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Over the years, the objectives of physical education have evolved to fit the prevailing scientific views regarding the importance of physical skills and fitness to health and well-being. Programs focusing on musculoskeletal development in the 1950s gave way to skill-related fitness in the 1960s and 1970s and health-related fitness in the 1980s and 1990s. Recently, public health policy has clearly shifted towards stressing the importance of regular physical activity for optimal health. The Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health recommends that all people more than two years of age accumulate 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). This recommendation acknowledges that significant gains in health can be achieved through modest amounts of activity. While additional activity may be beneficial, the consensus is that promoting moderate-intensity activities will be more successful in improving public health than recommending more vigorous forms of exercise.
The same trend toward physical activity promotion is clearly evident within physical education. While fitness is still an obvious goal, the emphasis has shifted to lifelong physical activity patterns. For example, Pate and Hohn (1994) suggest that the mission of physical education is to "promote in youngsters the adoption of a physically active lifestyle that persists throughout adulthood". The National Association for Sport and Physical Education's current definition of a "physically educated person" (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE], 1995) also focuses on behavioural rather than performance outcomes. Three of the five original components used in their definition of a physically educated person refer specifically to physical activity. In addition to having good skills and reasonable levels of fitness, a physically educated person is considered to be someone who participates in regular activity, knows the benefits of participation, and values the contribution that activity can make to a healthy lifestyle. These behavioural aspects of physical activity are emphasized in nearly all guidelines and activity recommendations for children (Council for Physical Education for Children, 1998; Freedson & Rowland, 1993; Pangrazi, Corbin, & Welk, 1996; Pate & Hohn, 1994; Sallis & Patrick, 1994; Welk, 1999) and are at the core of most contemporary pedagogical approaches to physical education (Corbin, 1994).
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While the conceptual focus of physical education has...