 Opportunities and Challenges in Physical Education and Exercise Science
 Benefits of Physical Activity
 Help prevent cardiovascular disease
 Help reduce or eliminate some of the risk factors associated with high blood pressure, obesity,
diabetes, and colon cancer
 Lower the risk for stroke
 Reduce feelings of depression and anxiety
 Improve mood
 Benefits of Physical Activity
 Increase cardiorespiratory endurance
 Build muscular strength and endurance
 Improve flexibility
 Build healthy bones, muscles, and joints
 Increase the capacity for exercise
 What Are the Challenges Facing Recreation and Leisure Programs?
 Demographic changes
 Altered family and work patterns including latch-key kids
 Environmental concerns
 Budget reductions
 Socioeconomic factors of participants
 Unique programmatic needs of individuals of all ages
 What Are Challenges Facing the Exercise Sciences?
 Public health issues, such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases
 Rising health care costs
 Activity program adherence in fitness programs
 Inadequately educated individuals conducting fitness classes, prescribing exercises, or serving as
personal trainers
 Lack of access to fitness programs by some minorities, females, senior citizens, and individuals
with special needs
 What Are Program Adherence Factors?
 Set realistic exercise goals and commit to achieving them
 Tailor your exercise program to fit your current fitness level and lifestyle
 Meet your physician’s expectations for addressing a health concern through exercise
 Implement a safe, individualized, and progressive program
 Participate in fun and satisfying activities
 Ensure access to facilities at convenient times
 Ensure proper supervision that includes education about exercise and helps with motivation
 Develop a positive feeling about exercise and how it can affect your health
 Keep records of your exercise program and periodically reward yourself for making progress
 Get periodic assessments and feedback about your fitness level
 Receive support and encouragement from family, friends, and peers
 Build your self-efficacy, or the optimistic assessment that you can cope with the demands of life,
such as by continuing your exercise program
 Develop a strong belief in yourself that you can overcome barriers and succeed with your
exercise program
 Include periodic social functions with others in your exercise group
 Be patient because developing fitness takes time
 Ensure that your exercise program has meaning by connecting it with a personal need
 Other Issues Facing Exercise Sciences
 Information-based, global interconnection
 Must seek advanced education (certifications and degrees) in order to qualify for and retain jobs
 Must evaluate information on the Web
 Utilization of technology in research
 Focus on assessment and accountability
 Ethical concerns
 Elementary School Programs
 Understanding the developmental readiness of children
 Fundamental movement skills progressing from simple to complex, along with basic fitness
concepts
 Varied curricula including rhythmical activities, stunts, games, basic sports skills, relays, and
lead-up games
 Movement Education
 Begins where each child
 Proceeds from known activities into new movement patterns
 Continues within the personal and unique limitations of each child
 Develops confidence for each child since each learns at his or her own ability level
 Confidence leads to freedom to explore more difficult, yet basic, movements
 Characteristics of Movement Education
 The program
 Activity-centered
 Student-centered
 Intellectual awareness stressed (problem solving and guided discovery)
 Problems to solve have a variety of solutions
 The teacher
 Imaginative
 Creative
 Guides, not dictates
 The student
 Inner motivation
 Independent
 Thinks and reasons intelligently
 Progresses at own rate
 Self-evaluates based on individualized goals
 Competes against self, not others
 Class atmosphere
 Informal
 Varied formations
 Permissive behavior allowed
 Time allotment based on students' needs
 Middle School Physical Education
 Attention to the developmental needs of students during this transitional period
 Developing responsible personal and social behaviors
 Varied curricula that review fundamental and sport skills while incorporating these into games,
dance forms, and outdoor adventure activities
 Secondary School Physical Education
 Curricular focus on developing and maintaining a health-enhancing level of physical fitness
 Varied program that includes aerobic activities and lifetime sports and activities
 Helping students learn to commit to lifelong physical activity
 Instructional Challenges
 Insufficient facilities and equipment
 Apathetic students
 Violence in schools
 Alcohol and other drug use and abuse
 Lack of parental and family support for education
 Heterogeneous students in large classes (along with inclusion)
 Disciplinary and behavioral problems
 Other Issues and Problems
 Threats to program viability
 Role conflicts between physical education teachers and coaches
 Identity dilemma in name and image
 Fragmentation
 Lack of fitness (rising incidence of obesity) of students due to inactivity and poor eating habits
 Universities/College Physical Education
 Fewer than half of the colleges and universities have retained their required physical
education programs. Many other colleges and universities have reduced their requirements
because of budget limitations and an increasing emphasis on general education and
requirements of specialized majors.
 Universities/College Physical Education
 Advertisement(drugs, good looking models), get fit fads, sporting goods using pro athletes,
health clubs that promise to get you in shape(extra cost), are some of the challenges that face
the physical education professional.
 Blacks, Native American, Asians, Latinos, and other ethnic groups are demanding more
recreational and artistic programs that appeals to their unique cultural backgrounds.
 Commercialization/Recreation/Leisure
 Older adults want more choices as they into their golden years so they want more Masters
competitions, Senior Games, Age-and Ability appropriate classes at health clubs and
recreation department, Walking clubs, Sport Leagues, Therapeutic programs at
hospitals/retirement homes/senior citizen centers, and Intergenerational after school
programs for children and grandparents.
 Commercialization/Recreation/Leisure
 The cost and quality of child care have become a major issue for parents (compare to 1950’s)
so meeting the developmental play needs of preschool children challenges those who offer inhouse or commercialized child care services.
 Although people are taxed for municipal services, including recreation, there never seems to
be enough money, space, or programs. To meet their budgets, many recreation departments
must charge entry or participation fees.
 Certification and Accreditation
 Teacher licensure, such as through the Praxis Series
 Program accreditation based on achieving national standards and performance outcomes, such
as through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
 Certification of coaches and individuals working in the exercise sciences
 (Generalist vs. Specialists)
 The quality and quantity of information have led to increasing specializations for two primary
reasons:
 Sheer volume of books, research, reports, resources on the Internet, and scholarly
papers makes it difficult for individuals to gain exhaustive knowledge in any one
discipline, let alone several.
 A greater understanding of a subdiscipline encourages people to specialize in an area
of particular interest in order to create and spread new knowledge.
 College faculty is required to have the minimum of a master’s degree, while university
professors must have earned doctorates.
 (Generalist vs. Specialists)
 Technology has contributed to the specialization of exercise science:
 Athletes can now recover from injuries faster through advance surgical techniques and
computer-monitored rehabilitation programs.
 Data collection on the incidence and causes of injuries has been used to redesign
conditioning and practice drills to both reduce injury and enhance rehabilitation.
 Library retrieval systems and Web search engines help researchers; keep abreast of
current research, trends, and experimental data. E-mail also helps researchers
collaborate in a timely manner.
 (Generalist vs. Specialists)
 Regardless of position held, the knowledge explosion has made the half-life of information
learned in college, graduate school, or certification courses short-lived.
 The relevancy and even accuracy of information that you acquire while obtaining your
physical education or exercise science degree may be wrong, dangerous, or of questionable
validity a decade after you graduate.
 Thus, lifelong learning is imperative, particularly with regard to research in your specially.
 Accountability
 The political right that demands that an individual or institution be held responsible to achieve a
specified action
 Standard — a uniform criterion or minimum essential element for the measurement of quality
 Assessment — a measure of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that leads to the assignment of a
value or score
 Causes of Career Burnout
 Excessive demands (overwork)
 Constant tension or pressure
 Lack of recognition and reward
 Excessive repetitiveness in job
 Lack of challenge or motivation
 Lack of flexibility and freedom
 No possibility for advancement
 Role conflict (such as teacher-coach)
 Signs and Symptoms of Career Burnout
 Chronic stress
 Emotional exhaustion
 Less enjoyment of work and leisure time
 Bodily changes, such as fatigue or increased heart rate
 Overeating or under eating
 Excessive drinking or abuse of drugs
 Frustration with job-related factors
 Anxiety and depression
 Coping Mechanisms — Physically
 Get a complete physical exam
 Get adequate sleep
 Eat nutritious and timely meals
 Exercise regularly
 Coping Mechanisms — Mentally
 Develop coping skills for dealing with stress
 Understand yourself and how you deal with stress
 Set realistic goals
 Learn to manage your time more effectively
 Take time for relaxation
 Coping Mechanisms — Socially
 Nurture personal relationships
 Engage in meaningful service to others
 Practice healthy communication
 Express your feelings to someone you trust
 Keep your sense of humor