I

I. LESSON GENERAL INFORMATION

a. Health-Related Fitness and the Benefits of Physical Activity

b. Grade 10

c. Miss Megan Cercone

II. LESSON OBJECTIVES

a. Cognitive: After completing the stations, the student will be able to correctly identify the five components of health-related physical fitness.

b. Affective: During the introduction, the student will be able to discuss their personal experiences with someone who has used a similar philosophy of “No Pain, No Gain” to certain aspects of their life.

c. Psychomotor: During the station group work, the student will be able to perform a variety of different tasks related to the components of health-related physical fitness.

III. PENNSYLVANIA STATE STANDARDS

10.1.12.B – Evaluate factors that impact the body systems and apply protective/preventive strategies.

· Fitness level

· Environment (e.g., pollutants, available health care)

· Health status (e.g., physical, mental, social)

· Nutrition

10.4.12.B – Analyze the effects of regular participation in a self-selected program of moderate to vigorous physical activities.

· Social

· Physiological

· Psychological

10.4.12.D – Evaluate factors that affect physical activity and exercise preferences of adults.

· Personal challenge

· Physical benefits

· Finances

· Motivation

· Access to activity

· Self-improvement

IV. NATIONAL HEALTH EDUCATION STANDARDS

1. Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention.

5. Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health.

V. MATERIALS

-markerboard/chalkboard

-5 colored folders used for stations (labeled “Cardiorespiratory Endurance” (red), “Muscular Endurance” (blue), “Muscular Strength” (yellow), “Flexibility” (green), and “Body Composition” (blue)

-6 worksheets titled “Health-Related Physical Fitness – Station Work” (includes one teacher answer key)

-1 calculator

-2 stopwatches

-1 small, black mesh bag that contains 2 resistance tubes (1 purple, 1 orange), 2 black handles that attach to the tubing, and 1 instructional exercise manual turned to page 12 – “Bicep Curls”

VI. LESSON OUTLINE

Time

Concept

Activity

5-6 minutes

25 minutes

3 minutes

Motivational Opener:

The importance of this motivational opener is to allow the students to brainstorm with their fellow peers about the many positive benefits physical activity has on their bodies. After brainstorming their ideas, the students will get the chance to share their ideas with the rest of the class as well as distinguish which benefits help them physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. The students will also have the chance to relate and share personal experiences about people in their lives (parents, guardians, coaches, band leaders) that have used a similar philosophy like “No Pain, No Gain” when it comes to school work, sports, clubs, bands, etc. They will also have the chance to discuss whether or not physical activity can have negative effects on their bodies.

*Reference:

Lesson Body:

After identifying the benefits to physical activity, the students should be able to learn about the different ways of achieving those benefits. The five components to health-related fitness all contribute to the overall health of a person. Through the self-directed stations, the students will be able to work within small groups to learn about each component and be able to perform some type of task related to that specific component. Because the teacher is not lecturing the students about each component, they must help each other in learning about each component and how it relates to overall health. Acting as a facilitator, the teacher will be able to help the groups when needed at each station and make sure that the directions for the stations are being followed properly.

*References:

“Body Composition Tests – Body Mass Index.” American Heart Association. Last updated April 2, 2005. www.americanheart.org

“Station Work in the Classroom.” Dr. Linda Klingaman

Lesson Conclusion:

By asking some concluding questions about the lesson, this portion of the class period should work to help summarize some of the ideas and facts that the students learned about in each station. The main point of the question and answer period is to allow the students to think about each component of health-related fitness and how each contributes to their overall health. This time period will also give the students time to ask any additional questions they may have about today’s lesson.

1. To begin the activities, the teacher should group the students into 5 groups of 3 students according to the vicinity of where they are sitting. The groups should be arranged around the room.

2. Next, the students should help the teacher move the desks to the perimeter of the classroom, so that there is open space in the middle. Try to keep the desks in small groups around the perimeter, so that the stations can be placed around the room. Have the students sit with their groups around the room.

3. The teacher should introduce the unit the students will be starting today: Physical Activity. The students should all know that physical activity benefits themselves in many aspects. Within their groups, the students will produce a list of benefits that physical activity can have on the body on one piece of paper (the teacher should remind them that they can be mental, physical, emotional, and social.) One person in each group can be the recorder. Encourage them to come up with around 6-8 benefits.

4. While the students are collaborating, the teacher should write the phrase “No Pain, No Gain” on the marker board. After about 3 minutes of discussion, the teacher should bring the class together as a whole to discuss their lists and the phrase.

5. Before discussing the lists, the teacher should ask the students if they have heard this phrase before and what it means (It means that in order to achieve results during physical activity or some type of activity, one must push themselves to the point of pain.) Ask the students if they think this is a true statement. Why or why not? Ask the students whether they have had an experience in their lives where a parent, guardian, coach, band leader, or club leader has used a statement like this one. (If the students do not want to share their experience, they do not have to; if they feel comfortable with it, they are allowed.)

6. Tell the students that it is a myth. Ask them what may happen if someone followed this philosophy (could risk injury, physical activity doesn’t seem fun, mental stress, burnout.)

7. Next, the teacher should ask each group what they think their top 2-3 benefits are for physical activity; each group should share their ideas. The teacher should encourage each group to name different benefits than the group before them had stated. If time permits, the teacher should write the groups’ responses on the marker board. As the students are stating their benefits, the teacher should ask the group:

-Which aspects are physically beneficial? Mentally, emotionally, socially?

8. After all the groups have presented, the teacher should ask the students:

-Are there situations when physical activity cannot benefit us? If so, when are they?

(In some situations, some people may take physical activity to its extreme and exercise beyond the points needed; can be linked to eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder; can cause serious health problems.)

9. Now that the class has discussed the benefits of physical activity, they will begin their station work to learn the five components to health-related fitness.

1. The teacher should introduce the stations and ask the students if they know what health-related fitness is (fitness that relates to good health; made up of five components: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition.)

2. The teacher should give one folder to each group. Each station is labeled and has directions as to what each group is to accomplish at the station. The teacher should also hand out one “Health-Related Physical Fitness: Station Work” worksheet to each group (located in the red cardiorespiratory endurance folder; there is an attached teacher’s answer key to the questions.) Each group will turn this worksheet in at the end of class.

3. Some of the stations will have extra materials needed to perform the tasks:

-Station 1: Cardiorespiratory Endurance – 1 stopwatch

-Station 3: Muscular Strength – 2 resistance tubes, 1 purple, 1 orange; 2 black handles that connect to the tubes; instructional manual turned to page 12 for “Bicep Curls”; all materials should be in a small, black mesh bag

-Station 4: Body Composition – 1 calculator

-Station 5: Muscular Endurance – 1 stopwatch

4. The stations are basically self-directed for the students. Make sure to warn them before they begin that they will have approximately 5 minutes maximum for each station, so they should work cooperatively and efficiently with each other. The students should also know that some of the stations will require them to perform a physical activity; directions in each station should be followed in order to successfully and safely complete the tasks. After 5 minutes, the teacher should direct the groups to move to the next station.

5. During the station work, the teacher should monitor and facilitate the stations, making sure the students are following directions and working cooperatively with each other. The teacher should also help the students if they are having trouble with a certain station.

1. After the station work, the teacher will ask the students the following questions pertaining to the lesson and stations:

-Without looking at your worksheets, what are the five components of health-related fitness? (have 5 different students give one component – cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility, and body composition.)

-Who can tell me what is happening inside the body after completing 2 minutes of running in place and jumping jacks (Station 1)? (heart rate is higher, blood flow increases, breathe in more oxygen, burning calories for energy.)

-Why should we stretch our muscles? (better range in joint motion, prevents muscle aches, pains, sores, and tears, allows for more efficient muscle movements)

-After performing the stations, how do these components contribute to our health? (they work together to provide us with the many positive benefits that physical activity has on our bodies)

-Do you think there are 1 or 2 components more important than another? (All are important, however, good cardiorespiratory endurance and muscular endurance allow us to efficiently perform daily activities and tasks with ease; the more in shape and healthy those aspects are, the better we can perform and live our lives.)

2. If no one has any questions, one student from each group should bring up the folder and group worksheet to the teacher. The rest of the students should help put the desks back into their original formation.

VII. LESSON EVALUATION

Critical Element	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
Students worked cooperatively in groups discussing and completing the tasks stated for each component of health-related physical fitness.
Students generated a group list of different benefits to physical activity.
Students related and shared their stories about people in their lives who live by the phrase “No Pain, No Gain.”
Students identified the five components of health-related physical fitness.
As a group, the students completed their station worksheets with at least 80% accuracy.

VIII. TEACHER’S REFLECTION

After teaching the lesson on health-related physical fitness and the benefits of physical activity, I was pretty confident with the way that I presented my lesson and the responses that I received from my fellow peers. The majority of my peers said that I provided good stations to teach the information as well as good questions and feedback about the information. They liked the way the classroom was set up with the desks around the perimeter of the room and the teacher in clear view of the students. Having the open space in the middle of the room also allowed enough room at each station to perform the tasks for each skill. After my lesson was complete, it was stated that moving the students from station to station was better than moving the folders from group to group because of the extra materials that were located at some of the stations.

For the introduction of the lesson, I grouped the students into the groups that they would be working with for the entire lesson. Many of my peers including Becky and Kelly Rodgers liked the motivational opener and stated that the “No Pain, No Gain” discussion was very good and age-appropriate. There was one comment given that said the motivational opener could have been better, and in some aspects, I would agree. Because I was only allowed 30 minutes to teach my entire lesson, I did not get a chance to open up the discussion about the phrase “No Pain, No Gain” like I had originally planned to do. I was going to allow the students to share any stories they may have experienced or know of that dealt with people who lived by the philosophy; however, because of the time constraints, I shortened the discussion to a brief introduction. Most of my peers also thought that the brainstorming technique for the benefits of physical activity and the questions being asked during the introduction was a good way to allow the students to become focused on the lesson’s activities.

For the body of my lesson, I set up five different stations, each introducing and explaining the five components to health-related physical fitness. Each station was student-directed with self-explanatory directions and tasks to complete. Each group was assigned a station and had approximately 5 minutes to complete the task; after 5 minutes, the groups rotated to the next station. My peers enjoyed the stations and thought that the activities for each station explained the components very well. Kelly Morta stated that the activities were creative and were really involved with what I was trying to teach. If I had to go back and change anything about the stations, I might shorten the exercise time that I allotted for the “Cardiorespiratory Endurance” station. This station seemed to take longer to complete than the others, which, in a real classroom, could cause off-task moments for the other students waiting to rotate to the next station. Because there was only 30 minutes for the lesson, the groups were unable to completely finish all of the stations; with a slightly longer class period, I believe that the stations could have been fully completed.

In concluding my lesson, I brought the students together to ask them questions about what they taught themselves in the stations. It was stated that the discussion questions that I asked tied together the major points of the lesson and allowed the students to critically think about physical fitness and its health-related principles. Because each group filled in a worksheet for the stations, I did not have a homework assignment for the students to take home with them. However, I do believe that from the worksheet they completed and the responses that were given from the questions asked that I would successfully be able to evaluate how well they learned the information given.

After reading the responses that my peers provided and thinking about how the lesson unfolded, I believe that my lesson would be informative and appropriate for a 10^th grade health class. The majority of the lesson was student-directed, which would allow the students to rely on each other to learn about health-related physical fitness and other aspects of physical activity. Many of my peers said that I monitored the lesson well and provided good feedback. They also said that I had a good voice projection and seemed confident in front of the class. There were some aspects of my lesson that I should consider revising for future use including the times allotted for each station as well as the discussion periods during the introductory and concluding activities. However, after teaching this lesson, I was able to gain some insight on how a health class should be conducted at the high school level.