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Don Hellison (1938 – 2018), known as the creator of the teaching personal and social responsibility model, had a profound impact on the physical education profession. His spirit and vision of getting kids to be personally and socially responsible are reflected in his viewpoint article titled, “This I Believe About Our Field,” which was originally published in the September 2008 issue of JOPERD. It brings together his values and views on the nature of practice in schools, athletic settings, and community programs. The article, which is included as part of this in memoriam, underscores his belief that the gymnasium and athletic field are wonderful places where personal and social responsibility can be practiced and experienced.

There is an imperative need for secondary physical education programming to prepare students for lifetime fitness and health. Physical activity levels in adolescents and adults are dismal, and the negative health outcomes associated with sedentary behaviors are catastrophic. Secondary physical education programs have the opportunity to implement a curriculum that can enable students to create and execute their own health-enhancing fitness plan. The current focus in most programs is on a sport and game model that has had limited results in influencing the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits. The purpose of this article is to provide practitioners with a practical and feasible split-week program model that is designed to potentially induce behavioral change in students for lifelong physical activity and fitness. The split-week program holds health-related fitness education at the core while also teaching outdoor recreation, sport, and rhythmic activities.

The majority of the sport and physical education literature defines how a technique and tactic should look. However, a gap existing in the current literature is how to select different techniques and tactics to teach diverse learners at different developmental stages. This article takes an initial step to map out the techniques and tactics that should be taught to third- to eight-grade students in a soccer unit in physical education. The information presented here provides critical guidance for physical education teachers to plan their unit and lesson plans to meet the developmental needs of their students at different grade levels, thus enhancing their instruction and improving student learning.

Assessment in physical education has undergone significant changes since in the 1990s. Teachers now place less emphasis on fitness test scores and dressing out, and more on skills and knowledge according to SHAPE America’s National Standards for K-12 Physical Education. More teachers are looking into formative assessments, rather than a summative score. Formative assessment and assessment for learning are terms that are usually used synonymously. However, some authors distinguished between these two terms and argued that they served different purposes. Regardless, formative assessment and assessment for learning have shown to have a positive impact on teaching and learning. This article clarifies the terms and purposes of formative assessment and assessment for learning, provides examples of various types of formative assessment and assessment for learning activities in physical education, and explains why teachers should include them as part of their physical education instruction.

Quality physical education programs in public schools have the potential to impact healthy living habits among students. There is an increased interest in schools to create a climate that is more emotionally supportive in decreasing psychological stressors. Teaching students coping mechanisms and the importance of breath work through yoga is an excellent approach for students. Living a physically active lifestyle can have many benefits for anyone, regardless the age, race or gender. The purpose of this article is to highlight the existing knowledge base on the benefits of yoga lessons in order to motivate physical educators to consider integrating this activity in school programs.

Many physical education teacher education (PETE) programs include content courses designed to develop their students’ knowledge and skills in various physical activities. One such course that PETE students are often required to take is educational gymnastics. Educational gymnastics is an important content area with many benefits, and it is unique from other content areas because of the indirect teaching style used. It also happens to be a content area in which many PETE students lack confidence. This may be due to factors such as a lack of a personal background in gymnastics, lack of understanding of educational gymnastics as a content area, or lack of training in teaching developmentally appropriate gymnastics. The purpose of this article is to discuss how instruction in an educational gymnastics course designed for PETE students can improve their comfort levels for both teaching and performing educational gymnastics.

Legal action was taken against Tough Mudder Corporation after the death of a participant during a Tough Mudder obstacle-course race.

This article builds on existing research on cross-curricular methodology and outlines a teaching technique that integrates presidential history during physical education class for middle school students.

This article describes an example of a “decision-making in nutrition” (DMNU) unit that was transformed when students were provided an opportunity to drive the curriculum and extend their learning beyond the classroom.

In this article, the authors share the development and implementation of the Unified Gymnastics for All Fun Day as an inclusive event for students with and without mild intellectual disabilities.