This is a pivotal issue for schools to address. The problem is that children need physical activity significant enough to receive benefits for fitness, and this really should be more than 30 minutes daily. Even schools that designate that much time for physical education class are up against a barrage of challenges. I was recently doing observations at a middle school. Everything about the PE program seemed more than adequate; they even had invested in a lot of extra equipment for fitness and have specialized programs for students that need extra fitness time. Even in this better-than-the-norm atmosphere, the problem there was that it takes students too much time transitioning to and from class and this cuts out at least 20 minutes of there physical education each day. So the bell would ring- students have to get into their uniforms- then they would slowly start appearing onto the large blacktop/basketball courts area- they take 5 minutes for role (the smart teachers are incorporate stretching with their role time)- the lesson gets introduced, like a short lecture basically... there a range of things that can cause the actual activity time to be decreased!! It is so, so challenging for physical educators to maximize their time to engage students. This causes students at the middle school to engage in a significantly reduced time.
Elementary schools usually have even less time devoted to physical education. A shame because this age of child really needs the motor, social, and cognitive learning that takes place in physical education! But typically they do not have PE every day, let alone enough time in-class. I believe recesses might be reduced and replaced with more structured playing time with a PE instructor.
Allow me to mention one of the reasons that increased time is needed. The origin of my point lies in the true nature of physical education. What is it? Physical activity? To have fun and practice social learning such as in team building? To get a break from the indoor classroom and do kinesthetic learning? I believe it is ALL of these... but most importantly it is for LEARNING. Many tend to forget that PE is a learning atmosphere just like when students sit at their desks to learn mathematics or english or social studies. The acquisition of motor skills, cognitive skills, affective skills, and fitness skills through games and sport is really irreplaceable for any individual. But how do we learn these skills? It takes TIME. Time for practice. If it takes me 10 minutes to cover basics of throwing & catching for 5th graders, get them organized, and we then begin to practice, the amount of time practicing the how to do the skill CORRECTLY is vital to students success. I will have to observe the performance of each of the 30 plus students and give meaningful corrective and positive reinforcing feedback if we intend to claim that we have taught students the expected learning objectives.
For anyone who has read this far so far: (= Good job.
Let me ask what you think:
What is PE all about?
How much time is needed?
Should students have PE everyday?
Its fine to agree to disagree... many, many people in education do. It is a controversial issue.
A high school in MI that recently removed PE from its schedule:
And another likely in Portland OR:
Rob,
ReplyDeleteLet me first say that the layout of your blog is very appealing to the eye. The pictures capture your audience and make you want to read more. I like how each one of your posts asks a question. It makes the blog interactive. I think that I will incorporate this idea into my own page.
In terms of the question above, "How much physical education should be required for k-12 students?" I believe that all students should receive 45 minutes a day of physical activity. To live a healthy lifestyle this is consider a minimum requirement. If students receive this sort of activity daily, our population will be much more fit. I also believe that physical education should cater to a diverse group of students. If the teacher explores many different activities, then students are more likely to find some sort of physical activity that they enjoy.
Great blog so far! Nice job at keeping your audience interested!
I think that physical education should be stressed as being more important than it has been in the past. There should be some sort of P.E. requirement every day for around an hour. America is becomming fatter, and students are spendinig more time indoors. There is nothing more important that one's health, and P.E. is definitely a way for students to learn that message at a young age.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Neville
Thank you for the comments!! (=
ReplyDeleteIn elementary school I had P.E. 3x a week for about 40 minutes. That seems pretty reasonable to me. It is alarming how the test-based culture we have in schools now has completely obliterated P.E. in many many elementary schools. I substitute taught at one school in particular that considered morning recess "P.E." I was very surprised by that. The schools have to use all time available for test prep and no time for anything extra. It is unfortunate P.E. is consdiered extra because kids need that time to exercise and get their energy out in order to be more focused in class. (In my opinion.)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see a PE period everyday at schools. In addition to learning about the knowledge and skills in various sports, kids can learn about team work and sportsmanship. An active body is also associated with a strong mind. After all, we cannot separate our mind from our body. I agree that PE teachers should use the time wisely and implement quality lessons. R-J
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really concerns me about decreasing the amount of time that schools devote to PE is that it affects disadvantaged and well-off students at very different rates. I think students from middle class families are much more likely to receive physical education training outside of school in the form of extracurricular activities. This is not to say that working class children are less active, but that they may not receive the kind of guided instruction that develops healthy and safe practices. Sadly, low-income schools are the most likely to reduce time for PE as they shoot to maximize instructional time in tasks that increase test scores.
ReplyDeleteYou might be interested in a website I recently visited, the California Department of Education's dataquest: http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/
You can compare how different schools, districts, and counties compare on a number of indicators, one of which is the Physical fitness test. A cursory look at the results of this test at different schools with different socio-economic backgrounds shows students at the low-income school are much less likely to meet all 6 physical fitness standards...
PE is key for elementary school students. It's much more than learning how to play games or even developing motor and spatial awareness skills. It is also a lesson in sportsmanship, cooperation, problem solving, learning to dust yourself off after failure and get back in the game. These skills translate into just about everything inside and outside the classroom. I think that schools need to have PE everyday, or at a bare minimum three times a week. I know in elementary school PE was my favorite subject, it helped to break up my day and kept me from getting too squirrelly.
ReplyDelete