The New Physical Education

May is Physical Fitness and Sports Month. Enjoying and playing sports helps elementary students form the foundation of attitudes, habits, and skills that will keep them active and fit for a lifetime.

Many school physical education programs are de-emphasizing team sports and turning to a greater emphasis on lifetime individual sports/activities such as golf, tennis, swimming, hiking, bicycling, yoga, dancing, jogging, etc. vs. the traditional approach of competitive team sports. Student participation in competitive team sports often fades as students get older because of the lack of time and opportunity to be part of a team, fear of injury, and lack of skill required.

Another trend in physical education in schools is to provide individualized programs for each student that support healthy diets, weight control, strength, agility, and cardiovascular function through physical activities that appeal to each student.

This total approach to healthy bodies and minds is a far cry from too many traditional programs. Past programs featured team sports that rewarded the more athletic students, but "turned off" and penalized many students who had no interest in the sport or ability to compete effectively.

BookCart learning activities offer significant advantages to both students and teachers. BookCart inquiry-based learning saves time and frustration in searching and ensures excellent resources from which students can make selections. BookCarts save classroom/library time and reduce distractions, providing more time on task.

BookCarts can be shared and used again and again with some minor editing. Each ProQuest model BookCart contains the best resources for learning, student directions, and essential questions for critical thinking—ONE PLACE to go to get everything that a student needs to have a successful research learning activity.

ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity—"Exercise and Health." This is a complete activity that includes everything that the student will need to complete the assignment. Teachers can copy and edit the Cart if necessary to customize it for their students.

• Open eLibrary Elementary Teacher Edition
• Click BookCart Admin link at the top right
• Click the ProQuest Carts tab (800 ProQuest models—100 elementary)
• Type "Health and Exercise" in the Search box
• Click the Copy icon in the Actions column to the right of this Cart
• Click Return to My Local Carts tab

This Cart should be edited in My Local Carts to adapt them for your students:

• Click your BookCart Title—it has "Copy of" as its prefix
• Delete "Copy of" in the Title
• Type your name in the Author boxes > type your email address for the quiz
• Option: Edit the essential questions and any other text in the Directions box
• Scroll down and click Save button at bottom
• Return to My Local Carts

Learn more about how to copy, edit, and adapt these models to differentiate instruction for your students.

Assign each student to choose from two of a variety of individual sports that they have interest in and that provide recreation and fitness for a lifetime.

For example: kayaking; bicycling; rowing; swimming; golf; skating; dancing; karate or other martial arts; hiking; skateboarding; tennis; yoga; fencing, Frisbee, and running.

Students will use keyword searching based on the two sports they select.

Learners should create reports of at least 100 words that cite at least two resources for each sport/activity and summarize interesting information about each:

• How does this sport/activity contribute to overall fitness?
• What special skills are required?
• What are the hazards and safety concerns?
• What is something unusual or exciting about this sport/activity?

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.