Physical Education in public schools has been scrutinized as being unnecessary and has even been under consideration for permanent removal from public schools all together. Why is this? One theory is that PE has been given the label of just being “recess” because of the numerous PE teachers who simply “roll out the ball.”
In order to change this mindset, PE teachers must teach and educate by designing classes and lessons that get back to the basics of why exercise is so important. Currently, there is a battle going on against obesity in the United States. According to Zavodny,“Not only did rates of childhood overweight and obesity rise dramatically from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s, but the degree to which children are overweight increased as well.” PE is a direct way to fight this battle.
A study conducted in 2010 states, “Numerous reports have highlighted the importance of school-based physical education as a key in helping to reverse the obesity epidemic in children.” If PE teachers can stress the importance of their classes in a way that shows that they are making a difference in the fight against childhood obesity, then the views toward PE may start to change in a very positive manner.
Tune in next week for another strategy that will help protect and preserve PE in our public schools.
Morrow Jr., J.R., Martin, S.B. & Jackson, A.W. (2010). Reliability and validity of the FITNESSGRAM®, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 81:sup3, S24-S30. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com
Zavodny, M. (2013) Does weight affect children's test scores and teacher assessments differently?, Economics of Education Review, 34, 135-145. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com
[JNL1]I think you should have expanded more on this idea. Give them info on how to do this or links to lesson plans with this type of content. See if you can find an example lesson plan online to link to. Other than that – this is good.
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