Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1960

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Physical Education

Abstract

Motor fitness development of high school students by the use of various physical activities has been of major interest to physical educators for many years and has received national interest in recent years. Ray Weiss reported 13 Unites States army officers present at the Third Annual Physical Fitness Institute expressed grave concern regarding our schools’ responsibilities in fitness. Carl A. Troeater Jr. had this to say about the present day felt need for fitness: “Few educators need to be convinced of the importance of fitness in our youth. For the past ten years, a deluge of newspaper and magazine articles have been decrying the lack of fitness in our youth. Television and radio programs have been devoted to various aspects of fitness. Every generation complains of the lack of fitness of the youth of its day. However, the present emphasis on fitness in peacetime is unusual.” The different areas of fitness have generally been divided into emotional, mental, social, and physical fitness. “The effectiveness of an individual’s adjustment to physical activities is facilitated to a large extent by his fitness in motor abilities.” However, the comparative motor fitness developmental value of calisthenics has seriously been questioned by physical educators as well as by educators in general. It was because of this fact that this study was undertaken. There seemed to be a definite need for this type of a study, for although there have been studies of the motor fitness developmental value of calisthenics and various other activities, none could be found which compared that part of the physical education class period devoted to calisthenics and the loss of time from the activity being taught. It was felt that the knowledge of the motor fitness developmental value of calisthenics under these circumstances would be of benefit to physical education instructors in making the decision of including calisthenics, and the amount of calisthenics, in their physical education service programs. It was also felt that this knowledge would better enable physical educators to aid their students in achieving motor fitness development. It was the purpose of this study to determine the motor fitness developmental value of a senior high school physical education program containing 10 minutes of calisthenics per period as compared to a similar program which did not contain the calisthenics. Steps in solving the problem: (1) The administration of the standing broad jump, pull up, sit up, shuttle run and burpee tests to two male physical education service classes at Clear Lake High School at the beginning and completion of 10 class periods for a total of four intervals. (2) The development of a composite score for each individual. (3) The development of a standard score for the tests used. (4) The application of statistical methods to the data.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Physical fitness
Calisthenics

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

75

Publisher

South Dakota State University

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