Engaging youth in traditional physical education exercises or ball sports can be a challenging task, especially when they prefer novelty, entertainment, or excitement in their leisure-time activities. In addition, many youth are unaware of the opportunities that exist to exercise or recreate in nature, often preferring to spend time indoors…

Compasses are useful tools for teaching the basics of navigation. Knowing where you are, where you are going, and how to get there are important facets of outdoor recreation. Compass games are a fun way to teach introductory navigation skills, and this article describes how they can be used as innovative, nontraditional activities in physical…

Research has shown that regular physical activity helps to prevent major health problems, such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. However, little research has been conducted on classroom-based physical activity programs for students with disabilities. In North Carolina, the Healthy Active Children Policy was implemented in 2006, requiring…

The last several decades have witnessed a large increase in the number of girls who participate in sports in the United States. Today an estimated 8 million third- through 12th-grade girls and 12 million boys participate in organized and team sports. While much progress has been made toward achieving gender equity in youth sports, too many girls…

This article explores the realities of grading and report cards within the context of standards-based physical education (SBPE). Specific objectives are to (1) identify standards for conducting quality assessments, (2) examine grading issues and concerns, (3) present guidelines for grading in SBPE programs, and (4) exemplify grading and reporting…

This article provides an overview of medicine ball training. Specifically, it describes "Medicine Ball for All," a physical activity program designed to provide children and teenagers with a meaningful learning experience that is consistent with their developmental needs. The article focuses on developing a safe, successful, and inexpensive…

There are multiple approaches to measuring physical activity. Among these are direct observation, electronic monitoring, direct and indirect calorimetry, and self-report instruments. Self-report instruments are the most practical and cost effective option for use with a large group. In a study by Motl, Dishman, Dowda, and Pate (2004), two groups…

This article looks at the role of K-12 physical educators in helping students to accomplish the NETS-S standards. There are six categories of NETS-S comprising 14 standards. In addition, there are 10 performance indicators for PreK-2, 10 performance indicators for grades three to five, 10 performance indicators for grades six to eight, and 10…

This article applies the principles and concepts of the aesthetics of movement to actual physical education teaching situations. It does so by discussing the author's one-day observations of several middle school physical education classes taught by three different teachers. During these classes, the teachers taught students how to calculate and…