Sex Education & Abstinence Education: The Impact of Group Learning

In classroom settings across the United States, teenagers are provided sex education that incorporates family planning information as well as information on abstinence. For many teenagers, the discussion of sex and sexuality can, oftentimes, be quite tedious, especially when in a group setting.

For the educators who provide sex education to teenagers, it is important that proper education be provided and that certification be obtained. With proper education, teachers can provide information, within a group settings, in a more productive and efficient manner.

Group learning is a key focus of sex education training for teachers. While group learning is a part of most subjects taught in school, in the sex education classes it can pose a unique set of challenges and benefits. While not all subject matter within sex education can be best taught with group learning, there are some aspects of sex education that do show effective learning and results when classrooms and students are divided into groups for discussion and activity.

As a parent, or a teacher, who is responsible for engaging a teenager in discussions about sex education, it is important to understand not only the curriculum to be taught but also the best method by which to teach that curriculum. In some topics, group learning may be appropriate and effective as it allow students to discuss specific sex education topics, as designated by the teacher, often simplifying matter into the current lingo of the adolescent population.

In other topics of sex education, group learning may not prove effective as it may stir controversy or alienation within a group, resulting in a breakdown in communication and learning. Even in cooperative learning environments, one that involves projects in which each group member is responsible for a piece of the task, sex education may be one topic in which cooperative learning can be complex.