Certificate in Health and Human Development
Certificate in Health and Human Development
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, K-12 teachers and school administrators spend an average of 180 days with their students each year. Regardless of the learning environment, online, in person, or a hybrid environment, children are coming to school to learn the required curriculum. They are also developing the skills to build trusting relationships, make connections with their peers, discern between healthy and unhealthy choices, and navigate childhood and adolescence. These students look to their teachers, school counselor, principal, and school nurse for the best way to guide their decisions and choices, and it is up to us to make sure we are prepared to meet their needs, both spoken and unspoken, in the best interest of the student.
For many students, school is also a place where they will receive emotional support, breakfast and lunch, and encouragement to exercise and make healthy choices. When faced with other challenges such as drug exposure, eating disorders, childhood obesity or anxiety, teachers and administrators need to be able to provide support, resources, and knowledge to help their students overcome and avoid these obstacles.
It is essential for K-12 teachers and administrators to understand ongoing health issues, how children grow and develop, how a young brain learns, familial relationships, and other sensitive topics to support the whole child. In doing this, we can establish the type of environment where students can thrive. Now that many students have shifted to a completely online environment and our face-to-face interaction is limited, it is more important than ever to equip ourselves with a toolkit of knowledge that will allow us to mentor and guide our students through the challenges they face.
Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne has created a relevant certificate that will help guide you through many critical health and human development topics to understand what your students are experiencing in their day-to-day lives. Some of the relevant topics covered include how the brain learns, current health topics of the 21st century, food and nutrition, drugs, eating disorders, obesity, anxiety and phobias, emotional resilience, child growth and development, and much more. The certificate, Health and Human Development, will provide you with the necessary content and resources so you can feel confident in your understanding of what your students are experiencing daily.
Benefits of the Certificate in Health and Human Development
The Health and Human Development Certificate, offered by Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne, is a 15-semester credit certificate that can be tailored to any educator or school administrator’s requirements based on the courses they choose to complete within this certificate’s offerings. Experts in their fields of study write the curriculum of each course within this certificate, and the topics are relevant to the unique needs of K-12 teachers and administrators.
By successfully completing the required 15-semester credits, students will experience the flexibility and convenience of independent study courses, combined with relevant content that awards graduate, non-degree semester credit from an accredited university.
All courses offered within the Health and Human Development Certificate are self-paced and completed in either an online or emailed PDF format. Textbooks are included, and they are mailed to the student regardless of the format selected. Like all Certificates offered by Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne, the Health and Human Development Certificate is the university’s acknowledgment of the extra effort you have invested in improving your professional skills to provide support and guidance to your students. Earning a certificate from an accredited institution may also boost your professional career by helping you meet qualifications for promotions, salary advancement, or license renewal/recertification.
*Note, the University of La Verne is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Certificates offered by Professional Development Courses at the University of La Verne are not designed to fulfill any specific district or state requirements. Students are advised to check with their school district or state department before enrolling in a course.
Each 15-semester credit certificate program features an extensive list of current three-credit and one-credit courses. We encourage students to finish as many certificates as they need; however, any given course may only count towards one specific certificate.
Students can enroll in up to 15 credits per semester, or students may enroll in courses one at a time. Once enrolled, students have up to one full year to complete coursework. There is no deadline to meet for obtaining the certificate, which is awarded automatically (and at no extra cost) upon the successful completion of the required 15-semester credits.
Health and Human Development Certificate Course Offerings
Courses part of the 15-semester credit certificate, Health and Human Development, are:
Anxiety and Phobia Awareness for Educators. In this course, you will discover information about various anxiety and phobia disorders, proven skills and techniques for preventing and coping with anxiety disorders, nutrition and lifestyle changes, and other valuable resources. This timely course for educational professionals of all grade levels offers readily-applicable tools in a practical and cohesive format.
Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators and Students. Get ready to reinvigorate your passion for your profession! This course is designed for educators and administrators of every experience level. You will be guided through a series of practical projects and activities to develop emotional resilience through 12 essential habits, adopt a mindful approach to communication, develop tools to make teaching fun and enriching for yourself and your students, and much more.
Drugs: Licit and Illicit. From caffeine to crack, this course will help you identify the most common drugs and their effects. Hazards, addictions, dangerous interactions with other substances, and the impact of recreational drugs are discussed.
Eating Disorders: A Psychological Battlefield. Food and eating have become a psychological battleground for many adolescents. While several eating disorders are covered, this course concentrates on the history, causes, and treatments for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
Understanding Childhood Obesity. By integrating information from scientific and popular sources, this course will help educators understand childhood obesity and the economic, social, and political ramifications of this serious problem.
Student Learning and the Brain. Drawing on neuropsychological research and educational experience, this course builds the bridge from brain function to classroom learning. It provides brain-compatible teaching strategies, shows why meaning is essential for learning, and it explains how the brain encodes, manipulates, and stores information.
Fit for Life. This course teachers the fundamental components and principles of lifetime physical fitness and other health-related issues. Emphasis is placed on fitness and wellness through the study of nutrition, weight control, stress management, fitness assessment, and consumer facts on exercise and fitness.
Food and Nutrition in the 21stCentury. Nutrition, food safety, obesity, healthy diets, and diabetes are all major issues for parents and educators. This course covers many subjects and controversies related to agriculture, sustainability, nutrition and trends, food safety health claims, supplements, and world hunger.
Child Growth and Development: Current Research. This course presents students with the latest research and thinking to better appreciate the complex interactions that characterize human development in infancy and childhood. It includes information regarding brain development, perception, memory, language, schooling, the latest research in social and emotional development, and topics on parenting and family issues.
Health Issues in the 21st Century. Today's educators are responsible for providing students with the most current and reliable health information available and teaching them the skills to determine which information is fact and fiction. This course offers the latest thinking on various contemporary health issues, from promoting nutritional health to the medical effects of exercise.
Human Development: Current Research. This course addresses issues relating to the physical, cognitive, and psychological changes we encounter as we pass through life, from genetic and prenatal influences on development to development during middle and late adulthood. Topics covered include cognition, schooling, family and culture, adolescence and young adulthood, depression, surviving illness, and healthy aging.
Dying, Death & Bereavement: End of Life Issues. This course addresses the paradoxical relationship between our own death and the deaths of others by providing an understanding of issues related to the end of life, death at different age levels, the process of dying, suicide, animals and death, death rituals and funerals, and bereavement.
The Family Defined and Explored: Current Research. This course includes scientific discoveries and research-oriented material, examining the beginnings of relationships, establishing relationships, marriage, parent-child, sibling, intergenerational relationships, family strengths, emerging trends within families, and the future of the family.
Making Math Meaningful, Maybe Marvelous! This course introduces well-researched suggestions for optimizing instruction at all levels, including implications for how students can learn math and how teachers can facilitate learning math.
How the Brain Learns to Read: Decoding, Comprehension, and Motivation. This course integrates research on the teaching of reading from brain science, psychology, education, linguistics, and other fields and suggests best practices from very early childhood through high school. Reading problems, ranging from social and cultural through biological and psychological, are described and followed with ways of overcoming these obstacles.
How to Register
All three-credit and one-credit courses that are part of the Certificate Health and Human Development can be completed online or via an emailed PDF format. They are open to anyone to register at any time during each semester. After completing each course, students receive graduate, non-degree semester credit on an official transcript from the University of La Verne. Once the required 15-semester credits are completed for the certificate, students will receive their Health and Human Development Certificate at no additional cost beyond the course's cost. No application is required as the certificate is automatically mailed to the student's home address.
Registration for classes is fast and straightforward and can be done online or over the phone. Courses are offered on a rolling basis during three semesters, and you can begin whenever you are ready! The registration dates are:
- Fall: September 1 - January 31
- Spring: February 1 - May 31
- Summer: June 1 - August 31
Whether you are teaching in person, online, or a combination of both, you are still making a lasting impression on your students' health and wellbeing. Now is the time to brush up on your knowledge of various health and human development topics to provide the support and help your students need to feel safe, healthy, and confident in their academic and personal lives.