Case #1: Elementary, My Dear
The school district has always taught puberty education at the 5th grade. The students don’t receive additional sex education instruction until high school. This has been the practice for 15 years, and they have not had any complaints from parents.
The 5th grade class is taught by a nurse from the local health department who comes in to show videos and answer questions about menstruation and anatomy. The instruction is done in special one-hour sessions: one for girls only and one for boys only. The girls watch a video on menstruation, and the boys watch a video on body changes for boys.
Once the nurse finishes the instruction, the classroom teachers are told to give the students a quiz on the reproductive anatomy to include as part of their science grade.
- What is ineffective about this approach to puberty education?
- What might motivate teachers to implement effective sex education?
Created by Wendy L.Sellers,2015. Permission is granted to use with attribution.
Case #2: Elementary Sex Education Confusion
The district has experienced huge staff changes in the past couple years. The previous teachers in 5th and 6th grade have retired, and the new, inexperienced teachers have been told that they are expected to teach sex education in the spring.
The district sends the teachers to receive professional development, where they expect to be given sex education lessons to implement. Instead, they learn that the PD is intended to prepare them to teach sex education in a generic manner, not to teach them a specific curriculum.
When the teachers return to their district, they ask their administrator what they are supposed to teach. They are told to ask the other teachers at their grade level, but since they are all relatively new, no one knows the answers. They find some old videos and diagrams of the reproductive system that were left behind by the previous teaching staff. To avoid trouble, they show the videos and diagrams and refer all student questions to the home.
- What is ineffective about this approach to puberty education?
- What might motivate teachers to implement effective sex education?
Created by Wendy L.Sellers,2015, Permission is granted to use with attribution.