Do Senior Adults (50+) Know What Practices are Appropriate In Physical Education

中年人對體育的知識

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate senior 50 and older adult’s knowledge of appropriate instructional practices (AIP) in physical education. This study is a continued line of studies assessing certain populations knowledge of AIP. Previous research has been conducted among Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) majors, parents, school administrators, elementary, middle school and high school students. For this study 372 senior adults were surveyed regarding their knowledge of AIP in PE. Surveys were distributed to the participants at the Huntsman Senior World Games. It was found that senior adults misidentified nine instructional practices from the survey. It was found that senior adults identified having winners and losers in games in PE class, students that misbehave should be punished with exercising, and playing dodge ball is OK for students to play. These instructional practices are considered inappropriate. The implications of this study reinforce that physical educators need to educate senior adults and that implementing appropriate instructional practices is an effective method to educate senior adults and the general public.