Developing Skills in Health Literacy

Health-related information from family, friends, social media, and the internet bombard our lives every day. We make decisions as consumers about questions such as these:

• Why is caffeine powder dangerous when people consume caffeinated drinks every day?
• Why do people get a flu shot every year? Isn’t once enough?
• Who should take multivitamins daily?
• Why are some treatments used in other parts of the world not available in the United States?

Answers about health topics can be complicated. Understanding the science behind these questions requires the ability to ask questions and find and evaluate information from different sources.

BSCS Science Learning’s Developing Skills in Health Literacy project aims to help middle and high school students develop critical-thinking skills in topics about health that enable them to accurately evaluate the information they get from various sources. This five-year project (going through 2020) works with teachers from across the country to develop and study innovative instructional materials designed to enhance students’ skills and abilities in understanding human health.

This project was supported by the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25OD020208. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.