The New Physical Education

Leslie T. Lambert
Rethinking how we teach physical education can help students lead healthy
lives.
Regular physical activity provides numerous health benefitsfrom leaner bodies and
lower blood pressure to improved mental health and cognitive functioning. Even
though we know these facts, however, Americans are becoming more sedentary and
more obese each year (Mokdad et al., 1999). Because the school physical education
program promotes physical activity and can teach skills as well as form or change
behaviors, it holds an important key to influencing health and well-being across the
life span. To improve the fitness of students, we need to rethink the design and
delivery of school-based physical education programs.
A recent survey asked adults in the United States, "What should be taught to
students prior to their graduation?" Participants indicated that information about
health was more important for students to learn than content in language arts,
mathematics, science, history, or any other subject (Marzano & Kendall, 1998).
Despite this high ranking, most schools devote minimal curriculum time to teaching
students how to lead healthy lives.
1.To provide healthy-lifestyle education, a quality program of physical education must
be a core requirement in all schools and a central component in a comprehensive
school health program (Allensworth & Kolbe, 1987). Our first step might be to
consider ways to increase curriculum time devoted to physical education. In addition,
schools need to thoughtfully analyze the design and delivery of school physical
education programs to ensure that they are engaging, developmentally appropriate,
inclusive, and instructionally powerful and that they are designed to teach students
about the importance of leading physically active lives.
The Importance of Physical Activity
One of the most emphatic recommendations in reports from numerous federal and
health promotion agencies is to increase the levels of physical activity among
children and youth. Physical inactivity results in substantial, negative health
consequences. Obesity, high blood glucose, high blood pressure, and high blood
lipids all occur more often among sedentary adults. These problems increase the risk

for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, various cancers, Type II

diabetes, and hypertension. Indeed, a direct relationship exists between leading a
physically active life and developing long-term good health. Each year, physical
inactivity contributes to nearly 260,000 deaths in the United States (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 1997). Unhealthy behaviors take many years to
present themselves clinically, but there is a compelling reason to believe that helping
students learn to be active early in their lives will provide an important foundation for
lifetime physical activity.
Guidelines suggest that children and youth need at least 30 to 60 minutes
of accumulated physical activity on all or most days. More than 60 minutes and up to
several hours of appropriate physical activities is optimal, however. Because children
are intermittently active (they do not naturally engage in continuous activities, such
as jogging), we need to make sure that they have multiple periods of moderate
activity that are at least 10 to 15 minutes in duration each day (Corbin & Pangrazi,
1998).
Despite the importance of establishing patterns of physical activity during childhood,
half of U.S. children and youth are not active on a regular basis. Levels of moderate
to vigorous activity decline dramatically during adolescence. The percentage of
adolescents who have opportunities for daily physical education dropped from 42
percent in 1991 to 25 percent in 1995 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
1996). Recent studies have found that middle and secondary schools across the
nation devote little curriculum time to physical education (Simons-Morton, Eitel, &
Small, 1999). Daily physical education programs across grades 612 are virtually
nonexistent.
Sallis and McKenzie (1991) challenge physical educators to "adopt a new role and
pursue a public health goal for physical education" (p. 133). They advocate
developing new curriculum, providing extensive teacher training, and working with
other health professionals to accomplish health outcomes through increased
physical activity.
Quality Physical Education Programs
What constitutes a quality physical education program? How do we help students
gain the knowledge and abilities they need to lead an active life now and in the
future? Further, how can educators work together with other health professionals to

ensure that our children and youth have every opportunity to learn how to lead
healthy lives? These are important questions that every school district and every
school needs to ask.
Quality physical education programs are essential in helping students gain
competence and confidence in a variety of movement forms, such as sports, dance,
recreational activities, and fitness activities. The National Association for Sport and
Physical Education (NASPE, 1995) has developed national standards for physical
education that define a physically educated person (see fig. 1). These standards
acknowledge the students' motor, fitness, cognitive, affective/behavioral, and active
lifestyle needs, and they focus on the importance of lifetime involvement in physical
activity. They provide a sound framework for the design of physical education
programs and assessments that help students learn and demonstrate their
movement knowledge and skills, their fitness levels, and their habits and values
related to physical fitness.

2 .Define Physical Fitness

Physical fitness can be defined as a general state of health and well-being or more
specifically as the ability to perform aspects of sports or occupations. Physical fitness
is generally achieved through correct nutrition, exercise, hygiene and rest. It is a set
of attributes or characteristics seen in people and which relate to the ability to
perform a given set of physical activities.
Before the industrial revolution, fitness was the capacity to carry out the days
activities without undue fatigue. However with automation and changes in
lifestyles physical fitness is now considered a measure of the bodys ability to
function efficiently and effectively in work and leisure activities, to be healthy, to
resist hypokinetic diseases, and to meet emergency situations.

3. The definition of Health-Related Fitness

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), ineffective
definitions containing unclear and subjective wordings, as well as definitions
comprising terms that themselves require defining, have contributed to
confounding the term "physical fitness."
There is no reliable guide for Health and Fitness professionals to measure
"physical fitness", because the term has been so loosely and inconsistently

defined. It is in this light that one should consider the concept of HealthRelated Fitness.
According to the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness (PCPFS), "Healthrelated physical fitness consists of those components of physical fitness that
have a relationship with good health."
Physical fitness, within the realm of Health-Related Physical Fitness, is
therefore a set of 'measurable' characteristics, or Components. Broken down,
the 5 Health-Related Fitness Components are: Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Body
Composition, Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance and Flexibility.
The authority on Health-Related Physical Fitness assessment is the American
College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). ACSM's Health-Related Physical Fitness
Assessment Manual provides thorough guidelines for the assessment of
Health-Related Physical Fitness. This publication also refers to doses of
activity and/or exercise required to produce health benefits.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the
definition of physical fitness emphasises the difference between health-related
physical fitness and athletic ability physical fitness. Its point-of-departure is
the health of the US nation, which is often referred to as the "public health
perspective."
In this regard, the 5 health-related fitness components are more important than
those related to athletic ability (or skill-related components). The factors which
distinguish health-related fitness from skill-related fitness are shown below:
Health-Related Physical Fitness Components:

Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Body Composition

Flexibility

Muscular Strength

Muscular Endurance

1.CARDIORESPIRATORY ENDURANCE-is the ability of the circulatory and

respiratory systems to supply oxygen during sustained physical activity.
2.MUSCULAR STRENGTH-is the maximum amount of force a muscle can
produce in a single effort.
3.MUSCULAR ENDURANCE-is the ability of the muscle to continue to
perform without fatigue.
4.FLEXIBILTY-is the ability to bend and move the joints through the full range
of motion.
5.HEALTHFUL BODY COMPOSITION-is a high ratio of lean tissue to fat
tissue in the body.

Definition of Skill Related Fitness

The abilities or components of skill related fitness are not the skills associated with any
particular sport, such as running, catching, tackling or kicking, but are the underlying skills
which are brought to bear when participating in a sport.
There are six skill related components of fitness. These are Agility, Balance, Coordination,
Power, Reaction Time, Speed. These are important fitness components, not just for sporting
ability, but for use in everyday life.
In times of illness, or in ageing, these components are often features of our lives that fail and
their levels are reduced. Exercise and activities that promote skill components of fitness are
therefore very important at all ages.

Skill-Related Fitness Components:

Balance

Reaction Time

Coordination

Agility

Speed

Power

AGILITY
- ability to rapidly change the position of the body
BALANCE
- ability to keep from falling when a person is in a still position or moving
COORDINATION
- ability to use the senses together with body parts during movement
REACTION TIME
- time it takes a person to move
after they hear, see, feel or touch a stimulus
SPEED
- ability to move quickly
POWER
ability to combine strength and speed

The definition of health-related fitness also shows this concept's integral

association with "good health." However, the 5 components are addressed
individually by health professionals to allow for their measurement.
Now we know what the term means, but what purpose does it serve?

Continuing from the definition above, the objective of measuring the

components is to advise clients about the state of their health-related fitness and to use data obtained from the tests to design appropriate exercise
programs which can then be evaluated.
It is intended that all 5 components contribute evenly to make up a holistic
health-related physical fitness.
So in sum, health-related physical fitness is of interest to the health of the
ordinary citizen, in that the concept is normative.
It is therefore important for those working in the health and fitness
industry not to mistake "overall physical fitness" with "health-related physical
fitness."
Regular or planned physical exercise can improve overall physical fitness as
well as health-related fitness. However, overall fitness is a generic term and is
up to subjective interpretation, while health-related fitness can be assessed.
The distinction therefore, between the 2 terms, exists in that health-related
physical fitness can be measured according to a set of established
4.Physical Education Teacher: Job Description & Requirements

Physical education teachers require some formal education. Learn about the
education, job duties and licensure requirements to see if this is the right career for
you.
Essential Information
Physical education teachers help children develop physical abilities and healthy
habits that can last for the rest of their lives. Becoming a physical education teacher
generally entails completion of a bachelor's degree program and state licensure.
Internship experience is also usually required.

the differences between teaching and coaching occur mainly in the depth of
knowledge transfer and the focus of that transfer. There are also differences between
the level of qualification and the focus of those qualifications between teaching and
coaching, as well as the financial reward for each.
However, the main similarities lie in the fact that teaching and coaching are both
essentially athlete-centred and excellent communication and planning skills are need
for both. Teaching and coaching are, in my view, both worthwhile and rewarding, and
I am proud to do both.

5. If you want to improve your physical fitness, but you find the idea of exercise
overwhelming, it may help you to know exercise and physical activity are not the
same thingyet both are beneficial to your health.
Exercise is a physical activity that is planned, structured, repetitive, and
purposeful. Physical activity includes any body movement that contracts your
muscles to burn more calories than your body would normally do so just to exist at
rest. Although learning to enjoy and plan structured exercise into your routine would
definitely improve fitness, it is not the only way to improve fitness.
Everyday physical activities such as performing housework, walking, or taking a hike
keep your body moving and still count toward the recommended amount of weekly
physical activity.
Most importantly, no matter what your current fitness level, you are able to improve
your physical fitnessand, therefore, your heart healthby increasing physical
activity and/or exercise as you are able.
6.