to use with your students.
There are a couple of links, one is www.empowerme2b.org I did briefly check that site out and found it to be pretty cool; maybe I’ll review it in the future!
Resources contain a list of categorized websites worthy of a look-see. I did surf to several that sounded interesting and my expectations were matched. Share your experience with ones you surf to on Face Book.
Media has a list of articles with a quick-link list on the right side. There were several articles which I thought useful but many seemed like I had read them in other sections, could be wrong, but…at any rate, these could be beneficial to use in your class or send home to your families.
Personal Story Video Clips:
These are real folks talking about their experiences with battling obesity or other health-related problems; how it has affected them; and how making a lifestyle change has improved their life and self-esteem. The stories include the child, family members, and usually a teacher or other significant adult. They are fairly lengthy, all over three minutes, and a few are a little difficult to understand, but overall well done. The variety of ethnic backgrounds will help children see these risk factors affect everyone not just someone of a particular race or gender. The other nice thing is that there is a written transcript available for each video (hint: basic reading practice or reading comprehension practice for older students).
These stories could be utilized in a variety of ways:
- Lead-in to a specific instructional sequence.
- Source for engaging students in open dialogue.
- Topics for further research papers or projects.
- Models of change.
- Encouragement.
- Parent-student conferences or back-to-school night.
- Stimulate students to take action in their own life, in the school, and in the community.
- And the list goes on; share your ideas with PECentral!
Conclusion:
I must say that this is a very informative site that showcases many great stories. This site should useful to those teaching health in Middle or High School. It is not the most exciting site in terms of layout or design but it achieves its purpose and should prove to be a valuable resource for other educators. As always, happy surfing!
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