As 'health' climbs academic, policy, commercial, non-profit and societal agendas, it has become increasingly subject to scrutiny by geographers. Yet, while health geographers may explore the discursive production, operationalization, deployment and management of health; the role of pedagogical practices has been repeatedly overlooked despite the clear intersections between the discipline's ongoing debate over its criticality and critical pedagogical aspirations. This paper explores this omission and its significance for teaching health geography by drawing upon the example and experience of two exercises undertaken with Masters students in a new health geography module-concept mapping and a simple definition exercise.