With the continued push by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to build healthy K-12 campuses, it is important to find ways to prepare preservice physical education teachers to successfully contribute to these whole-school models. This article shares the first-hand experience of an…

In this chapter, we discuss health-related physical fitness and motor development assessments for students with physical disabilities or other health impairments in special education using traditional and innovative techniques. Traditional assessment techniques are those that are more standardized and formalized, while innovative assessment…

If used appropriately in schools, youth fitness testing can play a significant role in promoting a physically active lifestyle among school-age children. Unfortunately, many issues exist when testing students' health-related fitness (HRF) components, such as privacy concerns, misuse of testing results, and time-consuming test procedures. This…

Background: Given the body image and disordered eating struggles prevalent in young adults, weight-inclusive anti-diet programs are needed on college campuses. Such programs replace weight loss advice with changes that center physical and mental well-being. Methods/Program Design: University health and wellness programs such as University Coaching…

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is an effective strategy for improving health-related fitness in youth. With continued trends of reduced physical education activity time, disturbing youth obesity rates, and outdated fitness testing practices, HIIT training becomes a viable option to use in physical programs to increase physical health and…

Fitness education is becoming an integrated component for many physical education programs. As such, many physical educators conduct health-related fitness tests on a regular basis. Some states even mandate certain types of physical fitness tests to be administered and reported annually or by semester. Yet, inappropriate practices have been…

Skill-related fitness is broken down into six different components; agility, speed, power, balance, coordination, reaction time. These skill-related components are movements that are necessary for an individual to successfully demonstrate a variety of motor skills and movement patterns. While essential, these skill-related components of fitness…

Physically Literacy (PL), a term adopted by SHAPE America in 2014, has been coined the goal of physical education. The purpose of this study is to define PL and give practical applications for physical educators while also reviewing current PL assessments. PL is defined as "the ability to move with competence and confidence in a wide variety…

Power has long been considered to be a skill-related fitness component. However, based on recent evidence, a strong case can be made for the classification of power as a health-related fitness component. Additionally, the evidence indicates that performing physical activities that build power is associated with the healthy development of bones…

There is an imperative need for secondary physical education programming to prepare students for lifetime fitness and health. Physical activity levels in adolescents and adults are dismal, and the negative health outcomes associated with sedentary behaviors are catastrophic. Secondary physical education programs have the opportunity to implement a…

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of how PE teachers can personalize learning to meet a variety of student needs. Differentiated instruction (DI) is a term frequently used in classroom-based learning to describe a method of personalization for individual students. The term can also describe a theoretical model for teaching and…

In Louisiana, 33% of adolescents and 28% of children are overweight or obese (Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, 2011). It is projected that as many as 24,000 more children in Louisiana may become obese by 2020 if the trend continues (Broyles et al., 2011). Researchers have identified several strategies to address overweight among…

Extension educators have been promoting and incorporating physical activities into their community-based programs and improving the health of individuals, particularly those with limited resources. This article is the first of a three-part series describing the benefits of physical activity for human health: 1) biological health benefits of…

Over the last 40 years, the Conceptual Physical Education (CPE) movement has played an important role in the evolution of secondary school physical education (PE). In this article, we trace the history of CPE as well as fitness education (FE) programs that share common objectives with CPE. CPE at the college/university level is almost universal…

The purpose of this article is to explore the context of the physical literacy movement and how it can impact play and participation. The article is intended to assist play advocates (i.e., physical education, recreation, sport educators) in implementing quality programs linked to curricular outcomes designed to foster the development of…