Students at UTMB's School of Public and Population Health (SPPH) recently stepped outside the classroom—literally—to participate in an eye-opening learning exercise that revealed how invisible social factors influence success and opportunity in society.
Experiential Learning Brings Public Health Concepts to Life
Led by Dr. Dana Wiltz-Beckham—Assistant Dean for Professional Programs and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health and Health Disparities—the exercise invited students to stand side-by-side and observe how social factors accumulate throughout life. With each statement, students either stepped forward or back depending on whether the statement applied to them. By the end, some participants stood ahead of others, while some had taken more steps back.
Visualizing Invisible Factors in Population Outcomes
The activity offered a visible demonstration of how background factors, often unseen or unspoken, influence individuals in different ways. "If your family has ever gone without health insurance, take one step back," Dr. Wiltz-Beckham read aloud. "If you studied the history or culture of your ancestors in school, take one step forward."
Through this process, students engaged directly with a concept that's central to many public health challenges: how varying life experiences can contribute to differences in access, opportunity, and wellbeing. The goal was not to debate policies or labels—but to foster personal insight and professional awareness, using thoughtful, carefully worded prompts designed for open reflection.
Preparing Future Public Health Leaders Through Innovative Teaching Methods
Dr. Wiltz-Beckham brings three decades of experience to her work as a public health practitioner and academic leader. Her passion for mentoring and commitment to hands-on learning are core to her approach: "Helping students prepare for the real-world demands of public health practice means creating opportunities for them to think critically, connect meaningfully, and grow as future leaders."
For students at SPPH, interactive experiences like this make public health concepts tangible—not just through textbooks and lectures, but through practice, reflection, and engagement with the world around them.
This approach prepares graduates to develop interventions that respond effectively to the varied circumstances they will encounter in their professional practice across Texas's distinct communities and throughout other regions they may serve.
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