Developmental Physical Education for All Children

The three critical issues facing children in the US today are childhood obesity has been rising rapidly, in school and community violence among youth have alarmed us all as well as early puberty has important psychosocial ramifications. At least 2 goals of the concept Developmental physical education are cognitive learning and physical activity and fitness enhancement.

The three factors that explain the relationships that lead to the development of the whole child are the biology of the individual, the requirements of the movement task as well as conditions of the learning environment. The difference between individual appropriateness and group appropriateness are that with individual the key concept of developmental physical education is based on the central proposition that each child has his unique timing and pattern of growth and development. Movement activities children perform in physical education programs are geared to their stage of motor development and level of movement skill learning. Where with group is important in the developmental physical education program but is secondary to individual. The developmental curriculum is not based on chronological age or grade level but is influenced by both.

Fundamental movement skills include locomotion and manipulation. Some examples include walking, running, leaping and for manipulation ball rolling, throwing, and kicking. Patterns of stability can be observed as axial, static, and dynamic movements. Two examples of axial movements are bending and stretching. Some examples of static and dynamic movements are upright balances and inverted balances as well as rolling, stopping, and dodging. Finally physical fitness is defined as a combination of two concepts called health related and performance related. Health related is your muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. Performance related is balance, coordination, agility, speed, and power.