This lesson plan is designed to stimulate awareness and reflection on personal attitudes toward gender expression and sexual orientation. Participants are guided to identify and analyze how external influences from various socialization agents shape gender and sexual orientation norms and, consequently, personal attitudes about gender expression…

Why might intelligent, assertive females overlook sweet, caring guys, choosing instead to date males whose traditional masculinity makes them popular with other powerful males but who treat females and "weaker" males poorly? This lesson provides a structure for, reflection on, and critique of contemporary gender stereotypes. Students…

Dialogue journaling is a technique that is useful for enhancing the goals of sexual health promotion and HIV/STI prevention programs with 14-to 17-year-old at-risk youth. Included is a detailed lesson plan on how to implement dialogue journaling in this context, a discussion of advantages and concerns about using them, and future implications for…

Many public health students receive little, if any, formal training in communicating health information to the public. Public health practitioners, however, are regularly asked to use communication strategies to convey health information. The lesson plan was designed to teach students mass communication strategies in the context of sexual health…

"Who's Responsible?" is an educational experience designed to help participants explore a chain of events that can lead to a teen pregnancy. In this activity, participants read a scenario in which the main character has a boyfriend who would like to have sex with her without using a condom. After attempting to talk about sex and contraception with…

A classroom-based activity was created to help undergraduate students in a course about the HIV epidemic explore and better understand the nature and scope of anti-HIV stigma. The activity asks students to assess the extent of their sympathy for several people living with HIV disease when given only a brief statement about how each person became…

Issues regarding sexuality are often little discussed in high schools serving students from religiously conservative backgrounds. Frequently, parents and school administrators are uncomfortable with, and reluctant to discuss the topic, and as a result students have inadequate opportunities to engage in discussions about sex and relationships. This…

Larger class sizes are often the solution to the greater enrollments and fewer resources that many colleges and universities face today. These large classes present special challenges to courses that were typically and most effectively taught in small, interactive and open settings. A "Classroom Response System" (CRS), an instructional tool that…

Homophobia and gay-related teasing are already present among young children. This lesson introduces the term "prejudice" and places the concept of homophobia within the context of bullying and teasing with which 8-11 year olds are already familiar. The lesson builds empathy as children think about and discuss how they have felt when they have been…

Although critical to understanding human sexuality and reproductive physiology, the male and female reproductive anatomy is often minimally covered by teachers. For teachers and students alike, it is often an embarrassing topic to discuss. This activity allows students and teachers to identify the parts of both reproductive systems with little…

Today, the media, policy makers, educators, and parents are all talking about abstinence. Unfortunately, these groups often do not define the term or assume a singular, limited definition. However, each group and possibly each individual have a different definition of the word. In this environment of confusion and miscommunication, it is essential…