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Creating a learner-Centered Environment to enhance college Fitness. Jeff Marsee, MA, ATC Associate Professor in PHP Doctoral Student in Health Education Taylor University – Upland, Indiana. PHP100 – Fitness for Life.
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Creating a learner-Centered Environment to enhance college Fitness Jeff Marsee, MA, ATC Associate Professor in PHP Doctoral Student in Health Education Taylor University – Upland, Indiana
PHP100 – Fitness for Life • A course on the importance of wellness, including the spiritual basis, and how individuals can achieve a state of wellness in their lives. Content includes the health-related components of physical fitness, hypokinetic diseases, nutrition, HIV/AIDs, sexuality, substance abuse, cancer, and stress management. Students are expected to engage in a program of regular physical activity during the semester, and a battery of tests is given to assess each student’s level of physical fitness. This course, a requirement of all students, satisfies the first of three general education requirements in PHP.
Course Overview • Has been in our curriculum for over 20 years • The first of three hours required of all students in PHP • Usually 10-12 sessions taught teach semester by at least six instructors (class size = ~24) • Each instructor has complete freedom of instruction and the only standardization has been with fitness testing • Student apathy and disinterest has continued to be a problem
What makes a learner-centered environment? • The student becomes the center of the education • The student becomes more responsible for learning and the instructor becomes the facilitator • This system should be flexible, competency-based, and not constrained to place and time • Allows students to take ownership in the content – both in study and in assessment
Examples of Learner-centered activities in fitness for life • Collaborative group learning • Discussions, debates, presentations • Individual student research and discovery • Diet analysis, journaling • Problem-based learning and inquiry • Chronic illness assignment • Hands-on experiential learning • Exercise development plan, authentic assessment activities
Learner-centered Assessment • Philosophy of Fitness & Wellness Papers – have traditionally been assigned only at beginning of semester but now has a follow-up required at the end of the semester. • Weekly exercise reports – Little change to the exercise requirement but more emphasis on creating their own programs and developing alternatives • Chronic Illness assignment
Fitness testing – more focus on the data. Students are able to retrieve the raw scores and see where they fall as compared to their peers. • On-line chapter quizzes – with the use of Blackboard, these can are required to be taken prior to class times in which the content is covered and has enhanced class discussion • Diet Analysis – this has been required for several years. A pilot study has been added.
Authentic Assessments for each unit • Fitness • Nutrition • Personal health • Final Journal Project – • Chapter 1 - First Philosophy Paper • Chapter 2 – 2 pages describing the 10-week exercise program • Chapter 3 – 1-2 pages on the three modules • Chapter 4 – 1-2 pages describing the impact that wellness has on their Christian walk • Chapter 5 – 1 page paper on the chronic illness assignment • Chapter 6 – Their revised Philosophy Paper
Why do we still teach it? • Energy levels of high school are replaced with decisions about work, classes, social events, and studying. • 66% of high school students report getting adequate physical activity but only 44% of the college students report the same (Bray & Kwan, 2006). • CDC suggests that college number is even lower. • Activity levels of college seniors remain the same for up to six years, (Sparling & Snow, 2002).
Physical inactivity is a serious and pervasive public health problem and is designated on of the priorities in the Healthy People 2010 and Healthy Campuses 2020 objectives (Healthy campus 2010, n.d.). • Recent attention has been directed to the “transition” phase in life when students leave the general control and structure of high school and move into a more independent living situation. • Sullum, Clark & King (2000) describe this time as critical for the adoption and maintenance of exercise behaviors that will linger through the lifetime.
In many cases, students have not learned how to develop healthy behaviors (Reed, 2007). • McCormick & Lockwood (2006) have shown fitness and wellness knowledge does increase with completion of a required lifetime fitness course by college students fortunate enough to take one. • In addition to the numerous and well-known health benefits of a physically active lifestyle, Bray & Born (2004) described the benefits to academic performance. • A conceptual PE program, in which key concepts are addressed rather that fitness alone, has been found to reverse the downward trend of physical activity during the transition years (Jenkins, 2006).
Future Thoughts • Student-centered course is not being used by all the faculty • Variety in content and delivery may need to be addressed • Introduction of guest speakers when possible • Consideration of a modular curricular design
Contact Info…. Jeff Marsee Department of PHP Taylor University Upland, IN 46989 jfmarsee@tayloru.edu 765.998.5132
