Active or Not, Here It Comes!

Section: Physical Activity

Investigative Question: What counts as physical activity?

Description of Content

This section helps students think about physical activity in a bigger way—beyond just organized sports. Right now, many students might only think of things like playing on a football or soccer team when they hear "physical activity." But there's so much more! Physical activity also includes:

• Less competitive or personal fitness activities, like swimming with friends or lifting weights
• Lifetime sports, like golfing or walking
• Everyday activities, like walking your dog, dancing to your favorite song, or mowing the lawn

As students learn to see physical activity this way, they'll realize they're already more active than they thought—and they'll feel more confident about doing even more.

Objectives

Students will:

• Describe the health benefits of physical activity
• Connect physical activity to many kinds of events, not just organized sports
• Keep an accurate log (record) of their own personal physical activity

Ideas Students Often Already Have

Research on how young people think about physical activity shows some common patterns. These are worth keeping in mind as you teach:

• For young children, being good at physical skills feels extremely important.
• Boys often see physical ability as more important than doing well in school or being social.
• Girls usually say they're active mainly "to have fun," and after that, "to stay in shape," "because I like it," and "to learn new skills."
• Just telling girls to be active (without showing them) doesn't work as well as modeling—actually showing them the activity in action.
• Girls who aren't regularly active tend to know much less about the benefits of physical activity than girls who are active.
• Active girls tend to feel more confident about their athletic and academic abilities compared to less active or inactive girls.
• White American students are more likely to say they could "see themselves" doing sports like swimming, rowing, hockey, water skiing, and bowling, and they feel most skilled at baseball/softball.
• African American students are more likely to say they could see themselves playing basketball, and they feel especially confident in that sport.
• Many students from minority groups may not want to try a variety of organized sports and physical activities—possibly because they don't feel these activities reflect who they are.

Materials

• 2" x 8" strips of construction paper
• Markers
• A video showing physical activity
• Copies of the Scenario worksheet
• Copies of the Physical Activity Log

Safety

Make sure students have enough space to move around freely.

Watch out for students who are used to sitting still most of the time—jumping into hard exercise too fast could cause health problems for them. Also, be aware of any health conditions that might limit what a student can safely do. Adjust activities as needed for students who are less active.

Remind students to warm up before physical activity by stretching the muscles they're about to use. A warm-up is gentle movement that slowly raises the temperature of your blood, muscles, tendons, and ligaments (the tissue connecting bones and muscles). Warming up gets your body ready for harder exercise by gradually raising your heart rate and loosening your joints, using movements similar to the activity you're about to do.

Students should also cool down after physical activity. A cool-down is gentle movement that helps your body return to normal after exercise. It gradually lowers your heart rate and helps prevent stiff, sore muscles.

Procedure

Engagement (about 5–10 minutes)

1. Read students these three definitions:

• Exercise is planned and structured movement that you repeat on purpose, done to improve or maintain your fitness.
• Physical activity is any movement your muscles make that uses energy and helps improve fitness.
• Physical fitness is your body's ability to perform physical activity. It includes five health-related parts: (1) body composition (the makeup of fat, muscle, and bone in your body), (2) cardiovascular endurance (how well your heart and lungs work during activity), (3) flexibility, (4) muscular endurance (how long your muscles can keep working), and (5) muscular strength.

1. Write some activities on the board and have students vote on whether each one counts as "exercise" or "physical activity."

Exploration (about 20–25 minutes)

1. Break students into groups of three or four. Have each group brainstorm a list of everything they think counts as physical activity, especially activities that work different parts of the body. Remind them that one activity can work more than one body part.

1. Give each group strips of paper and have them write one activity per strip.

Explanation (about 30 minutes)

1. Write major body parts and systems on the board (such as heart/lungs, shoulders, arms, abdomen, legs, etc.). Have students sort their activity strips under these headings.

1. Discuss how students sorted their activities and clear up any confusion.

1. Play a video that shows people being physically active. Have students figure out which body parts are being used in each activity. Encourage them to try the movements themselves to feel which muscles are working.

1. Ask students if they'd like to change how they sorted their activities, and talk about how accurate their original sorting was.

Elaboration (about 10–15 minutes)

1. Hand out the Scenario worksheet and have students complete it individually. Discuss the movements involved, such as climbing, stretching, and lifting.

Questions to discuss:

1. Are these actions physical activity? Why or why not?
2. Which body parts do these actions work? How can you tell?
3. What other things you do during a normal day might count as physical activity?

Evaluation (about 10 minutes per day for 3 days, done outside of class)

Students will keep a log of their personal physical activities for three days. They'll calculate how much time they spent on each type of activity and think about their overall activity level. They'll also write about the health benefits they notice from looking at their log.

Note to teachers: Middle school students should aim for at least 60 minutes of physical activity, five days a week, and should try a variety of different activities.

Questions to discuss:

1. What benefits come from the physical activities you did?
2. Which body areas should you work on more to improve your fitness? Why?
3. How does your own activity level compare to what's considered ideal?

Students' overall grade for this activity can be based on the performance descriptions below.

Web Resources

BAM! is created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. BAM! answers kids' health questions and suggests ways to build stronger, healthier bodies and minds. It also gives teachers fun, interactive activities to support health and science lessons.

KidsHealth shares health information for people from before birth through the teen years. It has separate sections for kids, teens, and parents, and all its content is approved by doctors. (www.kidshealth.org)

MedlinePlus, run by the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, has an "Exercise and Physical Fitness" page with many links about physical activity and health.

The CDC's fact sheet on physical activity and young people's health includes links to other CDC resources.

This page shares a fact sheet on teens and young adults from the Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health.

This site also explains definitions related to physical activity, along with information on warming up.

Performance Descriptors

Rating	Description
4	Students understand that physical activity includes many kinds of activities beyond organized sports, and can give examples of activities that work different body parts. They clearly understand the health benefits of physical activity.
3	Students understand that phys...