Occupational health learning objectives for elementary school clearly define what students will know and be able to do as a result of each lesson. These objectives focus on developing functional health knowledge, building understanding related to the dimensions of health, and applying essential health skills to real-life situations. Every objective is designed to align with theSHAPE America National Health Education Standards, ensuring that instruction is comprehensive, skills-based, and promotes lifelong well-being.

The Goal: Students are introduced to the world of work, explore different types of jobs, and begin to think about what they might enjoy doing in the future.

✅ Explore a variety of jobs and what people do in their work.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #1 Build and Apply Functional Knowledge

✅ Identify interests and strengths and match them to different types of jobs.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #1 Build and Apply Functional Knowledge and #5 Decision Making

✅ Understand that work is one way adults contribute to their community.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #1 Build and Apply Functional Knowledge and #2 Analyzing Influences

Functional knowledge refers to the essential health concepts students need to understand in order to build awareness of how occupational health and career exploration shows up in their lives. This knowledge helps students make informed choices and lays the foundation for managing this aspect of their well-being with intention and confidence.

💡 What Different Jobs Are and What People Do at Work
Students explore a variety of jobs, from teachers and firefighters to bakers and veterinarians, and begin to understand the tasks people do and the roles they play in the world around them.

💡 How People’s Interests and Strengths Help Them Succeed in Different Jobs
Students discover that different jobs require different skills and personal qualities and that people often choose work that matches what they enjoy and do well.

💡 How Jobs Help the Community and Support Other People
Students discover that work is not just about earning money but also about helping others and making a difference in the places we live, learn, and play.

Activities are health education learning engagements that help students explore, interact with, and build deeper understanding of occupational health and career exploration. Each learning activity is designed to support a skills-based health approach and provide meaningful opportunities for students to explore the functional knowledge and practice the health skills.

🔎 Career Guess Who

Students play a “Guess Who” style activity where students ask yes/no questions to figure out the mystery job.

→ Connects to: What different jobs are and what people do at work

🔎 Career Web or Map

Students create a web or map based on a job that interests them. They add related jobs, required tools or skills, and connections to their own interests or things they’re good at.

→ Connects to: How people’s interests and strengths help them succeed in different jobs

🔎 Helping Hands Job Coloring Page

Students color pictures of different community helpers or jobs. For each one, they draw or write about how that job helps others—filling in "heart hands" or “helping hands” that show the positive impact of each role.

→ Connects to: How jobs help the community and support other people

These career exploration project-based learning assessments are designed to measure both what elementary students understand and how well they can apply their functional health knowledge and health skills in meaningful, real-world ways. Each health assessment idea aligns with the SHAPE America National Health Education Standards and offers students a practical, hands-on learning experience. By actively using health skills to navigate realistic scenarios, students demonstrate their ability to think critically, make informed decisions, and take ownership of their well-being.

📚 Job Interview & Profile

Students interview someone they know, a family member, teacher, or neighbor, about their job. They create a simple profile that includes what the person does, what they like about their job, and how it helps others.

→ Assesses understanding of different jobs and how they contribute to the community (SHAPE America Standards #1 and #5)

📚 Job Recipe

Students choose a job and create a “recipe” for success, listing the ingredients needed, like skills, interests, personality traits, and responsibilities. They reflect on how these elements help a person do their job well.

→ Assesses understanding of how people’s strengths and interests help them succeed at work (SHAPE America Standards #1, #6, #7)

📚 Our Working Community 

Students create a mini town made up of different community jobs. Each student takes on a role (e.g., mail carrier, nurse, grocery clerk, teacher), learns what that job does, and works together with classmates to act out a typical day in their “working community.” The goal is to show how every job is important and how they all work together to support the community.

→ Assesses understanding of how jobs help others and support a functioning society (SHAPE America Standards #1 and #7)

Occupational health learning objectives clearly define what middle school students will know and be able to do as a result of each career exploration lesson. These objectives focus on developing functional health knowledge, building understanding related to the dimensions of health, and applying essential health skills to real-life situations. Every objective is designed to align with the SHAPE America National Health Education Standards, ensuring that instruction is comprehensive, skills-based, and promotes lifelong well-being.

The Goal: Students build awareness of how work connects to well-being and begin exploring jobs they can do now and in the future based on their interests, skills, and values.

✅ Understand the connection between work and overall well-being, including how jobs affect stress, purpose, and lifestyle.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #1 Build and Apply Functional Knowledge and #2 Analyzing Influences

✅ Explore part-time jobs, volunteer roles, and school responsibilities as ways to build skills and experience.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #7 Practice Health-Enhancing Behaviors

✅ Identify personal values, interests, and strengths and how they relate to various jobs.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #5 Decision Making and #6 Goal Setting

Functional knowledge refers to the essential health concepts students need to understand in order to build awareness of how emotional and mental health shows up in their lives. This knowledge helps students make informed choices and lays the foundation for managing this aspect of their well-being with intention and confidence.

To support their occupational health, middle school students need to understand how work connects to well-being, explore real-life opportunities available to them, and begin noticing how different jobs reflect a variety of values and interests.

💡 How a Person’s Job Impacts Overall Well-being

Students learn that a person’s work can influence their mental, emotional, physical, and social health. They explore how job satisfaction, purpose, and stress levels affect overall quality of life.

💡 What Jobs and Volunteer Opportunities are Available to Students

Students identify jobs and service opportunities that are accessible to them, like babysitting, lawn care experts, food drives, or helping at school, and understand how these experiences build useful life and workplace skills.

💡 How different values and interests connect to different kinds of work

Students explore how careers reflect a wide range of interests (like working with animals, solving problems, or creating things) and values (like helping others or making money), building awareness of how personal identity influences career pathways.

Activities are health education learning engagements that help students explore, interact with, and build a deeper understanding of occupational health. Each learning activity is designed to support a skills-based health approach and provide meaningful opportunities for students to explore the functional knowledge and practice the health skills.

🔎 Work & Well-Being Analysis

Students read short scenarios involving people in different work situations (e.g., a nurse working night shifts, a teen babysitter saving for a bike). For each one, they identify which dimensions of health are being impacted, positively or negatively, and explain why.

→ Connects to: How a person’s job impacts overall well-being

🔎 “We’re Hiring!” Flyer Project

Students research a job or volunteer opportunity that could be available to someone their age. They create a flyer advertising the position, including a job title, description, tasks, skills needed, and why it’s a good experience for someone their age.

→ Connects to: What jobs and volunteer opportunities are available to students

🔎 Job Matching Game: Interests & Careers

Using cards or a digital tool, students match various interests and values (e.g., helping animals, solving problems, building things) with different types of jobs. This can be done as a class sorting activity, partner challenge, or rotating game station.

→ Connects to: How different values and interests connect to different kinds of work

These career exploration project-based learning assessments are designed to measure both what students understand and how well they can apply their functional health knowledge and health skills in meaningful, real-world ways. Each health assessment idea aligns with the SHAPE America National Health Education Standards and offers students a practical, hands-on learning experience. By actively using health skills to navigate realistic scenarios, students demonstrate their ability to think critically, make informed decisions, and take ownership of their well-being.

 📚 Job Report Card: Total Health Check

Students choose a job and assess how it impacts the different dimensions of health, not just financially, but emotionally, socially, and physically. They give the job a “report card” rating in each area and explain their reasoning.

→ Assesses understanding of how a person’s job impacts overall well-being (SHAPE America Standards #1 and #2)

📚 Volunteer or Job Experience + Reflection

Students find a small job or volunteer role (e.g., helping at home, babysitting, school clean-up, tutoring) and try it out for a set amount of time. They reflect on what skills they used or built, how they felt, and how it affected their well-being.

→ Assesses awareness of available opportunities (SHAPE America Standards #1, #2, and #7)

📚 Job Interest Presentation

Students choose a job that interests them and create a short presentation explaining what the job involves and what kinds of interests, values, and strengths are important for someone in that role.

→ Assesses understanding of how different interests and values connect to jobs (SHAPE America Standards #1, #4, and #7)

Occupational Health learning objectives clearly define what high school students will know and be able to do as a result of each lesson. These objectives focus on developing functional health knowledge, building understanding related to the dimensions of health, and applying essential health skills to real-life situations. Every objective is designed to align with the SHAPE America National Health Education Standards, ensuring that instruction is comprehensive, skills-based, and promotes lifelong well-being.

The Goal: Students engage in meaningful career exploration, analyze how job-related factors impact well-being, and build the habits and skills needed for future success.

✅ Analyze how different types of jobs influence well-being, physically, mentally, socially, and financially.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #1 Build and Apply Functional Knowledge and #2 Analyzing Influences

✅ Explore careers through in-depth research, informational interviews, job shadowing, or mentorship opportunities.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #1 Build and Apply Functional Knowledge and #3 Accessing Valid Resources

✅ Develop habits and personal skills, like time management, goal setting, and communication, that support job success.

→ Related SHAPE America Health Standards: #6 Goal Setting and #7 Practice Health-Enhancing Behaviors

Functional knowledge refers to the essential health concepts students need to understand in order to build awareness of how occupational health shows up in their lives. This knowledge helps students make informed choices and lays the foundation for managing this aspect of their well-being with intention and confidence.

To support their occupational health, high school students need to engage in deeper analysis of how work affects overall well-being, explore methods for researching potential career paths, and understand the habits and skills that contribute to long-term success in the workplace.

💡 How jobs impact well-being across all dimensions of health

Students analyze how different aspects of a job, like schedule, physical demands, workplace culture, income, and sense of purpose, can impact mental, emotional, physical, and social health, both positively and negatively.

💡 What sources to use when researching a career

Students learn how to gather accurate, relevant information about a career by using trusted websites, job databases, informational interviews, and job shadowing. They evaluate factors like required education, salary, work-life balance, and potential for growth.

💡 What habits and skills are essential for success in different types of jobs

Students identify and evaluate workplace habits (e.g., time management, communication, accountability) and job-specific skills that are necessary for succeeding in a variety of career fields.

Activities are health education learning engagements that help students explore, interact with, and build deeper understanding of occupational health and career exploration. Each learning activity is designed to support a skills-based health approach and provide meaningful opportunities for students to explore the functional knowledge and practice the health skills.

These activities encourage students to think critically about careers, assess real-world job factors, and connect their personal development to future workplace success.

🔎 Career Scenario Review with the B.E.S.T. Model 

Students analyze workplace scenarios (e.g., a nurse working night shifts, a freelance artist juggling clients) and identify how each job impacts the four elements of the B.E.S.T. Model: Body, Environment, Self (emotions, identity, and mental health), and Social Ties. This activity promotes a holistic understanding of how careers affect overall well-being.

→ Connects to: How jobs impact well-being across all dimensions of health

🔎 Career Interviews

Students interview someone currently working in a career of interest. They prepare questions about daily responsibilities, challenges, required skills, and how the job affects their well-being. Students present their takeaways to the class or write a reflection.

→ Connects to: How to research a career using multiple sources

🔎 Job Description Detection: Skills & Habits Analysis

Students read real job postings or descriptions and highlight the required skills, habits, and attitudes (e.g., collaboration, punctuality, leadership). Then, they reflect on how they are currently developing those skills through school, extracurriculars, or part-time jobs.

→ Connects to: What habits and skills are essential for success in different types of jobs

This occupational health project-based learning assessment is designed to measure both what high school students understand and how well they can apply their functional health knowledge and health skills in meaningful, real-world ways. This health assessment idea aligns with the SHAPE America National Health Education Standards and offers students a practical, hands-on learning experience. By actively using health skills to navigate realistic scenarios, students demonstrate their ability to think critically, make informed decisions, and take ownership of their well-being.

📚 Comprehensive Career Research Project

Students explore a career of interest and showcase what they’ve learned through research, reflection, and analysis.

Interview a professional and research job responsibilities, education, and growth potential

Analyze how the job impacts all areas of well-being (using the B.E.S.T. Model or dimensions of health)

Identify key job-related skills and habits, and reflect on how they’re building them in real life

Host a class career fair where each student presents findings