Do you occasionally have doubts about the future of our profession? We constantly hear about program cuts - real and threatened - while simultaneously it appears that our children are becoming less active and eating poorly. What hope is there? Fortunately, there's reason for optimism. You just need to go to a conference or professional workshop and spend time with colleagues. Hope for the future is quickly restored. The recent national convention in Fort Worth was such an experience.

Below I've shared notes from just a few of the sessions I was able to attend. Despite the financial obstacles, maybe there's a way you can plan to join us next year in Tampa? Before then I urge you to attend your next state convention. It's a great way to get recharged!

Serious Games: Effects of Media

The convention opened with an invited presentation by Tom Baranowski, a Professor from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Baronwski and his team are working on developing interactive video games to promote physical activity habits. He suggested that most child-focused diet and physical activity changing programs were not working and commented, "Most school based programs are boring and tend to be knowledge based." In contrast, a review of research on the impact of video games revealed that most showed evidence of positive behavioral changes.

Baronwski reported that video games offered several advantages: they maintained student attention; the learning experience is fun; they can be tailored to address prior beliefs and attitudes; they can introduce behavior change procedures; and they use stories to promote change. Baranowski's team are currently developing and testing two video games, and will be examining their impact on body mass index (BMI) and weight control.

Listening in the audience, I had two questions (and unfortunately no time to pose them).

First, "do behaviors developed in games transfer to real life? It seems to me that game players learn strategies needed to be successful when playing the game. What evidence is there that these behaviors are not specific to the challenges posed by the games, and will be displayed in other settings?"

Second, "surely the choices we make in regard to both physical activity and nutrition are highly dependent on opportunities?" For example, while at the convention, opportunities for me to exercise and eat a healthy diet were compromised by the schedule and restricted access to the kinds of foods I would normally eat. With students they may want to be physically active and eat well, but not have opportunities where they live to do so.

Childhood Obesity: There has to be a Better Weigh

One of the strongest advocates for promoting the work of physical educators has been the American Heart Association. It also happens (not by chance either) to be one of the best-funded national charities, and a powerful advocacy group on Capital Hill. In a keynote presentation, Cass Wheeler, CEO of the AMA shared data on youth obesity - it's consequences and causes.

You can see slides from the presentation yourself by visiting the AAHPERD web site. Of special interest to us are the efforts of the AHA to improve the quality and quantity of physical activity in schools. The AHA supports proposals for 150 minutes/week of physical education in elementary schools, no waivers or substitutions for physical education, and making physical education a requirement for high school graduation.

The AHA is advocating congressional support of the "Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act," or "FIT Kids Act," which would amend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act to support quality physical education and activity for all public school children through grade 12. You too can add your support to this important effort to benefit children by visiting the advocacy web site.

NASPE Town Hall Meeting

One of the challenges of any national organization is being representative of, and responsive to its members. At this open question and answer forum, Arizona elementary school physical educator, and also NASPE Physical Education Coordinator, Ellen Abbadessa, invited participants to share good and bad news about the physical education profession, and suggest ways that NASPE could better meet our professional needs.

On the positive side, praise was offered for many NASPE sponsored programs and products. STARS recognition for exemplary school physical education programs is becoming increasingly popular. NASPE documents were viewed as excellent resources for program advocacy among audiences outside of our profession. And NASPE was praised for organizing the many in-service workshops offered nationwide.

Hot topics members raised included concerns about the inability of some school districts to afford the expense of fitness assessment software, and a request was expressed for a position statement on the use of Body Mass Index (BMI). One member believed it would be helpful to have a "rapid response team" prepared to immediately help physical educators facing crises in their districts. A belief was also expressed that as a profession we needed to communicate more effectively with outside groups such as school principals, superintendents, and school boards. Likely, more controversial was a request for discussion about the need for physical educators to be role models. If that happens, it will be an interesting conversation for us all to follow!

Listening to the various comments, I found it especially insightful to be reminded that what NASPE can and can't do depends a great deal on membership support. Only a small fraction of public school teachers and coaches belong to NASPE. Getting student majors and physical educators who aren't members to join NASPE is vital to ensuring the future of public school physical education. If you aren't already a NASPE member, for just $125/year (or about $30 every three months) you can help ensure we continue to have a voice advocating for physical education among Capital Hill legislators (membership information).

Physical Education in the U.S. - A Status Report from the CDC's 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study

Dr. Howell Wechsler, Director of the CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health, delivered another interesting keynote conference. Slides from this presentation can be downloaded from the NASPE web site.

It was interesting to hear about positive changes that have occurred in our schools since 2000. According to Wechsler, significant improvements have occurred in school nutrition, both in dining and in vending machine practices. He also reported an increase in school wellness programs for faculty and staff, and an increase in state and school district policies supporting the need for daily recess.

A study that should interest all of us was published in the American Journal of Public Health last month (April 2008). Entitled "Physical Education and Academic Achievement in Elementary School: data from a longitudinal study," the study showed the following:

A small but significant benefit for academic achievement in mathematics and reading was observed for girls enrolled in higher amounts (70-300 minutes per week) of physical education (referent: 0-35 minutes per week). Higher amounts of physical education were not positively or negatively associated with academic achievement among boys.

Among girls, higher amounts of physical education may be associated with an academic benefit. Physical education did not appear to negatively affect academic achievement in elementary school students. Concerns about adverse effects on achievement may not be legitimate reasons to limit physical education programs.

Wechsler urged physical educators to confront administrators planning to reduce time in physical education with the question, "Where is the evidence that reducing PE time will improve academic performance?" The evidence, he noted, was contrary to this conclusion.

Relocating from Easy Street: A Plan for Change in Physical Education

In an invited lecture as part of the Research Consortium, Lynn Houser from West Virginia University raised questions about the current status of public school physical education. He suggested that despite the profession having national and state standards, a good understanding of effective teaching strategies, and any array of different curriculum models, little of this information has found its way into the daily practice of physical education teaching in our public schools.

Housner reported that Penn State professor Scott Kretchmar referred to this dilemma as life on "easy street"which (according to Housner) was reflected in physical education programs with short units that have little chance to develop knowledge, skills, fitness, or positive dispositions towards developing physically active and healthy lifestyles. Housner proposed a multidimensional approach to change, one feature of which was an urgent need for fully developed physical education curriculums. To me, this appeared further recognition that expecting physical educators to develop their own curriculums has always been an unrealistic expectation.

From the audience, Darryl Siedentop suggested that a problem the profession faces is that standards based curriculums are not activity based, and that assessment of standards was not possible without a common curriculum. He further suggested that there was a need to prepare teachers to teach what is expected to be taught in our public schools, rather than a general assortment of activities. In the June edition of pelinks4u, Dr. Siedentop will be contributing an editorial with more thoughts about ways to improved teacher preparation.

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