PED 211 - Physical Education for Elementary Schools

Chapter 2

As teachers of physical education, we must understand children's growth and development stages in order to:

1. choose appropriate activities
2. choose movement experiences

These hopefully will foster optimum development.

For example: bone strength is developed by weight bearing activities, more so than the intake of calcium, an important mineral taken for bone development.

Children grow in unique ways, so it is very important that we know the development level of the students that the learning experience is for.

Definition of terms- you need to know these on page 19.

The most common measures of a child's growth pattern are height and weight.

Height:

1. The first period of rapid growth occurs during infancy.
2. Between 5 and 7, children grow about 3 inches per year.
3. At 9 years for girls and 11 for boys, the adolescent growth spurt begins. Girls reach the peak by 12 or 13, boys by 14 or 15.
4. Boys' height gain is much greater.

Weight:

1. Children are measured by height/weight charts, however children should be assessed by their percentage of body fat before one is considered obese
2. Body composition- the amount of body mass that is lean or fat. Males are obese at 25%; females are obese at 30%.
3. 20 to 35 percent of elementary school children are obese. Health implications (high blood pressure, diabetes) are significant if kids stay obese into adulthood. It is Imperative we address this problem.
4. Inactivity is the common characteristic in obese children, not overeating. Children must exercise, not diet.
5. Obese children do not enjoy PE because they struggle with it.
6. PE programs will not change obesity as much as the integration of nutrition in the health program with exercise.
7. As teachers it is a challenge for us to find individual programs and individual goal setting ideas to motivate the obese child to become physically active and maintain it.

Children are born with 3 body types:

1. ectomorph- lean
2. mesomorph- square, powerful looking
3. endomorph- rounded at the hips

Performance in locomotor or manipulative skills is largely unaffected by body type.

The ages of 5 to 9 are ideal for teaching basic locomotor and manipulative skills. Boys and girls can be combined for PE. IF some kids are better than others at this age, it's mostly due to practice, and not age or size.

Four important areas that contribute a child's awareness of what his/her body can do.

1. movement- responding to sensory experiences
2. body- identifying body parts and the relationship to each other.
3. Spatial- the ability to recognize and respond to objects in 3 dimensional space (catching a ball)
4. Rhythmical- tempo (bouncing a ball with time to music).

Muscle growth

1. rapid growth in muscle tissue between 5 and 6
2. From age 7 to 12 the growth is gradual and continuous.
3. Muscle tissue needs to be exercised to reach its full potential.
4. Between 5 and 12, boys are slightly stronger than girls because they play more vigorous activities.

Cardio respiratory growth

1. At age 6, boys and girls have a resting heart rate of about 90 beats per minute.
2. Girls' heart beats are about 3 beats higher
3. Easy fatigue and rapid recovery are characteristic of this age.

Factors affecting growth and development

1. Nutrition- malnutrition can delay puberty.
2. Exercise- necessary for the development of bones and muscles.
3. Geography and climate- short stocky body types are prevalent in cold climates, and tall thin bodies are prevalent in warm climates.

Motor skill development

1. developed through practice
2. stages listed on page 30
   1. Babyhood- sit, crawl, stand, walk (up to age 2).
   2. Early childhood
      1. Locomotor skills- run, jump, leap, hop, skip, slide, dodge, stop.
      2. Nonlocomotor skills- swing, twist, bend, turn, stretch.
      3. Manipulative skills- control of objects with hands and feet (catching, trapping, kicking, throwing, striking

         Reached between ages 3 and 7

   3. Middle childhood- combination and refinement of motor skills, and manipulative skills (run and jump, catch and throw)

      Reached at age 8 or 9

   4. Late childhood- advanced and refines movements of sport, dance, and other specialized skills. Usually reached between 10 and 12 years of age.

Each level must be met in the physical education program with specific activities designed to help all students' progress to the next level.

We will give specific examples of each level.

Social development- physical education is usually the first opportunity for children to interact socially.

1. 5 and 6 year olds like to play individually or with one or two other kids, and they tire easily of the activity and need to move on to something else.
2. By second grade they are much more cooperative and have interest in all sorts of activities, but for short periods of time.
3. At 8 to 9 (middle childhood) they like more group activities. This is the area they tend to test their abilities in a group setting, and self image is important here. We need to find ranges of success for each student.
4. In late childhood, 10 to 12 year olds like complex team games and will practice for long periods of time to improve their playing ability.

Cognitive development

1. At ages 5 to 7 (early childhood) they are creative and will repeat activities they can do well, usually simple movement concepts.
2. At ages 8 to 9 they are more interested in group activities and increase in attention span.
3. At ages 10 to 12 they have a genuine interest in the human body and how to improve health and performance. They ask questions and challenge reasons for studying or performing activities.

Knowledge development- as knowledge increases, performance increases

Major point to remember: The choice of an activity must be based on the characteristics and needs of children within each level of development.