Heart Health is grounded in the skill of learning to listen to the language of the heart. It connects students to their heart-rate data, and offers insights into what these numbers mean using the framework of Heart Zones Training. There are eight learning opportunities that originate from the following questions: How does heart health information…

NASPE STARS is a national recognition program featuring five levels of excellence to recognize outstanding physical education programs in K-J 2 schools across America. The criteria for this award are based on the essential elements that are necessary for a quality physical education program, as defined by the published national standards and…

Feedback is considered a critical teaching function, and researchers in sport pedagogy have shown interest in verifying its importance in physical education. Many observational studies have found that boys receive more attention and feedback, particularly praise, criticism, and technical information, than girls. Nevertheless, little is known about…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' reports of misbehavior in physical education class. Secondary school participants (N = 2,309) completed a previously validated instrument designed to measure students' reports of 59 student behaviors occurring in classes that might affect class management (e.g., from talking to bringing weapons to…

The Surgeon General's report on physical activity and health provides abundant evidence that physical activity plays a role in helping to prevent and treat coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, hypertension, depression, and obesity. While adolescents are generally not directly at risk for such diseases, the habit of exercise begins to…

Resources for self-defense training programs have become more popular and available over the last few years. Introducing a self-defense unit as part of a school physical education program is a wonderful way to address a number of psychosocial issues that prevail among teenagers today. The physical skills learned in this type of program allow…

Physical education can contribute to the career readiness and development needs of students by providing them with training to meet the physical fitness standards required for many occupations. A course for career fitness training could prepare students for the fitness requirements of careers in law enforcement, firefighting, and the military.…

Drawing on poststructuralism and related theoretical perspectives, we worked in girls' physical education classes to examine the development and implementation of a curriculum strand focusing on girls' bodies. The purpose was to help adolescent girls name the discourses that shape their lives and regulate their bodies. We asked two major…

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is an epidemiologic surveillance system that was established by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help monitor the prevalence of behaviors that not only influence youth health, but also put youth at risk for the most significant health and social problems that can occur during…

Despite small steps of progress, issues of legitimacy and worth are still barriers inhibiting systemic change in physical education. Even with the call for reform in physical education (Rink, 1993), few comprehensive school reform efforts have included physical education, for at least two reasons. First, physical education is not considered a core…

The new emphasis on performance-based assessment holds much promise for assessment in physical education, particularly for the assessment of motor skills. Physical educators want to know if students can perform motor skills and use those motor skills in game and activity settings. However, the viability of performance-based assessment as a formal…

This study investigated the attitude toward physical education of 1107 high school students from four countries, Czech Republic, Austria, England, and the United States. Survey data were gathered and measured using the Adams Scale survey instrument (Adams, 1963). While the data revealed individual differences, the overall sample indicated a…

The purpose of this study was to determine if changes in positive well-being, psychological distress, fatigue, and enjoyment vary as a function of physical activity mode. Fifty-five senior high school students participated in one of four fitness activities including two defined as traditional (running and step-aerobics) and two defined as…

This study examined the relationship between achievement goals and social goals and explored how students' achievement goals and social goals might affect their reported persistence and effort expended toward physical education in high school settings. Participants were 544 students from two high schools in the southwest U.S. Multiple regression…

Moral development is one of the goals of physical education (PE). However, few programmes have been implemented to investigate how moral development is promoted in PE settings. This study was designed in order to explore the effectiveness of a six-week specially designed moral development intervention in the PE domain in high school students, and…