Authentic Teaching of Fitness Concepts to Children

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance on April 9, 2002

This paper stresses the importance of teaching aerobic and muscle fitness concepts as part of a health-related fitness curriculum in physical education, recommending outcomes for teaching aerobic endurance and muscle/strength endurance in kindergarten through sixth grade. It describes important learning aid materials and presents national standards and benchmarks for application to aerobic and muscle fitness. The paper presents authentic teaching of aerobic endurance concepts to children in grades K-2 (e.g., location, size, and purpose of heart and resting and exercise pulse) and children in grades 3-6 (e.g., defining aerobic endurance and recording heart rate), offering related learning activities. It also presents authentic teaching of muscle fitness concepts to children in grades K-2 (e.g., the purpose of muscles and correct exercise performance using one's own body weight) and children in grades 3-6 (e.g., major muscles and muscular strength/endurance definition and importance), offering appropriate learning activities. (Contains references.) (SM)