Document View

Darst and Pangrazi (2009) further suggest four unique contributions that physical education makes to the lives of students: (1) the achievement of daily physical activity, (2) the achievement of a personalized level of physical fitness, (3) the development of competency in a variety of physical skills, and (4) the acquisition of requisite knowledge for leading an active and healthy lifestyle. [...] if the physical education teacher creates a station that is designed to work on muscular strength (e.g., push-ups), it is important to give kids a variety of activities to choose from (e.g., traditional push-ups, modified knee push-ups, or even the opportunity to create their own version).

Physical educators face the daily challenge of providing young people with the necessary skills to live a physically active and health-enhancing lifestyle. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, 2004) identifies six standards that should serve as a foundation for physical education programs. They specifically charge physical educators with ensuring that students demonstrate competency in the motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities (standard 1), participate regularly in physical activity (standard 3), and achieve a health-enhancing level of physical fitness (standard 4). Darst and Pangrazi (2009) further suggest four unique contributions that physical education makes to the lives of students: (1) the achievement of daily physical activity, (2) the achievement of a personalized level of physical fitness, (3) the development of competency in a variety of physical skills, and (4) the acquisition of requisite knowledge for leading an active and healthy lifestyle.

Many teachers do an outstanding job of incorporating or teaching physical fitness in their classes. Unfortunately, however, many more physical educators use fitness as a punishment or as a means of embarrassing children. Often the only fitness that takes place in schools is related to the President's Physical Fitness Test or Fitnessgram. With the understanding that fitness is considered an essential component of physical education and that many teachers incorporate fitness in an inappropriate manner, the purpose of this article is to provide teachers with another potential way to incorporate fitness into their classes.

Traditionally, many secondary physical educators have taught fitness in a callisthenic or militaristic manner, having all students participate in the same fitness activity and holding them all to the same standard. Further, in fitness testing, students have to perform a variety of tests in front of their peers, which can result in embarrassment for many children. Much of our physical fitness is controlled by heredity, making it extremely important not to put youths in the spotlight but to provide them with a variety of ways to improve, based on their personal capabilities and needs.

Most young people prefer working on skills or playing a game as opposed to working only on fitness. With this understanding and through trial and error, we have found that incorporating fitness activities into skill and game opportunities has had great success. Figure 1 illustrates how basketball can be used to allow students to work on a series of skill-related activities and games as well as fitness activities that are specifically related to the activity.

The Task Style (Stations)

Student skill level and fitness abilities differ widely in physical education. If teachers are to provide opportunities that maximize learning and success, they must address the issue of varying abilities. Creating a series of stations can provide students with challenging, yet appropriate tasks. For physical educators with large and diverse classes, the task style (Mosston & Ashworth, 2002) provides an opportunity to deal with this issue through the use of minimal equipment and supplies. By presenting learning tasks at various locations or stations, an individualized focus with minimal distractions can be achieved. At each station, students are presented with a variety of tasks to learn and practice. The students have the freedom to work individually or with a partner. Accountability and ownership can also be built in through worksheets or peer and self assessments. Alternating skill and fitness tasks works best (figure 2 illustrates how to combine soccer skill tasks and fitness tasks).

Provide Choice

Young people like having a choice of what activities they are going to participate in, and they want to be successful. Individualizing tasks (especially fitness tasks) through choice allows for greater participation, learning, and enjoyment. For example, if the physical education teacher creates a station that is designed to work on muscular strength (e.g., push-ups), it is important to give kids a variety of activities to choose from (e.g., traditional push-ups, modified knee push-ups, or even the opportunity to create their own version). By individualizing and empowering students with choice, the teacher will increase the motivational level of most students. This individualization also allows for students to work through tasks at their own pace and provides them with a sense of responsibility for learning. This style will also maximize teachers' opportunities to offer congruent feedback.

What to Include?

When designing a skill and fitness activity, it is best to incorporate a variety of skill tasks and physical fitness tasks that are related in some way to the particular game. For example, a typical invasiongame activity could include stations for dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense. Fitness activities related to a specific sport allow students to recognize the benefits and purpose of such fitness ac- tivities. For example, basketball jumps (i.e., jumping while holding a ball over their head) can be as- sociated with rebounding, thereby satisfying students' desire to know why they are doing the activity. If a specific game-related fitness activity is not possible, using the equipment from that game or skill can provide a similar connection (e.g., doing crunches with a soccer ball between their knees). The task style allows teachers to be creative and try a variety of activities. Each time the teacher uses a fitness or skill activity, he or she can include a number of variations and a variety of equipment.

Equipment Needs

The nice part of using the stations approach to teaching is that teachers do not need large quantities of a specific piece of equipment. Most sport equipment may be substituted for fitness equipment. For example any sport ball can take the place of a medicine ball, or a hockey stick could take the place of a barbell. Be creative and be willing to try different things. It is also recommended to use music when doing any fitness activity. Music can motivate students and serve as a signal when it is time to rotate to the next station. Students may also enjoy bringing in their own music, though the teacher must make sure that there are no inappropriate songs or lyrics.

Conclusion

By combining skill tasks and fitness tasks, physical educators can make the most efficient use of their class time while meeting many of the national standards. Implementing this strategy using stations accommodates student differences and allows students to take ownership of their physical activity.