Current Practices in the Delivery of Undergraduate Exercise Physiology Content.

EXERCISE physiology; TEACHER surveys; COURSE content (Education); INTRODUCTORY courses (Education); UNDERGRADUATES; PHYSICAL education students (Education students); EDUCATION

The purpose of this study was to identify current practices for the delivery of exercise physiology content at the undergraduate level. An anonymous 22-item survey was sent to instructors of exercise physiology to collect information concerning the structure of course offerings and instructional practices. One hundred ten instructors responded to the survey for a return rate of 34%. Most programs offer exercise physiology as a general section (90.0%) with a mixture of majors (athletic training, exercise science, physical education) in the same course. Content covered in the lecture portion of the course was more focused on applications relative to adult fitness and athletic performance rather than youth fitness. The majority of respondents felt that the needs of each student group were met at least fairly well, although somewhat higher percentages were noted for exercise science (90.3%) than for athletic training (83.7%) or physical education (80.0%>). The most common strategies reported for addressing major-specific needs included development of assignments differentiated to each student group and use of multiple examples from the various disciplines during lecture. Attention to major-specific applications within the course and throughout the curriculum may help students make stronger connections between fitness theory and daily practice in their respective professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Physical Educator is the property of Sagamore Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)