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Course Description — Grades 6-8

This is the Grades 6-8 section of the Health Education intelligent textbook. It is one of 8 parallel grade-band sections (see the site-wide Course Description); each band has its own concept list, learning graph, chapters, quizzes, MicroSims, and infographics at a matching reading level. Source: 2025 Minnesota K-12 Health Academic Standards, Commissioner Approved (see references.md). Benchmark codes below (e.g. 6.1.1.1) are <grade band>.<strand>.<anchor>.<seq>. This is the first band graded as a span rather than a single grade — benchmarks apply across all three grades (6, 7, 8) rather than being individually leveled.

Reading Level & Cognitive Demand

Middle school. This band introduces two entirely new elements not present in K-5:

  • Sexual Health is added to the Human Growth and Development strand (now "Human Growth and Development and Sexual Health").
  • Substance Use Awareness and Prevention appears for the first time as its own strand (not taught below grade 6). Per state requirements, cannabis/substance-use prevention curriculum is required starting the 2026-2027 school year at this band.

Cognitive demand shifts to analyze, evaluate, and design — e.g., analyzing dietary guidelines across cultures, evaluating warning signs for suicide/self-harm risk and knowing when to seek help. Note also that Appendix A of the source standards lists statewide-mandated topics that land substantially in this band: vaping awareness/prevention, cannabis/fentanyl and other substance use, and STI/HIV/HPV prevention (see references.md).

Audience

Grade 6-8 students (age ~11-14) and their teachers.

Prerequisites

Grade 5 benchmarks across Food and Nutrition, Human Growth and Development, Mental and Emotional Health, Personal Health and Wellness, and Personal Safety and Violence Prevention. Substance Use Awareness and Prevention has no K-5 prerequisite — it begins at this band.

Bridging Concepts for Students New to This Band

A student entering directly at Grade 6-8 without the K-5 sections should be briefly introduced to these ideas first, since this band assumes them without re-teaching:

  • Reading and comparing nutrition labels; the health effects of sugary, salty, and caffeinated foods/drinks.
  • Family and peer relationships can be healthy or unhealthy; consent and coercion are different things; personal boundaries can be set and communicated.
  • Emotions influence behavior, mental health can be discussed openly, and trusted adults or professionals can help with a mental or emotional health concern — including a concern about suicide or self-harm.
  • Bullying, exclusion, and bias harm mental health and belonging; bystander actions can prevent or reduce violence.
  • Basic disease prevention (hygiene, safe food/water) and the components of physical fitness.
  • Refusal skills, boundary-setting, and recognizing warning signs of unsafe situations, both in person and online/via technology.
  • Goal-setting with a plan, resources, and known barriers, tracked and reflected on over time.

Because this band introduces Sexual Health and Substance Use for the first time, no prior-band bridging is possible for those two areas — they should be treated as genuinely new content for every student regardless of prior band completion.

Topics

Food and Nutrition

  • Analyzing dietary guidelines that meet the needs of various cultures and communities (6.1.1.1)
  • Analyzing food labels and marketing claims to make informed dietary decisions (6.1.1.2)
  • Analyzing how water, sugary drinks, and caffeinated/energy drinks affect the body (6.1.1.3)
  • Planning/designing meals and snacks using nutrition facts; how sugary/salty foods affect energy and health (6.1.1.4)
  • How cultural traditions, community efforts, and food-sovereignty initiatives increase access to healthy food (6.1.1.5)

Human Growth and Development and Sexual Health

  • Describing relationship structures and how they vary across individuals and cultures (6.2.1.1)
  • Characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships across family, peer, and romantic contexts (6.2.1.2)
  • Analyzing when/how to seek help from family, knowledge keepers, or healthcare providers about relationships, development, or personal health (6.2.1.3)
  • How adolescents can access comprehensive health care (6.2.1.4)
  • How STIs (including HIV) are transmitted, common signs/symptoms, and which can be treated or cured; protecting against STIs and unintended pregnancy (6.2.1.5)
  • How access to healthcare information/services varies across communities and cultures, and strategies to reduce barriers (6.2.1.6)
  • Setting personal boundaries to support healthy relationships and decision-making, drawing on cultural values of respect, responsibility, and balance (6.2.1.7)

Mental and Emotional Health

  • Warning signs a person may be at risk for suicide, self-harm, or harming others, and when to seek help (6.3.1.1)
  • Personal stressors at home, school, and with friends; strategies and restorative practices to balance them (6.3.1.2)
  • Warning signs of emotional distress or mental health challenges in self or others; strategies/supports, including cultural practices and trusted adults (6.3.1.3)
  • How empathy and communication support healthy relationships and nonviolent conflict resolution (6.3.1.4)
  • Managing emotions with strategies effective in different situations, including Indigenous/traditional healing approaches (6.3.1.5)
  • Unfair treatment; how exclusion, bullying, and bias affect mental health (6.3.1.6)
  • How positive media representations of mental health reduce stigma and encourage connection (6.3.1.7)
  • Keeping the brain healthy; what Alzheimer's disease and other dementias are (6.3.1.8)

Personal Health and Wellness

  • How cultural traditions, community practices, and social conditions influence sleep patterns (6.4.1.1)
  • Designing a workout plan (moderate, vigorous, muscle-strengthening, bone-strengthening activities) and explaining each activity's purpose (6.4.1.2)
  • Using emergency medications and demonstrating the Heimlich maneuver across ages/scenarios (6.4.1.3)
  • Recognizing emergencies and assessing scene safety and priority response needs (6.4.1.4)
  • How infectious diseases spread (air, food, water, contact); prevention strategies including hygiene, food/water safety, and PPE (6.4.1.5)

Personal Safety and Violence Prevention

  • How sending/sharing/viewing harmful or explicit content affects behavior, relationships, and values, and its legal/community/social consequences (6.5.1.1)
  • How power dynamics, peer pressure, and digital communication affect relationships; strategies for setting boundaries and seeking support (6.5.1.2)
  • How individual/collective actions contribute to school safety: recognizing threats, reporting concerns, practicing emergency responses (6.5.1.3)
  • The role of consent, communication, and cultural practices in healthy relationships; responding to coercion (6.5.1.4)

Substance Use Awareness and Prevention (new strand, 6-8 only onward)

  • Consequences of misusing over-the-counter medications, prescription medications, alcohol, and illegal substances (6.6.1.1)
  • How alcohol, commercial tobacco, nicotine, cannabis, and illegal drugs impact the developing body/brain; cultural teachings that protect youth (6.6.1.2)
  • How commercial tobacco addiction differs from traditional tobacco/plant medicine use across cultures, including Indigenous peoples (6.6.1.3)
  • Reading, storing, and disposing of medications safely; traditional plant medicine practices (6.6.1.4)
  • Why substance use is unhealthy; benefits of being substance-free; healthy stress management including cultural/community/nature connection (6.6.1.5)
  • How substance use increases health/safety risks: injury, violence, self-harm, and harm to sexual health (6.6.1.6)
  • Signs of a substance use disorder and relapse; situations calling for treatment; community/cultural supports in healing (6.6.1.7)
  • Risks of alcohol/drugs when driving or riding with an impaired driver; related community laws (6.6.1.8)
  • How the alcohol/tobacco/substance industries use advertising to influence choices, and how this contributes to health disparities (6.6.1.9)

Skill Standards

  • Analyzing how social norms, school/community expectations, personal values, and public health policy influence practices (6.7.2.1)
  • Analyzing how family, culture, school, peers, media, and advertising influence practices and behaviors (6.7.2.2)
  • Applying strategies/resources to identify influences on health practices (6.7.2.3)
  • Accessing valid/reliable sources of health information, products, and services (6.7.3.1)
  • Describing situations needing support from trusted adults or health professionals (6.7.3.2)
  • Locating and analyzing the validity of health information/products/ services (6.7.3.3)
  • Demonstrating verbal/nonverbal communication across communication types (6.7.4.1)
  • Demonstrating conflict-resolution skills (6.7.4.2)
  • Demonstrating self-advocacy skills/strategies (6.7.4.3)
  • Demonstrating refusal skills and communicating boundaries/consent (6.7.4.4)
  • Analyzing/evaluating a thoughtful decision-making process and its consequences (6.7.5.1)
  • Identifying supports/barriers (family, culture, technology, media, peers, beliefs) affecting health decisions (6.7.5.2)
  • Assessing personal health behaviors to identify goal-setting focus areas (6.7.6.1)
  • Analyzing when individual, supported, or collaborative goal setting is appropriate (6.7.6.2)
  • Constructing a plan addressing supports/barriers to a health goal, and evaluating the process/outcomes (6.7.6.3)
  • Analyzing supports, practices, and barriers to health/wellbeing (6.7.7.1)
  • Analyzing the importance of taking ownership of health behaviors (6.7.7.2)
  • Identifying/researching relevant health topics to promote health, safety, and wellbeing (6.7.8.1)
  • Designing/delivering a fact-supported health message for varied audiences (6.7.8.2)
  • Reflecting on the effectiveness of efforts to promote health, safety, and wellbeing (6.7.8.3)

Key Vocabulary

dietary guideline, food sovereignty, relationship structure, consent, STI/HIV, comprehensive health care, healthcare barrier, suicide/self-harm warning sign, restorative practice, stigma, dementia, workout plan, Heimlich maneuver, scene safety, infectious disease, PPE, coercion, school safety, substance use disorder, relapse, impaired driving, advertising influence, self-advocacy, refusal skill, decision-making process, goal plan, health message

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes below are grouped by Bloom's Taxonomy level and traced to their source benchmark codes. Grade 6-8 is heavily weighted toward Understand and Analyze — the standards repeatedly use "apply skill cues to analyze" language at this band.

1. Remember

By the end of Grade 8, the student will be able to:

  1. Identify warning signs that a person may be at risk for suicide, self-harm, or harming others, and know when to seek help (6.3.1.1).
  2. Identify how STIs, including HIV, are transmitted and their common signs and symptoms (6.2.1.5).
  3. Identify common signs of a substance use disorder and relapse (6.6.1.7).

2. Understand

  1. Describe how cultural traditions, community efforts, and food sovereignty initiatives increase access to healthy food (6.1.1.5).
  2. Describe relationship structures and how they vary across individuals and cultures (6.2.1.1).
  3. Describe characteristics of healthy and unhealthy relationships across family, peer, and romantic relationships (6.2.1.2).
  4. Describe how adolescents can access comprehensive health care (6.2.1.4).
  5. Explain ways to help protect against STIs and unintended pregnancy (6.2.1.5).
  6. Explain how access to healthcare information/services varies across communities and cultures, and identify strategies to reduce barriers (6.2.1.6).
  7. Explain the importance of setting personal boundaries to support healthy relationships and decision-making (6.2.1.7).
  8. Describe examples of unfair treatment and how exclusion, bullying, and bias affect people's mental health (6.3.1.6).
  9. Describe ways to keep the brain healthy, and explain what Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are (6.3.1.8).
  10. Explain how infectious diseases spread and describe prevention strategies, including hygiene and food/water safety (6.4.1.5).
  11. Explain how sending, sharing, or viewing harmful or explicit content affects behavior, relationships, and values, and its potential legal, community, or social consequences (6.5.1.1).
  12. Explain the potential consequences of misusing OTC medications, prescription medications, alcohol, and illegal substances (6.6.1.1).
  13. Describe how alcohol, commercial tobacco, nicotine, cannabis, and illegal drugs impact the developing body and brain (6.6.1.2).
  14. Explain how commercial tobacco addiction differs from traditional tobacco/plant medicine use across cultures (6.6.1.3).
  15. Describe how to read, interpret, store, and dispose of medications safely (6.6.1.4).
  16. Explain why using substances is unhealthy and summarize the benefits of being substance-free (6.6.1.5).
  17. Explain how substance use increases health and safety risks, including injury, violence, and self-harm (6.6.1.6).
  18. Describe situations that call for appropriate substance-use treatment (6.6.1.7).
  19. Explain the risks of alcohol or other drugs when driving or riding with an impaired driver (6.6.1.8).
  20. Explain how the alcohol, tobacco, and other substance industries use advertising to influence choices and contribute to health disparities (6.6.1.9).
  21. Describe situations that may require support from trusted adults, other individuals, and health professionals (6.7.3.2).

3. Apply

  1. Understand how to use emergency medications and demonstrate the Heimlich maneuver across ages and scenarios (6.4.1.3).
  2. Recognize emergencies and accurately assess scene safety and priority response needs (6.4.1.4).
  3. Apply strategies and resources to identify influences that impact health practices and behaviors (6.7.2.3).
  4. Access valid and reliable sources of health information, products, and services (6.7.3.1).
  5. Demonstrate verbal and nonverbal communication skills across various types of communication (6.7.4.1).
  6. Demonstrate conflict-resolution skills to prevent, manage, or resolve conflict (6.7.4.2).
  7. Demonstrate self-advocacy skills and strategies in health-related situations (6.7.4.3).
  8. Demonstrate refusal skills and ways to communicate boundaries and consent (6.7.4.4).
  9. Identify and research relevant health topics to promote health, safety, and wellbeing (6.7.8.1).

4. Analyze

  1. Analyze dietary guidelines that meet the needs of various cultures and communities (6.1.1.1).
  2. Analyze food labels and marketing claims to make informed dietary decisions (6.1.1.2).
  3. Analyze how water, sugary drinks, and caffeinated/energy drinks affect the body (6.1.1.3).
  4. Analyze when and how to seek help from family, knowledge keepers, or healthcare providers about relationships, development, or personal health (6.2.1.3).
  5. Identify personal stressors and examine strategies/restorative practices to balance them (6.3.1.2).
  6. Analyze warning signs of emotional distress or mental health challenges in self or others (6.3.1.3).
  7. Analyze how empathy and communication support healthy relationships and nonviolent conflict resolution (6.3.1.4).
  8. Examine ways to manage emotions and identify which strategies are most effective in different situations (6.3.1.5).
  9. Analyze how positive media representations of mental health reduce stigma and encourage connection (6.3.1.7).
  10. Analyze how cultural traditions, community practices, and social conditions influence sleep patterns (6.4.1.1).
  11. Analyze how power dynamics, peer pressure, and digital communication affect relationships (6.5.1.2).
  12. Analyze how individual and collective actions contribute to school safety (6.5.1.3).
  13. Analyze the role of consent, communication, and cultural practices in healthy relationships (6.5.1.4).
  14. Analyze how social norms, school/community expectations, values, and public health policy influence practices (6.7.2.1).
  15. Analyze how family, culture, school, community, peers, and media influence health practices and behaviors (6.7.2.2).
  16. Locate and analyze the validity of health information, products, and services (6.7.3.3).
  17. Identify supports and barriers that affect health-related decisions (6.7.5.2).
  18. Assess personal health behaviors to identify focus areas for setting health goals (6.7.6.1).
  19. Analyze when individual, supported, or collaborative goal setting is appropriate (6.7.6.2).
  20. Analyze supports, practices, and barriers to health and wellbeing (6.7.7.1).
  21. Analyze the importance of taking ownership of health behaviors (6.7.7.2).

5. Evaluate

  1. Analyze and evaluate when and how to use a thoughtful decision-making process for health-related situations, considering consequences (6.7.5.1).
  2. Reflect on the effectiveness of efforts to promote health, safety, and wellbeing (6.7.8.3).

6. Create

  1. Plan and design meals and snacks using nutrition facts (6.1.1.4).
  2. Design a workout plan that includes moderate, vigorous, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening activities, and explain the purpose of each (6.4.1.2).
  3. Develop strategies to respond to coercion and promote safe, equitable interactions (6.5.1.4).
  4. Construct a plan that addresses supports and barriers to achieving a health-related goal (6.7.6.3).
  5. Design and deliver a health-enhancing position or message about an issue that is supported by facts, for a variety of audiences (6.7.8.2).