As a result of competitive dance television shows, interest in tap dance seems to have increased in the past few years. Tap dance is a challenging and fun lifetime physical activity that is appropriate for people of all ages. It is an excellent activity for K-12 physical education programs, higher education, parks and recreation facilities,…

Western and Eastern dance styles have developed in their respective countries on their own, neither really influencing the other, but today the conjugation between Western and Eastern cultures is a phenomenon that the dance world is experiencing to the fullest. In dance, these cultures are so interwoven that sometimes it is hard to distinguish the…

This article briefly discusses the challenges of teaching the 2,000 year-old classical dance form of Bharatanatyam to a student population that is alienated from its mythological framework. Bharatanatyam teachers today are responsible for passing on the technique, grammar, and artistic character of this ancient performing art to the current…

The Paralympic games began as a way for World War II veterans to take part in elite-level competition. Thanks to various disability-sport organizations, men and women who have served in the military are still using sport as a form of rehabilitation and a way to transition into their new life.

The goal of school-university partnerships is most often the promotion of teacher growth through professional development (PD). Yet, despite the best of intentions, most PD is not conducted in an effective way. The purpose of this article is to share the perceptions of one group of elementary teachers regarding teacher growth and change as the…

In 2007, the physical education program at Sunnyside Middle School in Lafayette, Indiana, was in constant flux. Teacher turnover occurred annually, facilities were subpar, the curriculum was outdated, opportunities for professional development were rare, and most importantly, students lacked maximum movement opportunities in physical education. In…

The Detroit Healthy Youth Initiative is a 10-year partnership between the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) and Wayne State University (WSU) with the goal of improving the quality of school health and physical education programs throughout the city schools. Drawing on the experiences of WSU and DPS faculty, administrators, teachers, and project staff,…

From the earliest years of what is now AAHPERD, American dance education has exerted a strong presence. In 1932 the National Section on Dance was established, and in 1979 the capital letter "D" ceremoniously became a part of AAHPERD. Visionaries such as Gulick and Margaret H'Doubler (who is credited with creating the first dance major program in…

Communication skills are central to teacher effectiveness and instructional expertise. A teacher's communication behaviors can also serve motivational purposes that facilitate a number of important instructional outcomes. This article highlights six skills that every physical education teacher should master. Three of the skills are rhetorical in…

Research and innovation are a cornerstone of any progressive organization. The Research Consortium (RC) has served as the principal organization fulfilling this function on behalf of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) throughout much of its history. The RC is an organization of approximately 5,000…

Research has shown that exercise improves cognitive function and psychological traits that influence behavior (e.g., mood, level of motivation). The evidence in the literature also shows that physical education may enhance learning or that academic performance is at least maintained despite a reduction in classroom time in order to increase time…

In January 2005, AAPAR was born from the American Association for Active Lifestyles and Fitness (AAALF) and the American Association for Leisure and Recreation (AALR), thus providing a home for special-interest subjects that do not fit neatly into the other units of the Alliance. This article includes a brief history of AAPAR with a focus on its…

The history of AAHPERD is important for understanding "who" we are and the chronology of events that brought us to this point in time. In its history, the Alliance has experienced many successes, many challenges, and a few disappointments. Some of these are chronicled in this article. A brief recounting of the past 25 years is given in…

Physical education teacher education (PETE) faculty and physical education specialists have oversimplified and, consequently, made false some of the collective beliefs in their field. This article compares the "many faces of PETE" that are becoming more apparent in today's PETE programs and considers whether physical education teacher education…

The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) is an advocate for having highly qualified physical education teachers deliver developmentally appropriate, standards-based instruction in schools. However, a comprehensive definition of what constitutes a highly qualified physical education teacher did not exist until recently.…