PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL Review

This review of the literature regarding physical education in the middle school will include the following relevant topics: pre adolescent diversity, curriculum evaluation, pedagogic content, the case study example, and the hidden curriculum.

The middle school, developed around 30 years ago, was designed for the young adolescent, who was not ready for the impersonal climate found in the high school environment. The nature of this situation comes with difficulties that are yet to be resolved. Placek (1992) visited four middle schools and found that teachers and principles are still searching and struggling to overcome the problems related to physical education in the middle school. At a national secondary physical education conference, the audience responded to a question regarding the type of curriculum needed for this age group, with a majority vote for needs for sport skills (66%); less frequently mentioned activities included health-related (over 50%) and cooperation (38%). A search of the literature revealed a focus on activity selection and organization, and literature on middle schools tended to focus on structure rather than curriculum reforms. However, the author concludes that some middle school literature has made the point that this environment must be student-centered rather than subject-centered and it must meet the needs of a rapidly changing s

. . .
an emphasis on the mind and body both being developed. In a West Middle School, in Shanghai, physical education or physical culture was being taught to 1,600 students. Students participated in this class two times a week for 45-minute sessions. They were given formal instruction and they participated in physical sport activities. The students also participated in mid-morning marching and running, daily. After-school activities were offered twice a week; ten minutes of mass exercise ensued and after warmups, students chose from "badminton, basketball, ping pong, rope jumping, track relays, tug of war, and volleyball" (boys did all but rope jumping; girls did rope jumping and badminton) (p. 22). Xue Jun Middle School, Hangchow, has 14,000 students. For these students, all participate twice a day in eye massage to prevent myopia. Morning exercises are done each day, after two classes, and they are done to music. Students also participate in two periods of formal physical culture instruction each week and after-school sports twice a week. Badminton, ball games, exercises, gymnastics, long distance running, and ping pong are taught in coeducational classes. Steel horizontal bars and parallel bars were also available. Spec
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hidden Curriculum, Adolescent Diversity, Study Example, Curriculum Evaluation, Rikard Woods, Mars Cusimano, Chen Ennis, School Shanghai, School Hangchow, Curriculum Framework, physical education, middle school, content knowledge, school physical education, school physical, middle school physical, hidden curriculum, pedagogical content knowledge, pedagogical content, purpose concepts, rope jumping, teaching physical, education middle school, education middle, physical education middle,
Approximate Word count = 3163
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)

More Essays on PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL Review