Lessons to help youths ages 14-18 build and maintain healthy romantic relationships are among a virtual curriculum for Wyoming teachers developed through the University of Wyoming Wallop Civic Engagement Program.
Alyssa McElwain, an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, created the 10 lessons about healthy relationships, said Jean Garrison, co-director of the Wallop Civic Engagement K-12 Curriculum Project.
The lessons are part of the virtual health content library launched Monday, April 26, by the project.
McElwain is a faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“As the recipient of the 2020-21 Wallop Faculty Engagement Fellowship, Alyssa put together this important set of lessons about healthy relationships that are available for school counselors and afterschool programs, as well as accessible to students directly, across the whole state,” said Garrison.
Lessons include discussions of personal identity, healthy relationship principles, communication skills, decision making, warning signs of abuse, and breaking up provide teens with key knowledge and skills for their current and future relationships, said Garrison.
The virtual health content library caters to topics linked to Wyoming’s health education content and performance standards. The virtual catalog resources include short video presentations and accompanying teacher resource guides and handouts, as well as offering teachers to option to schedule an “Ask Me Anything” session with the expert presenters to explore topics further, said Garrison.
The series of brief modules is hosted on UW’s WyoLearn platform. Each module takes 15-40 minutes.
Barb Rasco, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said the skills McElwain is providing through the program will help young people immensely as they enter adulthood.
“I am very excited that Alyssa is going to be able to reach a greater number of high school youth with strategies on managing relationships,” said Rasco.
McElwain is director of the Relationship Education and Leadership project, which provides peer-taught relationship education on campus through the Relationship Smarts classes.
McElwain is a certified family life educator who focuses on relationship education in adolescent and adult populations. The leadership project provides peer-taught relationship education on campus through the Relationship Smarts classes.
“Developing skills for healthy relationships is so critical for youths, especially as they navigate new types of relationships and changes to others,” said Christine Wade, head of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences. “Alyssa’s expertise in creating and delivering programming to support that development can now benefit our communities.”
More virtual health library content will be added over the coming months at www.uwyo.edu/wyolearn/ and click on “Malcom Wallop Civic Engagement Project” or go to https://civic.catalog.instructure.com/. Click on the “Wallop K-12 Curriculum Project-Health Education” course. A WyoLearn step-by-step guide is available at http://bit.ly/wyolearn-enroll.
The Wallop Civic Engagement Program K-12 Curriculum Project represents a collaboration among UW’s College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Politics, Public Affairs and International Studies, the Trustees Education Initiative (College of Education), and the Office of Engagement and Outreach. Support is also from The Tucker Foundation, Rocky Mountain Power Foundation, the Arts and Sciences/American Heritage Center Wallop Conversations on Democracy Fund and donor support.
