Sunday, July 7, 2013

Is Your School Helping Fight Childhood Obesity?



An article off the Huffington Post website addressed a concern our country has been facing for quite some time now – childhood obesity.  According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity effects 17% of all children and adolescents in the United States - triple the rate from just one generation ago. Solutions are not simple, but there are some choices that schools can make to help this matter. The Institute of Medicine is recommending that schools provide opportunities for at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day for students and that PE become a core subject.  (Klein, 2013) Good news is that most schools do have mandatory PE programs, however; most students do not meet the requirements of getting the recommended amount of time per week. 

CDC recommends the following:

-          All elementary school students should spend an average of 30 minutes each day in PE class.
-          Middle and high school students should spend an average of 45 minutes each day in PE class.

How does your school match up with the recommended amount of time per week students should have of PE?  Do you think Physical Education should become a core subject?

7 comments:

  1. Casey, I wonder what this issue is like in Canada?!? As Canada doesn't have the same kind of high stakes testing regime that we find in the US, is PE still a bigger part of the curriculum. I don't know, but you've made me curious.

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    1. I wonder as well! I don't know how close you are to Toroto, but I was able to find this article published back in March of 2013. Looks like are dealing with students not getting enough activity in school as well. http://tinyurl.com/ld7qk2n

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  2. Great question Casey! I think physical education is so important for many reasons. You've mentioned the core, helping students beat obesity, but also for mental health, a break from hard classes, and a chance to learn team work and disciple. I hate to say it but the school I taught at last year didn't have PE for high school. It's required by law and so students have to go to local fitness clubs to get their PE credit, outside school hours. We also don't have locker rooms for the students to use. I think having a PE as a core class is important along with implementing testing within the class.

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    1. Wow! No PE at all in the school? Do you mind if I ask what state? I think that is a great supplemental activity for students to go and join a local gym, however; it surely does not substitute what would be taught in a quality PE class.

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    2. Well, I don't blame this on my state. I blame this on an administration who likes to stretch the truth on what is provided at our school. I doubt it's really allowed in the state. I only say this because I've switched schools.

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  3. This is a really interesting issue, and attaching the appropriate exercise time requirements to curriculum is a great start. I think we also need to consider what kind of adjustments we can encourage to students' attitudes about fitness. I often hear students' complaints about having to go to gym class. Most of them are happy to tell you they don't like it; I wonder whether there's something we can do to change that aside from just requiring more time. We might be able to prevent childhood obesity by forcing kids to exercise at school, but we're not going to create healthy adults if we let them think that exercise is a chore that they can finally be done with when they're done at school.

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  4. Casey,
    In Alberta, it is mandatory for K-9 students to have at least 30 minutes of P.E. a day. I do believe P.E. should be a core course, but I believe we should incorporate more activities that promote healthy lifestyles for life. There is so much research that highlight the benefits of active living that we need to make sure students learn that there can be enjoyment in the exercise. My concern is that P.E. classes can sometimes strip the pleasure from the activity.

    Schools need to look for creative ways to incorporate physical activity into other subject areas as well. If there isn't enough time for P.E., having movement breaks embedded into each class could help meet the minimum requirements and it is backed by brain research as well.

    This is a very important issue! Thanks for the questions.

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