It is assumed that all children can achieve a health-enhancing level of fitness through regular engagement in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity.
Randomized controlled studies on the impact of a science-based fitness curriculum in 15 elementary schools showed that, although the curriculum allocated substantial lesson time to learning cognitive knowledge, the students were more motivated to engage in physical activities than students in the 15 control schools experiencing traditional physical education Chen et al.
Longitudinal data from the study reveal continued knowledge growth in the children that strengthened their understanding of the science behind exercise and active living Sun et al. What is unclear, however, is whether the enthusiasm and knowledge gained through the curriculum will translate into the children's lives outside of physical education to help them become physically active at home.
It is suggested that through this proposed comprehensive framework, fitness education be incorporated into the existing physical education curriculum and embedded in the content taught in all instructional units. Technique: Demonstrate competency in techniques needed to perform a variety of moderate to vigorous physical activities. Technique in developing cardiovascular fitness. Accordingly, fitness education in school physical education programs is being enhanced through the incorporation of active video games, also known as exergaming.
These active games have been incorporated into school wellness centers as high-tech methods of increasing student fitness levels to supplement the traditional modes for attaining vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity Greenberg and Stokes, Mean metabolic equivalent MET values for each game were comparable to or higher than those measured for walking on a treadmill at 3 miles per hour. Graf and colleagues , studying boys and girls aged , found that both Wii boxing and DDR level 2 elicited energy expenditure, heart rate, perceived exertion, and ventilatory responses that were comparable to or greater than those elicited by moderate-intensity walking on a treadmill.
Similar results were found by Lanningham-Foster and colleagues among 22 children aged and adults in that energy expenditure for both groups increased significantly when playing Wii over that expended during all sedentary activities. Staiano and colleagues explored factors that motivated overweight and obese African American high school students to play Wii during school-based physical activity opportunities.
They found greater and more sustained energy expenditure over time and noted that players' various intrinsic motivations to play also influenced their level of energy expenditure.
Mellecker and McManus determined that energy expenditure and heart rate were greater during times of active play than in seated play. Fawkner and colleagues studied 20 high school—age girls and found that dance simulation games provided an opportunity for most subjects to achieve a moderate-intensity level of physical activity. The authors conclude that regular use of the games aids in promoting health through physical activity.
Haddock and colleagues conducted ergometer tests with children aged and found increased oxygen consumption and energy expenditure above baseline determinations. Maddison and colleagues , studying children aged , found that active video game playing led to significant increases in energy expenditure, heart rate, and activity counts in comparison with baseline values.
They conclude that playing these games for short time periods is comparable to light- to moderate-intensity conventional modes of exercise, including walking, skipping, and jogging.
Mhurchu and colleagues also conclude that a short-term intervention involving active video games is likely to be an effective means of increasing children's overall level of physical activity.
Additionally, Sit and colleagues , studying the effects of active gaming among year-old children in Hong Kong, found the children to be significantly more physically active while playing interactive games compared with screen-based games. Exergaming appears to increase acute physical activity among users and is being used in school settings because it is appealing to students.
Despite active research in the area of exergaming and physical activity, however, exergaming's utility for increasing acute and habitual physical activity specifically in the physical education setting has yet to be confirmed. Further, results of studies conducted in nonlaboratory and nonschool settings have been mixed Baranowski et al. Moreover, any physical activity changes that do occur may not be sufficient to stimulate physiologic changes.
For example, White and colleagues examined the effects of Nintendo Wii on physiologic changes. Although energy expenditure was raised above resting values during active gaming, the rise was not significant enough to qualify as part of the daily 60 minutes or more of vigorous-or moderate-intensity exercise recommended for children.
While collecting data on the effects of Nintendo Wii on year-olds in New Zealand, White and colleagues found that active video games generated higher energy expenditure than both resting and inactive screen watching. Therefore, it may be helpful in reducing the amount of sedentary behavior, but it should not be used as a replacement for more conventional modes of physical activity.
Sun found that active gaming can increase student motivation to engage in physical activity, but the motivation may decrease as a result of prolonged exposure to the same games. This study also found that exergaming lessons provided less physical activity for children than regular conventional physical education. For inactive children, however, the exergaming environment is conducive to more active participation in the game-based physical activities than in conventional physical education Fogel et al.
Finally, Sheehan and Katz found that among school-age children the use of active gaming added to postural stability, an important component of motor skills development.
From the research cited above, as well as ongoing research being conducted by the Health Games Research Project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, active gaming is promising as a means of providing young children an opportunity to become more physically active and helping them meet the recommended 60 or more minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per day. Different types of games may influence energy expenditure differentially, and some may serve solely as motivation.
Selected games also appear to hold greater promise for increasing energy expenditure, while others invite youth to be physically active through motivational engagement. The dynamic and evolving field of active gaming is a promising area for future research as more opportunities arise to become physically active throughout the school environment.
While several evidence-based physical education programs—such as the Coordinated Approach to Child Health CATCH and Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids SPARK —are being implemented in schools, many innovative programs also have been implemented nationwide that are motivating and contribute to skills attainment while engaging youth in activities that are fun and fitness oriented. These programs include water sports, involving sailing, kayaking, swimming, canoeing, and paddle boarding; adventure activities such as Project Adventure; winter sports, such as snow skiing and snowshoeing; and extreme sports, such as in-line skating, skateboarding, and cycling.
Instructional opportunities vary within and among school levels as a result of discrepancies in state policy mandates. Although the time to be devoted to physical education e.
With respect to content, in both elementary and secondary schools, physical activity is an assumed rather than an intended outcome except in the fitness education model. The goals of skill development and knowledge growth in physical education presumably are accomplished through participation in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity. Data are lacking, however, to support the claim that physical activity offered to further the attainment of skills and knowledge is of vigorous or moderate intensity and is of sufficient duration for children to reap health benefits.
Research on physical education, physical activity, and sports opportunities in nontraditional school settings charter schools, home schools, and correctional facilities is extremely limited. Two intervention studies focused on charter schools addressed issues with Mexican American children. In the first Johnston et al. The instructor-led intervention was a structured daily opportunity for the students to learn about nutrition and to engage in structured physical activities.
The results indicate that the children in the instructor-led intervention lost more weight at the end of the intervention than those in the self-help condition.
In the second study Romero, , to year-old Mexican American children from low-income families participated in a 5-week, lesson, hip-hop dance physical activity intervention.
In comparison with data collected prior to the intervention, the children reported greater frequency of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity, lower perceived community barriers to physical activity, and stronger self-efficacy for physical activity. Collectively, the results of these two studies suggest that a structured physical activity intervention can be effective in enhancing and enriching physical activity opportunities for Mexican American adolescents in charter schools.
Research on physical activity among home-schooled children is also limited. The only study found was published in Welk et al. It describes differences in physical fitness, psychosocial correlates of physical activity, and physical activity between home-schooled children and their public school counterparts aged No significant differences were found between the two groups of children on the measures used, but the researchers did note that the home-schooled children tended to be less physically active.
Research on physical education and physical activity in juvenile correction institutions is equally scarce. Munson and colleagues , conducted studies on the use of physical activity programs as a behavior mediation intervention strategy and compared its impact on juvenile delinquents' behavior change with that of other intervention strategies. They found that physical activity did not have a stronger impact than other programs on change in delinquent behavior.
All states except Iowa have adopted state standards for physical education. However, the extent to which students achieve the standards is limited since no accountability is required. An analysis of motor skills competency, strategic knowledge, physical activity, and physical fitness among 4th- and 5th-grade children demonstrated that the physical education standards in force were difficult to attain Erwin and Castelli, Among the study participants, fewer than a half 47 percent were deemed motor competent, 77 percent demonstrated adequate progress in knowledge, only 40 percent were in the Healthy Fitness Zone on all five components of the Fitnessgram fitness assessment, and merely 15 percent engaged in 60 or more minutes of physical activity each day.
Clearly most of the children failed to meet benchmark measures of performance for this developmental stage. This evidence highlights the need for additional physical activity opportunities within and beyond physical education to enhance opportunities for students to achieve the standards. Relationships among these student-learning outcomes were further decomposed in a study of children Castelli and Valley, The authors determined that aerobic fitness and the number of fitness test scores in the Healthy Fitness Zone were the best predictors of daily engagement in physical activity relative to factors of gender, age, body mass index BMI , motor skills competency, and knowledge.
However, in-class engagement in physical activity was best predicted by aerobic fitness and motor skills competence, suggesting that knowledge and skills should not be overlooked in a balanced physical education curriculum intended to promote lifelong physical activity. As an untested area, student assessment in physical education has been conducted on many indicators other than learning outcomes.
As reported in a seminal study Hensley and East, , physical education teachers base learning assessment on participation 96 percent , effort 88 percent , attitude 76 percent , sportsmanship 75 percent , dressing out 72 percent , improvement 68 percent , attendance 58 percent , observation of skills 58 percent , knowledge tests 46 percent , skills tests 45 percent , potential 25 percent , and homework 11 percent. These data, while several years old, show that most learning assessments in physical education fail to target relevant learning objectives such as knowledge, skills, and physical activity behavior.
Fitness assessment in the school environment can serve multiple purposes. On the one hand, it can provide both teacher and student with information about the student's current fitness level relative to a criterion-referenced standard, yield valid information that can serve as the basis for developing a personal fitness or exercise program based on current fitness levels, motivate students to do better to achieve a minimum standard of health-related fitness where deficiencies exist, and possibly assist in the identification of potential future health problems.
On the other hand, an overall analysis of student fitness assessments provides valuable data that can enable teachers to assess learner outcomes in the physical education curriculum and assess the present curriculum to determine whether it includes sufficient fitness education to allow students to make fitness gains throughout the school year. Fitness assessment also provides a unique opportunity for schools to track data on students longitudinally.
The ultimate goal of assessing student fitness in the school environment should be to educate students on the importance of maintaining a physically active lifestyle throughout the life span. When administering fitness assessments in the school setting, caution is essential to ensure confidentiality of the results. When fitness assessment becomes part of a quality physical education program, teaching and learning strategies will guide all students to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to maintain and improve their personal health-related fitness as part of their commitment to lifelong healthy lifestyles.
For example, the development of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program with the use of a criterion-referenced platform provides students with the educational benefits of fitness assessment knowledge see Box The emergence of one national fitness assessment, Fitnessgram, along with professional development and recognition protocols, further supports fitness education in the school environment.
Presidential Youth Fitness Program. The Presidential Youth Fitness Program, launched in September , is a comprehensive program that provides training and resources to schools for assessing, tracking, and recognizing youth fitness. The program promotes more Online physical education is a growing trend.
Fully 59 percent of states allow required physical education credits to be earned through online courses. Only just over half of these states require that the online courses be taught by state-certified physical education teachers.
Daum and Buschner report that, in general, online physical education focuses more on cognitive knowledge than physical skill or physical activity, many online courses fail to meet national standards for learning and physical activity guidelines, and teachers are not concerned about students' accountability for learning.
Although online courses differ from traditional in-school physical education courses in the delivery of instruction, the standards and benchmarks for these courses must mirror those adopted by each individual state, especially when the course is taken to meet high school graduation requirements.
NASPE a , p. Online physical education can be tailored to each student's needs, and it helps students learn how to exercise independently. The physical education policy of one online school, the Florida Virtual School, is presented in Box Sections This document satisfies more Online physical education provides another option for helping students meet the standards for physical education if they lack room in their schedule for face-to-face classes, need to make up credit, or are just looking for an alternative to the traditional physical education class.
On the other hand, online courses may not be a successful mode of instruction for students with poor time management or technology skills. According to Daum and Buschner , online learning is changing the education landscape despite the limited empirical research and conflicting results on its effectiveness in producing student learning.
Through a survey involving 45 online high school physical education teachers, the authors found that almost three-fourths of the courses they taught failed to meet the national guideline for secondary schools of minutes of physical education per week.
Most of the courses required physical activity 3 days per week, while six courses required no physical activity. The teachers expressed support, hesitation, and even opposition toward online physical education. Lesson scheduling is commonly at the discretion of school principals in the United States.
The amount of time dedicated to each subject is often mandated by federal or state statutes. Local education agencies or school districts have latitude to make local decisions that go beyond these federal or state mandates.
Often the way courses are scheduled to fill the school day is determined by the managerial skills of the administrator making the decisions or is based on a computer program that generates individual teacher schedules. Successful curriculum change requires supportive scheduling see Kramer and Keller, , for an example of curriculum reform in mathematics.
More research is needed on the effects of scheduling of physical education. In one such attempt designed to examine the impact of content and lesson length on calorie expenditure in middle school physical education, Chen and colleagues found that a lesson lasting minutes with sport skills or fitness exercises as the major content would enable middle school students to expend more calories than either shorter 30—40 minutes or longer 65—90 minutes lessons.
The evidence from such research can be used to guide allocation of the recommended weekly amount of physical education minutes for elementary schools, minutes for secondary schools to achieve optimal health benefits for youth. Additional discussion of scheduling is provided later in this chapter in the section on solutions for overcoming the barriers to quality physical education.
As discussed in Chapter 3 , there is a direct correlation between regular participation in physical activity and health in school-age children, suggesting that physical activity provides important benefits directly to the individual child HHS, Physical activity during a school day may also be associated with academic benefits Chapter 4 and children's social and emotional well-being HHS, ; Chapter 3.
Physical education, along with other opportunities for physical activity in the school environment discussed in Chapter 6 , is important for optimal health and development in school-age children.
It may also serve as a preventive measure for adult conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. Little has been learned about the short- and long-term effectiveness of physical education in addressing public health issues Pate et al. Because the learning objectives of physical education have not included improvement in health status as a direct measure, indirect measures and correlates have been used as surrogates.
However, some promising research, such as that conducted by Morgan and colleagues , has demonstrated that students are more physically active on days when they participate in physical education classes.
Further, there is no evidence of a compensatory effect such that children having been active during physical education elect not to participate in additional physical activity on that day. Accordingly, quality physical education contributes to a child's daily accumulation of physical activity and is of particular importance for children who are overweight or who lack access to these opportunities in the home environment NASPE, Unlike other physical activity in school e.
It also is currently the only time and place for all children to engage in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity safely because of the structured and specialist-supervised instructional environment. It is expected that children will use the skills and knowledge learned in physical education in other physical activity opportunities in school, such as active recess, active transportation, and intramural sports.
For these reasons, physical education programming has been identified as the foundation on which multicomponent or coordinated approaches incorporating other physical activity opportunities can be designed and promoted. Coordinated approaches in one form or another have existed since the early s, but it was not until the 21st century that physical education was acknowledged as the foundation for these approaches.
As discussed in Chapter 3 , research on motor skills development has provided evidence linking physical skill proficiency levels to participation in physical activity and fitness Stodden et al. Exercise psychology research also has identified children's perceived skill competence as a correlate of their motivation for participation in physical activity Sallis et al.
When school-based multicomponent interventions include physical activities experienced in physical education that are enjoyable and developmentally appropriate, such coordinated efforts are plausible and likely to be effective in producing health benefits Corbin, The importance of physical education to the physical, cognitive, and social aspects of child development has been acknowledged by many federal, state, and local health and education agencies.
Many private entities throughout the country likewise have offered their support and recommendations for strengthening physical education. For example, the Institute of Medicine a , in its report Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention: Solving the Weight of the Nation , points to the need to strengthen physical education to ensure that all children engage in 60 minutes or more of physical activity per school day.
Similarly, the National Physical Activity Plan , developed by a group of national organizations at the forefront of public health and physical activity, comprises a comprehensive set of policies, programs, and initiatives aimed at increasing physical activity in all segments of schools. To accomplish this ultimate goal, the plan calls for improvement in the quantity and quality of physical education for students from prekindergarten through 12th grade through significant policy initiatives at the federal and state levels that guide and fund physical education and other physical activity programs.
Specifically, the plan prescribes seven specific tactics presented in Box National Physical Activity Plan: Strategy 2.
The National Physical Activity Plan's Strategy 2 is as follows: Strategy 2: Develop and implement state and school district policies requiring school accountability for the quality and quantity of physical more A position statement on physical education from the ACS Cancer Action Network, ADA, and AHA calls for support for quality physical education and endorses including physical education as an important part of a student's comprehensive, well-rounded education program because of its positive impact on lifelong health and well-being.
Further, physical education policy should make quality the priority while also aiming to increase the amount of time physical education is offered in schools. Recently, private-sector organizations—such as the NFL through its Play60 program—have been joining efforts to ensure that youth meet the guideline of at least 60 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per day.
One such initiative is Nike's Designed to Move: A Physical Activity Action Agenda , a framework for improving access to physical activity for all American children in schools. Although the framework does not focus exclusively on physical education, it does imply the important role of physical education in the action agenda see Box Universal access: Design programs that are effective for every child, including those who face the most barriers to participating in physical activity.
Age appropriate: Physical activities and more The purpose of the initiative is to help elementary and secondary schools launch the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program CSPAP , which is focused on strengthening physical education and promoting all opportunities for physical activity in school.
The five CSPAP components, considered vital for developing a physically educated and physically active child, are physical education, physical activity during school, physical activity before and after school, staff involvement, and family and community involvement AAHPERD, Schools are allowed to implement all or selected components.
An AAHPERD survey indicated that 16 percent of elementary schools, 13 percent of middle schools, and 6 percent of high schools from a self-responding nationwide sample, not drawn systematically had implemented a CSPAP since the program was launched.
Although most schools sampled 90 percent provided physical education, the percentage declined through middle school and high school, such that only 44 percent of high schools provided physical education to seniors.
In most schools 92 percent , classes were taught by teachers certified to teach physical education. More than 76 percent of elementary schools provided daily recess for children, and 31 percent had instituted a policy prohibiting teachers from withholding children from participating in recess for disciplinary reasons. The percentage of schools that offered intramural sports clubs to at least 25 percent of students declined from 62 percent of middle schools to 50 percent of high school for males, and from 53 to 40 percent, respectively, for females.
Interscholastic sports were offered in 89 percent of high schools. Among them, approximately 70 percent involved at least 25 percent of the male student population participating and 58 percent involved at least 25 percent of the female student population participating. As noted, a high-quality physical education program can help youth meet the guideline of at least 60 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per day.
This increase in physical activity should be balanced with appropriate attention to skill development and to national education standards for quality physical education see Box In a recent literature review, Bassett and colleagues found that physical education contributes to children achieving an average of 23 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity daily. However, the time spent in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity could be increased by 6 minutes if the physical education curriculum were to incorporate a standardized curriculum such as SPARK discussed in detail below Bassett et al.
Thus, it is possible for physical education to contribute to youth meeting at least half 30 minutes of their daily requirement for vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity. To help children grow holistically, however, physical education needs to achieve other learning goals when children are active.
To this end, physical education programs must possess the quality characteristics specified by NASPE b , b , c see Box Designing and implementing a physical education program with these characteristics in mind should ensure that the time and curricular materials of the program enable students to achieve the goals of becoming knowledgeable exercisers and skillful movers who value and adopt a physically active, healthy lifestyle. All students are required to take physical education.
Instructional periods total minutes per week elementary schools and minutes per week middle and secondary schools. Findings from research on effective physical education support these characteristics as the benchmarks for quality programs.
In an attempt to understand what effective physical education looks like, Castelli and Rink conducted a mixed-methods comparison of 62 physical education programs in which a high percentage of students achieved the state physical education learning standards with programs whose students did not achieve the standards.
Comprehensive data derived from student performance, teacher surveys, and onsite observations demonstrated that highly effective physical education programs were housed in cohesive, long-standing departments that experienced more facilitators e. Further, effective programs made curricular changes prior to the enactment of state-level policy, while ineffective programs waited to make changes until they were told to do so.
The teachers in ineffective programs had misconceptions about student performance and, in general, lower expectations of student performance and behavior. Two large-scale intervention studies—SPARK and CATCH—are discussed in this section as examples of how programs can be structured to increase vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in physical education classes. The aim of SPARK, a research-based curriculum, is to improve the health, fitness, and physical activity levels of youth by creating, implementing, and evaluating programs that promote lifelong wellness.
Research supports the use of SPARK as a platform for improving the quality of physical activity instruction in schools. The SPARK curriculum has demonstrated the ability to improve student activity levels, increase the number of minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity for students, and provide sustainable and positive change in a school district Myers-Schieffer and Thomas, In another study, a SPARK intervention is credited with exposing students to an increase in motor skills drills, which in turn led to a higher level of manipulative motor skills acquisition McKenzie et al.
As a result of improved activity levels, students who participated in the SPARK curriculum improved their times in the 1-mile run and sit-up tests Sallis et al. Teachers involved in the SPARK intervention offered increased levels of fitness promotion and provided students with an increased amount of general instruction and increased minutes of attention per week McKenzie et al.
The CATCH program teaches children in grades K-8 how to be healthy throughout their lifetimes through a coordinated approach that involves engaging the community, families, and educators to work together. The goal of CATCH is to impact children's health behaviors positively, improve the school health environment, and influence and change school health policies and practices in order to reduce and eliminate health risk factors and risk-related behaviors of students Perry et al. CATCH significantly increases the physical activity levels of students during physical education class and provides a wide range of learning experiences for students of all abilities.
The participants were elementary school children in grades 3 through 5 and included children from multiethnic backgrounds. Upon completion of the main trial, CATCH had succeeded in producing positive and lasting changes in children's behaviors, including decreasing fat consumption and increasing physical activity Luepker et al. The changes were maintained for 3 years postintervention Nader et al.
Because physical education is part of the curriculum in schools, its quality should be judged only by whether and to what extent children have learned and benefited from it.
In a landmark document on learning goals, Moving into the Future: National Standards for Physical Education , NASPE proposes six student learning standards specifying both conceptual and behavioral characteristics that a physically educated person must possess and display see Box These characteristics encompass knowledge, skill, behavior, and confidence critical to the development and maintenance of health and to the enjoyment of a physically active, healthful lifestyle.
If standards are the gauge for quality, teachers make the difference in a particular school in terms of the extent to which students can achieve the standards. Research has made clear that certified physical education specialists can provide more and longer opportunities for students to meet physical activity guidelines compared with classroom teachers trained to teach physical education McKenzie et al.
Moreover, when teachers are taught strategies to encourage vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in physical education class, a significant increase in physical activity can be expected Lonsdale et al. The role of certified physical education specialists in health-enhancing physical education has become increasingly critical McKenzie, The evidence is unequivocal regarding the need for a continued effort to train physical education specialists and the need for schools to continue to employ them as the main teaching force designing and implementing health-enhancing physical education programs to the fullest extent.
Aside from serving as the instructional leader for physical education, physical education specialists can serve as expert resources for classroom teachers in the implementation of classroom physical activity breaks and recess discussed in detail in Chapter 6. Their expertise in age-appropriate physical activity helps ensure that students are participating in activities that are fun and engaging. Additionally, as the catalyst for a healthy school environment, the physical education specialist can assist in the design and delivery of intramural programs provided before and after school, as well as serve as a community outreach specialist for onsite activity partnerships.
For physical education specialists interested in a more formal role as a physical activity leader at their school, NASPE has developed a director of physical activity certification program. It is a commonly held notion of society that to maintain the quality of education, schools should hire teachers certified to teach in the subject matter areas in which they are licensed.
Unfortunately, in the United States, not all physical education classes are taught by certified physical education specialists. Indeed, 68 percent of elementary schools allow classroom teachers generalists to teach physical education NASPE, The basic requirements for emergency certification include a bachelor's degree in teaching or in any area except physical education. Only 31 states 60 percent support physical education teachers going through the national board certification process, and only New York requires each school district to have a licensed physical education specialist serving as a physical education coordinator NASPE, In addition, teaching physical education requires substantial knowledge and skill in pedagogy—the science and art of teaching.
Box lists the NASPE standards for beginning physical education teachers who have completed a bachelor's teacher training program and those who have completed advanced master's-level training.
Scientific and theoretical knowledge: Physical education teacher candidates know and apply discipline-specific scientific and theoretical concepts more These standards are accompanied by measurement rubrics unacceptable, acceptable, and target, with target being exemplary developed jointly by NASPE and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education NCATE for evaluating physical education teacher education programs across the country the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
But the data sources did not distinguish between physical education teaching majors and other kinesiology concentrations e. Statistics on the number of physical education teacher education programs and their quality based on the NASPE standards are needed.
The current wave of effort to curb physical inactivity among youth has begun to influence teacher education programs. According to a national survey study Kulinna et al. These data appear to suggest that physical education teacher education programs are beginning to turn from a traditionally sports- and skills-centered model to a more comprehensive, physical activity— and health-centered model.
This change is important in that the role of both current and future physical education teachers extends beyond merely teaching their classes to advancing public health goals McKenzie, In many universities, however, teacher education programs in physical education have either been reduced or eliminated because of the decline in physical education requirements, which has resulted in a decrease in the number of physical education teachers being employed. Concomitantly, physical education teacher education programs are experiencing an unprecedented crisis.
A recent report indicates that, in school year —, only 23 doctorate-granting kinesiology departments offered doctoral programs that were training future teacher educators Boyce and Rikard, a. A total of doctoral students were receiving training offered by professors including part-time , and 11 percent of those professors were planning to retire.
Boyce and Rikard a report that in the past 13 years, doctoral students graduated as physical education teacher educators— During the same period, 61 positions were open, only 39 of which were filled 64 percent , with an applicant pool of 38 candidates with earned degrees and 13 who completed the doctoral course-work but did not complete the dissertation research Boyce and Rikard, b.
Clearly there is a shortage of physical education teacher educators in higher education institutions. Because of a lack of national tracking data on physical education graduates, the extent to which the teacher educator shortage has impacted and will impact the need to supply quality physical education teachers to the nation is unclear.
In all educational settings, professional development for teachers and administrators is a continuous process of acquiring new knowledge and skills that relate to an educator's profession or academic subject area, job responsibilities, or work environment. Professional development is essential for improving classroom instruction and student achievement Ball and Cohen, ; Cohen and Hill, Through a variety of delivery methods, professional development activities may include credit or noncredit courses, classroom or online venues, workshops, seminars, teleconferences, and webinars, with the ultimate goal of improving the delivery of instruction to enhance student achievement.
Yoon and colleagues assert that a strong link exists among professional development, teacher learning and practice, and student achievement. Figure , which aligns with the research on effective professional development Kennedy, ; Loucks-Horsley and Matsumoto, ; Cohen and Hill, ; Garet et al.
Logic model of the impact of professional development on student achievement. The most impactful statement of government policy on the preparation and professional development of teachers was the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Whitehurst, , known as the No Child Left Behind Act. While Title I of the act places highly qualified teachers in the classroom, Title II addresses the same goal by funding professional development for teachers. The importance of quality professional development is well documented in the act.
Professional development, according to the No Child Left Behind Act, should be offered to improve teachers' knowledge of the subject matter they teach, strengthen their classroom management skills, advance their understanding and implementation of effective teaching strategies, and build their capabilities to address disparities in education. The act states that high-quality professional development programs should have the characteristics listed in Box It is sustained, intensive, and content-focused to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction and teacher performance.
It is aligned with and directly related to state more Although there is a substantial literature on professional development, only a few high-quality studies relate teachers' professional development experiences to student outcomes. Recommendations for high-quality professional development tend to emphasize the importance of intense, content-focused experiences, as well as opportunities for peer collaboration and structured induction experiences for new teachers.
Wiley and Yoon and Kennedy suggest that teaching practice and student achievement are likely to improve when professional development is focused on academic content and curriculum that are aligned with standards-based reform.
Kulinna used Guskey and Sparks' Model of Teacher Change to determine whether students' physical activity and BMI changed after their teacher underwent a 1-year professional development program.
Significant increases in students' physical activity levels were found, but no significant changes in BMI. Looking at the effect of professional development on changes in behavior among physical education teachers, Martin and colleagues found that, following a variety of professional development experiences and follow-up sessions, teachers showed increases in their efficacy in attaining motor skills objectives, physical activity and fitness knowledge objectives, and personal and social objectives.
These results lend support to the value of professional development in enhancing teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy for teaching the curriculum. McCaughtry and colleagues explored the factors that make teacher professional development successful and what success might mean in terms of teachers' instructional practices and feelings about change.
These can be used to examine athletic movements in an attempt to critique and improve upon physical skills. Getting your students involved and actively invested is the ultimate goal. How many people do you know who own a Fitbit? Wearable tech includes new technology and has completely altered the way we acquire and evaluate personal data. Many physical education departments recognize that feedback from daily activities is important and thus, have begun including the use of heart rate monitors and pedometers into their programs.
Students are able to track and analyze activity levels, heart rate, and the number of steps taken throughout the day, among other data. Cross-curricular associations can be made in areas such as mathematics, science and health. Fitness tracker can really improve the awareness that students have about their perceived activity levels versus what they are truly accomplishing.
They can also help students set and achieve fitness goals. As with inclusion of technology in any classroom, select a variety of teaching strategies and be open to nontraditional methods. I am grateful for the professional approach towards the topic. Education and health go hand-in-hand in ensuring the success of the student and giving them a glimpse of how the outside world operates. I celebrate your further success in publishing relevant and up-to-date content on technological and educational topics.
I sincerely appreciate the message put across. Technology has been at the helm of the transformation agenda and taking into perspective the tremendous changes it has brought to the education sector it cannot be compared to any other. Thank you for the professional approach towards the matter. Your article was quite enlightening.
Another benefit of using pedometers is they can be used in a variety of tasks, such as doing household chores or scavenger hunts. One issue to remember with pedometers and heart rate monitors is that target rates are different for children with different abilities and activity levels, so be sure to plan accordingly. Using these devices allows educators and students to aim for an individualized target heart rate that is challenging to maintain but not too difficult to achieve.
By customizing student goals, students feel more involved and more empowered to continue with fitness. Once more, there are different target rates depending on age and ability, so remember to take those into consideration. Taking the data used by heart monitors and pedometers is vital to creating a long-term plan for advancing health. Some pedometers and heart monitors have connectivity built in, which makes the process easier.
Using tracking programs or monitoring systems provides educators with tools useful in creating custom goals for the students. Using these kinds of programs allows for instant feedback that allows students the opportunity to adjust their goals and how they wish to achieve them. With the explosion in mobile technology, physical educators have a wealth of tools. Some apps also assist with improving athletic activities such as basketball.
0コメント