Amy Morris Homans was an amazing leader in the early development of physical education. She believed that every individual must be educated academically and physically. Earlier this year, SHAPE America committed to making her vision a reality with the goal of empowering ALL students with the skills, knowledge, habits, and determination to make…

We are living in a time of increasing interest in the religious and spiritual aspects of sport and human movement activities. A strict distinction between religion and spirituality is, however, still missing in much of the literature. After delimiting religious and spiritual modes of experience, this article addresses Coubertin's "religio…

De Coubertin developed the sport philosophy of Olympism and the Olympic Games as a response to social and political crisis to promote peace, fair play, and the development of Christian masculinity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how crisis discourse functions as an important shaper of contemporary understandings of Olympism and how…

Physical education has been an institution in American schools since the late 19th century, and today almost all American children are exposed to physical education classes. It has often been claimed that physical education provides important benefits to public health. The purpose of this paper is to determine if physical education increases…

This article offers a brief and personal account of the historical background, implementation and principal findings from the Trois-Rivieres regional project, a large-scale quasi-experimental intervention that tested the impact of providing a daily hour of specialist-taught quality physical education upon the physical and mental development of…

Fitness and skill are embedded constructs that have been the primary foci of the field of physical education. The emphasis of one of these constructs over the other is a matter of context that cannot, given their embedding, lead to the exclusivity of one in the education "of" and "through" the physical (Williams, 1930), particularly as we seek to…

Higher education institutions and their departments are facing increased demands to document the effectiveness and efficiency of their academic programs, research, and engagement. These demands arise from the various constituents who have vested but not always "compatible" interest in the quality of the work and outcomes of these institutions. The…

Today, teachers complain about the lack of physical education time and the lack of physical education programming. In addition, a great deal of time is spent advocating the relationship between "healthy mind-healthy body." Today's drive to show a relationship between physical fitness/activity and academic achievement is really not different than…

The American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE) and The American Kinesiology Association (AKA) should work together to help kinesiology thrive. Data are provided about kinesiology that reflects its visibility in PubMed and Google. Survey data from AKA show the rapid growth of the undergraduate major and graduate programs. In…

New opportunities exist in graduate and undergraduate kinesiology programs for both enhancement and innovation. Professional master's degrees prepare students for careers at the intersections of academic disciplines and the business world. Interdisciplinary study can result in opportunities not only for innovative research discoveries, but also…

This article explicates the "inconvenient truth" that is at the core of the crisis currently facing the field of kinesiology. Namely, the instantiation of an epistemological hierarchy that privileges positivist over postpositivist, quantitative over qualitative, and predictive over interpretive ways of knowing. The discussion outlines…

Although significant attention has been paid to promoting the importance of physical activity in children, adolescents, and adults, we do not currently understand how to promote sustained physical activity levels throughout the lifespan. We contend that previous research has failed to consider the dynamic and synergistic role that motor skill…

The knowledge base that defines exercise physiology is central to the discipline of kinesiology. By the late 19th century, interest in physical training, physical education, and sports began to emerge in the United States. By the beginning of the 20th century, exercise physiology was being included in college physical education degree programs,…

This article traces the history of the Conceptual Physical Education (CPE) movement and the important role this movement has played in college and university physical education departments in America over the past 50 years. CPE emerged out of basic instruction programs (i.e., skill-based, activity classes) during an era characterized by the…

Proposes a paradigm shift in physical activity prescription which involves: an idiographic approach; preferred exertion rather than a given percent of maximum in the prescription of exercise intensity; and purposeful physical activity. A summary of 10 cases is presented, revealing adherence figures ranging from 5 to 79 years. Adherence of 100…