Tyler G. Johnson

Physical Activity Practices in Elementary Schools and Associations with Physical Education Staffing and Training.

Purpose: Authorities recommend that schools provide a variety of opportunities for students to obtain physical activity (PA) before, during, and after school. This study assessed the prevalence of several school PA practices—including measures of quantity and quality of physical education (PE)—in elementary schools and examined the associations of PA practices with school resources (PE staffing, training, and facilities). Method: Surveys were obtained from respondents in nationally representative samples of elementary schools from 2009–2010 to 2011–2012 (1,831 schools). Results: Few schools (20.8%) provided students with PE class every day, but most (76.3%) had an appropriate PE student-to-teacher ratio ( ≤ 25:1). Many schools (74.0%) offered 20 min of recess daily, but fewer than half offered organized opportunities for PA before or after school (e.g., sports). After controlling for demographics and school size, having a full-time PE teacher and requiring PE teachers to obtain PE-related continuing education (CE) were associated with PE practices such as offering ≥ 150 min of PE per week (for 3rd-grade students) and testing PE knowledge, skills, and fitness. Required CE was also associated with a higher likelihood of offering PA during the school day (i.e., activity breaks and PA outside of PE class) and before or after the school day (i.e., afterschool PA programs). Conclusion: Few schools offer a broad array of PA programming. However, PE staffing and CE are positively associated with many PA practices including those outside of PE, possibly indicating that PE staff serve a crucial role in promoting a whole-school PA-supportive environment.

The Value of Performance in Physical Education Teacher Education

The current philosophical paradigm in higher education, where theory transcends practice, consigns physical education to the bottom of a hierarchy of educational content (Kretchmar, 2005). Leaders of physical education teacher education programs are left with three difficult choices: (a) accept physical educations lowly position in the hierarchy, (b) emphasize the theory and science of physical activity and teaching to make the program appear academically respectable, or (c) argue for a different philosophical paradigm (Kretchmar, 1996). I contend the final option is the best strategy. Using John Deweys philosophy of experience and conception of human intelligence, I argue that skillful performance of dance, games, play, and sport should maintain a more prominent position in physical education teacher education curricula because skillful performance of the content represents a legitimate domain of human activity worthy of significant involvement in an academic program. Also, pre-service teachers need content knowledge derived authentically from the process of becoming skillful performers to teach physical education. Suggestions for activity performance coursework are offered.

The Significance of Physical Education Content: “Sending the Message” in Physical Education Teacher Education

Mind-body dualism has likely influenced how many view human beings and their behavior—mind (i.e., thinking) is elevated over body (i.e., performing)—even in Physical Education Teacher Education. The problem is that such a perspective makes physical education content (i.e., dance, games, play, and sport) subsidiary to more “intellectual” or “academic” content. This article invites Physical Education Teacher Education faculty to consider how to effectively “send the message” to future physical educators that physical education content is valuable and respectable and in many ways epitomizes intelligent human behavior. Specifically, Physical Education Teacher Education faculty are invited to (a) challenge traditional definitions of intelligence and introduce alternative definitions, (b) participate regularly in their own playgrounds, (c) provide a sufficient dose of activity courses in their curricula, (d) teach activity courses, (e) establish a performance-oriented culture, and (f) administer performance and/or game play evaluations.

Learning to Play: A “Hedgehog Concept” for Physical Education

What is physical education and why does it exist? Despite its relatively long and storied history, consensus about the main purpose of physical education remains minimal. This article explores three questions, developed by Jim Collins in his best-selling book Good to Great, to help organizations identify a hedgehog concept, or primary reason for their existence: (1) What are we deeply passionate about? (2) What can we be the best in the world at? and/or What can we not be the best in the world at? (3) What drives our resource engine? By drawing on ideas from physical education scholars to answer these questions, this article shows that providing a large quantity of quality opportunities for students to learn to play is a legitimate hedgehog concept for physical education.

Physical Activity Education: The New Name for Our Field

This article is a follow-up to a previous Viewpoint article, wherein the authors challenged the oft-cited distinction between physical education and physical activity, and proposed an alternate definition of physical education that is aligned with the need to promote physical activity in schools.

The Physical Activity Movement and the Definition of Physical Education

The purpose of this Viewpoint article is to reconsider the definition of physical education by highlighting the student learning that can and does occur by way of multiple opportunities for physical activity participation.

The Necessity of Physical Activity in Kinesiology Degree Programs

The term “the practice of physical activity” was recently introduced as one of the four elements of the American Kinesiology Association undergraduate core curriculum. The purpose of this article is to articulate the nature of the term by offering a philosophical justification (other than health) for including physical activity coursework and/or experiences in kinesiology degree programs, specifying a definition of physical activity, and examining what it means to “practice” physical activity. Using three major themes from the relevant literature and a clarified meaning of the term, it is concluded that to practice physical activity means to participate in dance, exercise, games, play or sport regularly with the intent to maintain or improve fitness or skill proficiency. Two approaches — (1) physical activity for fitness and health and (2) physical activity for skillful performance — are presented to guide the curriculum design process in kinesiology.

Physical Activity Stories: Assessing the “Meaning Standard” in Physical Education

The presence of the “meaning standard” in both national and state content standards suggests that professionals consider it an important outcome of a quality physical education program. However, only 10 percent of states require an assessment to examine whether students achieve this standard. The purpose of this article is to introduce the concept of a physical activity story as a way to examine student achievement of the meaning standard. A physical activity story is a firsthand account of a persons relationship with physical activity. Examples of student physical activity stories are offered to illustrate why such stories deserve a place in physical education curricula. While it may be challenging for students to describe the meanings they develop in physical activity, this is not an excuse for teachers to withhold efforts to help students uncover these meanings. Teachers can use the physical activity story model to assess student achievement of the meaning standard.

Lived Body Knowledge: Disciplinary Knowledge for Preservice Physical Education Teachers

The American Kinesiology Association has constructed an undergraduate core for degree programs that reside in kinesiology-based academic units. Since many Physical Education Teacher Education programs are housed in such units, there is a need to prioritize the areas of the undergraduate core, particularly the place of the scientific dimensions of physical activity and the practice of physical activity, in Physical Education Teacher Education curricula. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of the lived body is employed to (a) challenge the predominant inclusion of the scientific dimensions of physical activity in teacher preparation curricula and (b) suggest that preservice physical education teachers need “lived body knowledge” of the subject matter to teach physical education. Lived body knowledge is skillful and meaningful engagement in dance, exercise, games, play, and/or sport. It is then argued that the practice of physical activity deserves a significant presence in Physical Education Teacher Education curricula.

What Kinesiology Can Learn from Music

As a multidisciplinary field of study, kinesiology continues to be influenced by various academic disciplines such as biology, chemistry, education, history, math, philosophy, physics, psychology and sociology. This article highlights two important lessons that kinesiology can learn from the discipline of music.