Role of Research...
When Physical Education started, it was a program that was basically meant to get boys in shape to join the military. Then boys and girls started taking the class and girls were only meant to learn certain tasks and were never pushed like the boys (smaller court size, abridged rules, etc.). Then all students were taught in the same way and using the same rules and programs predominately focused on sports. Now more PE programs are pulling away from the competitive sports and moving toward improving skills in lifetime activities and focus more on the health-related fitness components. Why all the shifts in thinking? Research. Studies were done that show how improvements can be made to make programs better.
In PE research shows smaller class sizes are better, teachers who are effective communicators will produce better results, and classroom teachers are not as capable of teaching PE as a specialist would be. Studies like these provide teachers with the statistical data needed to make solid cases for why programs need to be changed and how the changes might work.
In PE research shows smaller class sizes are better, teachers who are effective communicators will produce better results, and classroom teachers are not as capable of teaching PE as a specialist would be. Studies like these provide teachers with the statistical data needed to make solid cases for why programs need to be changed and how the changes might work.
