A physical fitness plan is considered desirable for young people, young adults, and especially older adults. This program for secondary level students focuses on the physiology of exercise and the process of aging, and stresses the need for physical fitness. Specific objectives include the following: (1) to let students become evaluators of their…

Presented is a guide designed to provide information on 27 perceptual-motor and psychomotor tests and scales for use with handicapped children so that valid and informed decisions can be made in selecting test instruments for prescriptive and diagnostic purposes. The guide is comprised of one section on motor ability, perceptual-motor development,…

For use with the profoundly and severely retarded, the guide to physical education curriculum describes methods and techniques, objectives, and core activities. The following are also considered: supplementary activities for the hyperactive and emotionally disturbed; suggestions for the teacher; and evaluation, including records, motor skills…

This book provides guidance on what high-quality movement programs for young children should include, offering a curricular foundation, strategies for teaching, and assessment ideas. It defines and illustrates specific interrelated components of developmentally appropriate practice in providing movement education for young children. There are…

For the past 50 years, poor physical health of adolescents has been a concern in the U.S. The obesity rate has tripled from 5% in 1980 to 15% in 2000. With more emphasis placed on high stakes standardized tests, the priority of physical education classes has taken a back seat. Based on a survey done in 2003, slightly more than half of the states…

To prepare undergraduates for careers in physical education it is recommended that physical activity courses develop varied knowledge bases related to the teaching of physical activity and that they integrate information across knowledge bases. The article discusses the history, current status, and future of the issue. (SM)

Cites the decreased participation rates of women in sports as they age. Contends that sports historians, by focusing on women and sports, can dispel myths about the subject and provide women with positive role models. Provides informational sources for women in sports and discusses notable Canadian female athletes in history. (RW)

Children who hate gym grow into adults who associate physical activity with ridicule and humiliation. Physical education is reinventing itself, stressing enjoyable activities that continue into adulthood: aerobic dance, weight training, fitness walking, mountain biking, hiking, inline skating, karate, rock-climbing, and canoeing. Cooperative,…

Preservice teachers in an elementary physical education (PE) class were asked to recall their favorite and least favorite elementary PE experiences and discuss how to improve them. Most students had some positive feelings toward PE, but there were several concerns about specific activities and implementation. (SM)

Regardless of recent curriculum revisions, physical educators, faced with reduced time and/or inadequate equipment and facilities, continue to offer competitive team sport activities for a high percentage of their program time. When competition is only experienced as a win-lose situation, possibilities that students will derive any morally…

Achievement goal theory suggests that the motivational processes operating in achievement settings such as PE are dependent on the achievement goals manifested in that setting. In this paper, research is reviewed examining the motivation-related correlates of task and ego (approach) goal orientations in physical education, namely (a)…

This paper examines the problem of delivering a body of knowledge based on biomedical research as a school physical education discourse. The paper attempts to deconstruct the ideology of healthism upon which the discourse is based in order to show how ascetic practices in school physical education are promoted as a way of combating the hedonistic…

To date, studies examining the Sport Education (SE) model have largely focused on gains in sporting performance and/or psychosocial development. The purpose of this study was to compare the health-related fitness benefits for pupils participating in SE and traditional multi-activity (MA) units of instruction. Participants were two preservice…

A systematic review was conducted to examine the barriers to, and facilitators of, physical activity among young people (11-16 years). The review focused on the wider determinants of health, examining community- and society-level interventions. Four trials and 16 studies of young people's views were included. Evidence for the effectiveness of the…

This study used systematic, direct observation of classes over 2 years to investigate whether physical education (PE) teachers' habitual physical activity related to their conduct of PE classes. Participants were 18 fourth and fifth grade classroom teachers employed in a California school district where classroom teachers typically were…