Preparations for Class: November 4-5

Hi HEALers:

In this course on "current issues in curriculum and pedagogy" we have continued to address the tension between personal agency and social structure. Our field trip to the Mane Event was yet another example of this. Here we observed people (cowboys, men) interacting with horses in an historicized context of training. Pedagogical relationality, enacted in reciprocated gestures, postures, expressions and energy dynamics, is understandable within the limits and determinants of what is historically, sociologially and subculturally afforded. Or to put it another way, imagine the setting last week with a female trainer, someone physically challenged, interacting with horses. For example, look at Silke Vallentin at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iVOA_UkkAI&feature=related

What she is doing is still understandable, however it doesn't have quite the immediate register of 'truth' as does the 'cowboy show.' And that's not to deny the truth of the latter. It is simply to make the point, once again, that a key 'pedagogical' consideration for us in our health education, health promotion and health care endeavours is that personal agency, no matter how effective, is always contextualized. What works so well 'here' may not work elsewhere. What is indicated for populations may not work for individuals, and vice versa. And we will never find the perfect program, curriculum or health care system. Still, that should not stop us from doing what we can here and now, with particular students, clients and patients, as part of health care reform, health promotion and health education advancement.

At our first class I offered the following course statement:

"We shall proceed from individual renditions of health, wellness, vitality and activity to social affordances (which include the social determinants). Along the way we can address pedagogy and curriculum as relational and socially/culturally inscribed ways of bringing individual experience to bear upon health promotion for others."

We have ventured fairly deeply into matters of pedagogy. Now is the time for us to extend our sights in a curricular direction.

We can do so by keeping in mind the personal agency/social structure tension and by addressing curricula of 'physical activity.' I see physical activity as a narrower term than 'active living,' and one that includes the even more narrowly defined 'physical fitness.' As we focus on this rendition of heath, wellness and vitality, let's take into account the social determinants and affordances of physical activity and physical fitness that help us maintain them as accessible, sustainable, affordable values of daily life?

Here are some web references on 'active living' to browse through:

a. World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/topics/physical_activity/en/

WHO: A guide for population-based approaches to increasing levels of physical activity
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/PA-promotionguide-2007.pdf

b. The following site is a good resource for active living info. It appears quite focused on built environment but contains a variety of other research articles as well.
http://www.activelivingresearch.org/resourcesearch

See particularly James Sallis: Active Living Research (ALR) Resources
http://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/ALR_ResourcesSummarySheet.July2011.pdf

c. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa

d. Article - Connecting Active Living Research and Public Policy: Transdisciplinary Research and Policy Interventions to Increase Physical Activity - Joseph M Schilling, Billie Giles-Corti and James F Sallis
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/v30/nS1/full/jphp200859a.html

e. BC Recreation and Parks Association: Active Communities
http://www.bcrpa.bc.ca/recreation_parks/active_communities.htm


Lori Bowrie, from Surrey Parks and Recreation, will join us on the Friday evening (4th) to present some of her thesis work on 'physical activity' leadership that is attentive to the social determinants of health.

Then Saturday, Jacqueline will be with us to address, first up, BLOG issues and uses.

We will spend a good part of the day with the three presentations on the Social Determinants of Health.

The group dealing with "Income distribution and workplace" (Marina, Cathryn and Joane) will use the latter part of the morning. The two groups addressing "Education" (Neda, Danielle, Liesl, Mary, James and Christina) will take up the afternoon. Please remind me on the Friday evening what the actual group divisions are for "Education."

Let's all peruse chapters 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Raphael's text in preparation for these seminar presentations. Where the groups are 3-4 individuals, the seminar presentations will be roughly an hour. I am sure we can easily go over time in discussion, so we won't be too rigid in time-keeping. But we'll certainly make sure that each group is not short-changed.

Then, on the 19th, we'll do the other three presentations:
"Food and Housing" (Jenn, Rosie, Laura and Cara)
"Socially marginalized" (Sherry, Raj, Taneem and Crystal)
"Public Policy" (Brittany and Michelle)

We'll cover the rest of the Raphael text, chapter 17 through 23, for this second set of presentations.

Finally, remember to bring those Mane Event receipts to the class for reimbursement. I'll contact Linda and see if she will send the travel claim for the car-pooling drivers, otherwise I'll bring the forms to class.


Cheers,

Stephen.