EDU 6160 Blog Post Assignment #8

In this blog post assignment, I will be summarizing a “best practice” field study relevant to my instruction of health and fitness. Shermis and Di Vesta (2011) believe that best practice studies, “Can be helpful to teachers and schools for enhancing their instructional capabilities in teaching subject-matter content” (p. 475). In the content area of health/fitness, there are a number of best practices in regards to effective classroom instruction, assessment and management.

For this post, I will discuss Kohl III and Cook (2013)’s Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. In this study, Kohl III et al. (2013) present findings and recommendations for increasing the number of students meeting the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans’ recommendation of 60 minutes per day of moderate-intensity physical activity at school. Kohl III et al. (2013) conclude that in order to obtain maximum results (i.e. best practices) the Whole-of-School approach is desired. The Whole-of-School approach, “Requires participation from all people who take part in the day-to-day functioning of the school, including teachers, principals, school administrators, superintendents, students, and parents” (Kohl III et al., 2013). In addition, this approach also requires a multitude of resources, such as varying environments around the school (e.g. play ground equipment and gym space). By following this approach, Kohl III et al. (2013) believe that all students should be provided with 60 minutes of per day of moderate-intensity physical activity at school.

This approach would consume a considerable amount of time and money. However, Shermis et al. (2011) suggest that best practices offer, “A constructive beginning to workable solutions, solutions that go beyond the recommendation that schools need to maintain their hard work to get the job done. Understand that, despite the promise of the orientation, the methods of best practices are still not totally defined and should be considered a work in progress” (p. 457).

References

Kohl III, H. W., & Cook, H. D. (Eds.). (2013). Educating the student body: Taking physical activity and physical education to school. National Academies Press.

Shermis, M. D., & J., D. V. (2011). Classroom assessment in action. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.