The Education Sector of the recently updated National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP, 2023) was developed to assist schools, early care and education centers, and colleges and universities to establish policies and provide programmatic opportunities to support all students in adopting physically active lifestyles. The 2023 Education Sector…

Considering that global physical activity levels in young children continue to decline, planned breaks during the school day provide a unique opportunity to promote the importance of physical activity while also increasing student engagement in movement activities. This article provides information on the benefits of and recommendations for active…

Preschool settings play a significant role in promoting physical activity for children under five years. Most of the time, however, is sedentary (50-94%) with only a small percentage devoted to light (5-27%) or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (1-17%). While the experiences children have during childcare hours can impact their physical…

Physical activity (PA) promotion is an ideal intervention target for public health because it has the potential to help individuals feel better, sleep better, and perform daily tasks more easily, in addition to providing disease prevention benefits. There is strong evidence that individual-level theory-based behavioral interventions are effective…

Evidence supports increasing student physical activity in school, and Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAPs) can help students meet national physical activity goals to support their physical and mental health. Although strategies and frameworks are readily available to support schools in their efforts to implement successful…

Programs integrating social-emotional learning (SEL) and physical activity (PA) can contribute to positive behavior outcomes and development for adolescent girls. The purpose of this article is to report the development of the EmpowerHER Program curriculum. Specifically, this curriculum describes implementation strategies and activities tailored…

Families are an important part of the educational success of children. They can provide children with the opportunities to participate in lifetime physical activities outside of the school setting. When families feel valued and welcomed, their engagement and satisfaction with teachers can become enhanced thereby developing positive outcomes for…

This article discusses concepts related to character strengths and positive youth development and how these ideas can be applied to improve outcomes among gifted young people. A theory with roots in public health, The Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI), is discussed with examples applied to gifted populations. Practitioners and researchers from…

Physical activity and healthy eating are instrumental to a child's overall healthy development, resulting in a number of positive outcomes, like better academic performance and lower risk of depression. Yet, most young people are not meeting the recommended daily amount of physical activity, are not eating enough vegetables or fruits, and are…

This 'teaching tip' shares the success of a service-learning opportunity created to work with university students in a meaningful way in the community. It describes a program called Fit 4 Tots that resulted in more toddlers, university students and community members benefiting from learning and movement experiences.

News and media reports indicate that the perceived value of university education is declining amongst students -- one of the indicators being an increase in apprenticeships. As educators, we need to identify the reasons for this and ask ourselves whether we provide holistic education to students. Based on this rationale, this forward-looking and…

Physical education is the only school subject that provides access to psychomotor learning opportunity for all students, and, thus, should be the primary content identified in physical education standards. Half of the recently released 2024 SHAPE America National Physical Education Standards now focus specifically on social and personal…

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience lower levels of physical activity in comparison to the general population. While many factors contribute to this disparity, expanding appropriate and accessible programming in settings frequented by adults with IDD deserves attention. One such setting is post-secondary…

Part 2 of the article on the proposed alternative PreK-12 physical education Learning Standards introduces examples of specific Content Learning Outcomes (CLOs) under each of the alternative standards introduced in Part 1. In addition, Learning Outcomes are offered that target students' pro-social behavior development, as well as their joy and…