Background/Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of high school (HS) physical education (PE) seniors' health-related fitness (HRF) knowledge, aerobic capacity and body composition and assess the need of a conceptually based required PE course.
Method Participants were 171 seniors (88 males, 83 females) aged 17-18 from a Midwest suburban HS. Each participant was enrolled in PE each semester for all four years of HS. IRB approval was obtained. Each participant completed the FitSmart (in press) HRF exam designed for HS students. Participants also participated in the PACER aerobic capacity test and body composition was assessed through the Tanita TBF 300A body composition analyzer. Trained PE teachers conducted all assessments.
Analysis/Results Pearson correlation coefficients were generated to determine the strength of the relationships between HRF knowledge, aerobic capacity and body composition. All correlations indicated a low positive (≤ .32) or little to no correlation (≤ .30). Results indicated that 74% of the students met the Fitnessgram HRF zone for the aerobic capacity and 84% met the HRF zone for body composition. However, 91% of the students failed the HRF knowledge exam.
Conclusions Although no moderate to high correlations were found, the participants in this study showed adequate levels of aerobic capacity and body composition suggesting that PE could be contributing to the achievement/maintenance of these two HRF components. Results also indicate that students are not gaining the necessary HRF knowledge in PE and may support the notion of implementing a required conceptually based PE class for all HS students.
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