La Educación Física en Educación Infantil

8/17/2019 La Educación Física en Educación Infantil

1/10

The Elementary School JournalVolume 108, Number 3 2008 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.0013-5984/2008/10803-0005$10.00

Physical Education inEarly Childhood

Steve StorkGeorgia College & State University

Stephen W. SandersUniversity of South Florida

Abstract

This article examines the incidence and qualityof physical activity instruction during earlychildhood. Although the positive effect of physi-cal activity on the cognitive, social, and physicaldevelopment of young children is generally ac-knowledged, there is little emphasis nationally

on ensuring appropriate physical educationalexperiences within the early childhood curricu-lum. Though limited in scope, extant researchsuggests that young children learn more viadevelopmentally appropriate instruction thanthrough random physical activity. The NationalAssociation for Sport and Physical Educationhas created guidelines for appropriate practicesin schools and community settings. The creationand integration of quality physical activity intoearly childhood settings faces challenges. Yet, theincrease in obesity and other diseases associatedwith a sedentary lifestyle makes such initiativesa moral imperative. Young children need specificand systematic opportunities to learn fundamen-tal physical skills that will contribute to a lifetimeof physical activity. It cannot be left to chance.

An internal urge to achieve competency inrudimentary physical skills and capitalizeon the body’s capacity for movement iscommon to all young children. Though chil-dren use movement to express feelings, ma-nipulate objects, and learn about theirworld, they also delight in physical accom-plishment and enjoy movement for its ownsake. Therefore, physical activity is an im-portant component of everyday life and oc-curs in many forms during the early child-

hood years.The purpose of this article is to describe

what is currently known about the deliber-ate provision of opportunities for physicalactivity during the earliest stages of achild’s life. This is based on research con-cerning physical education (in the formal

This content downloaded from 193.144.075.217 on March 09, 2016 11:32:39 AM

All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).


2/10

198 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL JOURNAL

JANUARY 2008

sense of a curriculum) as well as inquiry re-lated to other adult-planned occasions de-vised to encourage the spontaneous expres-

sion of children’s drive to move.There are severe limitations on what can be reported about such undertakings withyoung children. First, although the scienceof motor development has done much todescribe developmental processes relatedto motor skills and abilities, much less isknown about pedagogy specific to youngchildren in the psychomotor domain. A sec-ond limitation is imposed by the nature of social institutions designed to serve youngchildren. Day-care programs and variousformats for preschool education are now

ubiquitous within American culture; how-ever, there is very little consistency fromprogram to program. In consequence, re-views of research on topics such as pre-school physical education or large-motorplay activities in day-care settings yield al-most no information that is sufficiently gen-eralizable to offer much social or scientificutility.

Nevertheless, in recent years the topicsof physical activity (generally) and physicaleducation (specifically) in early childhoodhave acquired a salience not previously as-

signed. The source of that shift, of course,has been a growing concern about publichealth. Although preschoolers themselvesmay not evidence immediate health risks(such as obesity and heart disease and theirmany concomitant illnesses), recent re-search has uncovered activity-related pre-cursors to those health risks in young chil-dren.

Accordingly, the purpose of having chil-dren participate in physical activity andschool-based physical education has in-creasingly come to be defined in terms of

their subsequent exercise habits as adults. Itis postulated that if vigorous physical activ-ity helps the body to resist chronic diseasesand ensures a higher quality of life throughthe maintenance of functional abilities, andif attitudes related to lifestyles are formedearly in the developmental process, then the

goal of guiding children toward becomingphysically active for a lifetime has the forceof a moral imperative.

Despite recent interest in and concernabout physical activity in early childhood,given the limitations noted above, it is in-evitable that what follows in this article issomewhat shorter on research evidencethan we might wish. What we can accom-plish, however, is a careful description of the dimensions of the problem, followed byan examination of current assertions aboutthe goals, content, and methods of physicaleducation in early childhood. The appro-priate place to begin, then, is with a brief explication of the benefits of physical activ-

ity and how those outcomes relate to thedemands of a growing public health prob-lem.

Benefits of Physical Activity andPhysical Education for YoungChildren

The National Association for the Educationof Young Children defines early childhoodas birth through 8 years of age (Bredekamp& Copple, 1997). For that age group, it isgenerally postulated that physical activityserves three primary purposes: (a) stimulat-

ing physiological development, (b) creatingfunctional motor abilities, and (c) organiz-ing the brain for subsequent cognitive pro-cessing in all three domains of learning(physical, social-emotional, cognitive).

Physiological Development

A lack of physical activity may result inincomplete physiological development.Physical activity in early childhood stimu-lates growth by supporting normal boneand muscle development. Further, combin-ing the lack of sufficient physical activity

with high caloric intake (an increasinglycommon phenomenon among children)leads to obesity. According to the NationalHealth and Nutrition Examination Survey(more commonly referred to as NHANES),for children ages 2–5 years, the prevalenceof overweight increased from 5.0% (in the




3/10

EARLY CHILDHOOD 199

1976–1980 survey) to 13.9% (in the 2003–2004 survey) (Ogden et al., 2006). This ac-cumulated excess weight prior to adoles-

cence contributes to weight problems as anadult.

Functional Motor Abilities

Children learn progressively, in stages,as the nervous and skeletal systems matureto a point that allows for motor learning ata given level of movement complexity.Further, mastery of fundamental skills(e.g., throwing, catching, hopping, skipping,

bending, twisting) is a result of practice re-quiring both cognitive and physical effort.Therefore, movement patterns during early

childhood appear unique but gradually ma-ture into more adult-like forms with suffi-cient experience, practice, and physiologicaldevelopment.

Contribution to the Three Domains of Learning

During early childhood, children learnprimarily through movement and physicalmanipulation of objects (Piaget, 1964). Thishelps them not only to develop physicalskills but assists in social and emotional de-velopment as well. Physical play enhances

interrelationships among children, promot-ing early cooperation and communicationskills (Sawyer, 2001). Play is an importantpart of early childhood physical activity. Itis essential to development because it con-tributes to the cognitive, physical, social,and emotional well-being of children andyouth.

Despite the benefits derived from play,time for free play has been markedly re-duced for children by factors such as a hur-ried lifestyle and changes in family struc-ture. The American Academy of Pediatrics

warns that increased attention to academicsand enrichment activities also comes at theexpense of recess or free child-centered play(Ginsberg, 2007). All of these shifts increasethe importance of promoting physical edu-cation as a contributor to physically activeplay and fundamental skill mastery.

Research

Though there is little research examiningthe incidence of physical education in early

childhood, the extant research suggests thatsuch programming is well worth the effort.Kelly, Dagger, and Walkley (1989) foundthat preschoolers’ physical abilities sub-stantially improved after a modest inter-vention. Trained raters evaluated video-tapes of 47 children (27 female and 20 male),ages 3 to 5 years, from two preschool pro-grams. Children in one preschool receivedphysical education instruction (50 minutes,twice a week for 12 weeks)in six basic skills:underhand ball roll, two-handed catch, in-step kick, overhand throw, horizontal jump,

and sidearm strike. Children at the otherpreschool received daily recess but nophysical education. The children who re-ceived physical education improved in allthe skills, whereas the recess group showedno change. Research related to underservedand disadvantaged children (Goodway &Branta, 2003) has extended this research.Systematic (12 weeks, twice a week for 45minutes), progressive, and developmen-tally appropriate instruction was offered to31 preschool children in an urban compen-

satory preschool program. Twenty-eightsimilar children served as a control groupand received no special instruction. Themotor-skill intervention focused on funda-mental motor-skill development: hoppingand galloping, ball bouncing, kicking, andcatching and throwing. The object-controland locomotor subscales of the Test of GrossMotor Development showed substantialimprovement from pre- to posttest in theintervention group but not in the controlgroup.

Although instruction is important, it must

be developmentally appropriate. Young chil-dren approach learning in a unique way(Sanders & Graham, 1992; Stork & Sanders,2000) that must be accommodated if theyare to experience positive outcomes. Theystill learn primarily through play, relyingheavily on imitation and experimentation.




4/10


JANUARY 2008

They are also very concrete, such that theyneed to be actively involved with equip-ment, as opposed to following complex in-

structions or attempting to visualize correcttechnique. Specific pedagogical methodsfor young children include the SKILL pro-gram (Successful Kinesthetic Instruction forLifelong Learning) (Goodway & Savage,2001) and Project SKIP (Successful Kines-thetic Instruction for Preschoolers) (Good-way & Robinson, 2006). Within these initia-tives, a “mastery climate” prevails, underwhich tasks are differentiated for individualneeds and children are provided choicesthat put them in control of their own learn-ing. The result is improved abilities and in-

creased feelings of self-competence.

Implications for Practice

The beneficial outcomes of physical ac-tivity in the domain of physiological andmotoric development, as well as the contri-

butions to cognitive, social, and emotionalgrowth, have obvious implications for prac-tice in school and child-care settings. Child-hood educators have long understood thatphysical development is important andhave encouraged daily physical activity forchildren under their care. Yet, although in-

formal and random opportunities for physi-cal activity (recess, before- and after-schoolgames, and occasional classroom-basedphysical activities) do indeed contribute tophysical development, they are far fromsufficient as the basis for meeting all of theyoung child’s needs.

Learning is integrative—a fact most evi-dent when support experiences are system-atic—and persistent throughout all aspectsof the child’s environment. Traditional edu-cation settings tend to treat the three do-mains of learning—physical, cognitive, and

social-emotional—as separate entities; how-ever, the domains are intrinsically interwo-ven such that facilitation of one enhancesthe others. That is why carefully plannedinstruction (physical education) is both de-sirable and potentially of great consequencefor nurturing children’s development.

Locales for Physical Education

Children engage in spontaneous physicalactivity throughout the day in all of the

places they inhabit (e.g., homes, backyards,playgrounds, parks, and sidewalks). It is intwo locations, however, that they are mostlikely to encounter activities that are orga-nized by adults: (1) schools and child-caresettings, and (2) other community-basedprograms designed to provide opportuni-ties for physical play and exercise.

Schools

Because they sometimes have residentteachers certified in physical education (or,at least, access to itinerant visiting special-

ists), it might appear that preschool childrenin public schools would be more likely toreceive some form of planned physical edu-cation program. Not all states, however, re-quire that elementary school physical edu-cation be taught by a specialist, and, in anycase, it generally is left to individual schoolsto determine whether or not to extend theservices of specialists to the preschool level.Even at kindergarten, only 39% of elemen-tary schools in the United States requirephysical education (Robert Wood JohnsonFoundation, 2003).

Preschool and Childcare

Forty-nine percent of children in theUnited States are enrolled in some type of preschool (Annie Casey Foundation, 2003).Preschool has become shorthand for any pre-K, Head Start, child care, day care, or nurs-ery school involving 3- and 4-year-olds(Barnett & Yarosz, 2004). There are bothpublic and private providers, and there islittle consistency in the form that childcareassumes, whether it be oriented primarilytoward play (recreation), cognitive and so-

cial development (education), or simplymaintenance (babysitting).

Unlike school, preschool is not man-dated in most states. The choice to enrollyoung children in child care is up to par-ents, and their motivations are as varied asthey and the providers are, ranging from




5/10

EARLY CHILDHOOD 201

perceived educational needs of the child tothe child-care needs of the parents.

In that regard, there is some evidence

that education is gradually taking prece-dence over mere child care (Barnett & Ya-rosz, 2004). Thus, whether or not there is aneed for child care, parents are increasinglyenrolling their children in preschool as anearly exposure to and preparation for for-mal schooling. Whatever parental motiva-tion may be involved, however, it is reason-able to assume that the need to provide forappropriate forms of physical activity inpreschool settings is unlikely to be a pri-mary concern.

Public and Private Physical ActivityPrograms

In both urban and suburban areas thereare a wide variety of commercial (pay-as-you-go) and public programs designed tooffer physically active play for children (in-cluding sports, dance, and recreational ac-tivities such as swimming). YMCAs, for ex-ample, serve over 500,000 children in 9,000locations (Welcome to the YMCA, n.d.).They provide age-graded instruction in awide range of activities and, in some cases,

both child-care and preschool programs as

well (although the latter do not necessarilyinclude systematic provisions for physicalactivity).

Throughout North America, gymnasticsclubs are an example of the many popularcommercial outlets offering physical activ-ity specifically for preschool-age children.USA Gymnastics (n.d.) currently offers atwo-part preschool fundamentals coursethat is “focused on teaching gymnasticsmovement education to preschool children(ages 1–5).” U.S. Youth Soccer (n.d.) is an-other popular activity provider, with rules

specific to children under 6 years.Across all of these programs, access for

children is unevenly distributed, training of adults for teaching and supervision variesfrom none to extensive, programs may ormay not be designed with developmentalneeds given full consideration, and evalu-

ation generally is nonexistent.Nevertheless,the primary components of good programsare well understood and have been widely

disseminated.

Quality Physical Education

As the leading organization for physicaleducation over the past hundred years, theNational Association for Sport and PhysicalEducation (NASPE) has coordinated effortsto develop standards and guidelines forquality physical education programs. Thosestandards and guidelines have been contin-uously updated as social priorities changeand as motor development research pro-vides evidence of links between skills and

habits learned in childhood and subsequentadult health and physical fitness.

Developmentally Appropriate MotorSkills

Movement is a fundamental function of life, but, though young children have an in-herent interest in physical play, there is areal challenge in perpetuating that interestthrough middle childhood and adolescenceinto adulthood. The most important sus-taining element for that purpose is the de-velopment of competence in fundamental

motor skills (Brustad, 1993)—a form of learning that is best accomplished in theyoung child.

Fundamental motor skills are the basic blocks upon which subsequent sport andlifetime activity skills are built. Childrenwho participate regularly in physical activ-ity are more likely to increase mastery viaskill practice and also to become more com-fortable with the sensations (i.e., perspira-tion, accelerated heart rate, and strenuousmuscle contractions) that accompany physi-cal exertion. Therefore, purposeful, age-

appropriate instruction at an early age builds a foundation necessary to supportfuture health-related physical activity.

Pedagogy and Learning Environments

Developmentally appropriate physicalactivity settings use age-appropriate in-




6/10


JANUARY 2008

structional strategies (NASPE, 2002). To en-sure optimal development, young childrenmust experience positive and caring rela-

tionships with adults and other children, benefit from adult guidance and assistance,and explore interesting environments withmany things to learn and do (Bredekamp &Copple, 1997). The teacher’s responsibilityis to create an environment presenting sit-uations, challenges, and activities that allowchildren to develop physical skills and learnabout their potential for movement (Sand-ers, 2002). Effective teachers organize theenvironment and plan ways to assist learn-ing by providing for child-initiated activi-ties as well as those planned and initiated

by the teacher.In a high-quality program, there are

planned provisions for physical activitythroughout the young child’s day andacross the curriculum. Requiring long pe-riods of sitting is at odds with children’scharacteristically active style of learning—through moving, exploring, and acting onobjects. Planned activities should challengechildren to use a range of motor skills, al-lowing for and adapting to a wide range of differences in maturational rates, motiva-tion, experience, and practice. All of these

demands, when coupled with the preschoolchild’s as yet immature capacity for judg-ment, make direct adult supervision a ne-cessity.

Although the core elements of pedagogyfor motor skill development are the samefor all ages, developmentally appropriateinstructional strategies for use with youngchildren are highly age specific. That factsupports the assertion that methods forteaching physical education in early child-hood should be differentiated in ways thatrequire both substantial teacher preparation

and extensive practice.It is not appropriate to review the body

of research, theory, and instructional meth-ods here, but interested readers can accessexcellent overviews by Sanders (2002, 2006).Further compilations of related literatureare available as journal features (Rudisill,

2004; Sanders, 1994; Sanders & Stork, 2001).Among the most important pedagogicalskills are the teacher’s ability to (1) arrange

tasks in progressions that yield high ratesof success while maintaining a necessarydegree of challenge, (2) use physical andverbal cues to shape and refine motor per-formance, (3) individualize tasks to accom-modate differences in ability and interest,(4) model the form and nature of physicalactions with a clarity and simplicity that al-lows children to grasp key elements, and(5) employ a wide range of strategies forinviting children to believe they can im-prove through practice and effort, can makedecisions about their own motor perfor-

mances, and, above all, can enjoy the plea-sures of success.

Appropriate Space and Equipment

In general, most equipment appropriatefor young children is soft, flexible, graspable,and slow moving. These characteristics ac-commodate children’s slower reaction timeand lack of both tactile coordination andoverall agility. Further, as much as possible,there should be sufficient equipment thatchildren are not forced to share. There neednot be enough of any single item for every

child, but there should be enough varietythat all children can be simultaneously activeat appropriate tasks.

Spaces for children’s physical activitymay take many forms, but there are degreesof appropriateness, and certain minimumattributes are essential. In a developmen-tally appropriate physical activity setting,children have adequate space to movefreely and develop fundamental motorskills through play-based learning activities(NASPE, 2000). Learning and practicingphysical skills requires open space, such as

a large room, gym, spacious hallway, or out-door area (Sanders, 2006). Children must beable to swing a bat, kick a ball, or jump ropein a safe environment. For playgrounds toincorporate active motor play, 100 squarefeet per child is a reasonable minimum(Greenman, 1988).




7/10

EARLY CHILDHOOD 203

Continuous and Active Engagement(Participation)

Not all physical activity is the same. Free

play and recess generally allow young chil-dren to self-select their own activities andlevel of exertion, a process that is importantin its own terms but that does not constitutephysical education. Game play directed bychild-care personnel or classroom teachersoften emphasizes circle games in which alimited number of children are active whilethe others watch. That too has its place, butit is not physical education. In almost anyform of physical activity for children, learn-ing to wait quietly in line and politely tak-ing turns often are considered desirable out-

comes, but, by themselves, displays of rulecompliance and civil behavior are not theequivalent of doing physical education.

In contrast, a quality physical educationprogram includes a planned curriculumthat presents sequences of playful physicalactivities and basic motor skills in an age-appropriate manner. There is concern for in-dividualizing tasks, high levels of activeparticipation, and provision of sufficientrepetition and feedback to ensure progressin learning. Children benefit from all formsof physical activity; however, participation

in a quality physical education programforms the broadest foundation for futuremovement abilities and interests.

Standards

A significant portion of all learning in earlychildhood is mediated (entirely or in sub-stantial part) through the child’s activitiesin the physical domain. Yet, standards for

both time and content of physical activityfor young children are conspicuously ab-sent. Of 38 states responding to a recent sur-vey, only 10 had comprehensive curriculum

standards (which, by definition, were to in-clude health and physical activity) (Barnett,Robin, Hustedt, & Schulman, 2003). Fur-ther, the survey data provided no indicationthat mechanisms existed to exert account-ability to standards for health and physicalactivity. In most instances it was clear that

the standards applied only to state-fundedprograms.

Federal sources offer no comparable in-

formation about standards for early child-hood physical education. In sum, absent themandate of specific standards and thetrained personnel required to determinecompliance with such benchmarks, weknow next to nothing about what happensto children in their earliest encounters withphysical activity and physical education.

Over the past decade, NASPE has de-voted extensive attention to improving thespecificity and clarity of expectations forphysical education in schools, includingstandards for preschool and early child-

hood programs. Their guidance has beendisseminated through a series of standards-

based publications that include the follow-ing: (1) Appropriate Practices in MovementPrograms for Young Children Ages 3–5(NASPE, 2000), and (2) Active Start: Physical

Activity for Children Birth to Five Years(NASPE, 2002). Standards and outcomesoutlined within such documents underliethe foundation of physical education by ad-dressing the importance of physical activityin the lives of children and the ways inwhich instruction should be conducted. The

following is a brief description of the rele-vance of the NASPE documents listedabove.

Appropriate Practice in MovementPrograms for Children Ages 3–5

Standards for physical activity pro-grams designed for young children are for-mulated in this document by employing theconstruct of best practices. Such practicesmaximize opportunities for learning andsuccess among all children. As such, theytake into account children’s ages as well

as individual, instructional, and culturalneeds, elements that must all be present forany movement activity to be considereddevelopmentally appropriate. As both aposition statement and a set of guides forpractice, this document signals a growingawareness of the need to begin physical




8/10


JANUARY 2008

skill development at an early age but alsoto do so in ways that meet the unique de-velopmental characteristics of preschool

children.

Active Start: Physical Activity forChildren Birth to Five Years

NASPE (2002) developed this documentas a statement of physical activity guide-lines that are specific to early childhood.The guidelines outline appropriate physicalactivity for infants, toddlers, and preschool-ers, providing a road map for the growingnumber of efforts to educate young childrenand parents about the importance of regularphysical activity. Further, Active Start pro-

vides a standard against which to measurethe adequacy of what presently exists.

In sharp contrast to the efforts of NASPEto provide benchmarks for professionalworkers in early childhood physical edu-cation, physical activity is not given centraland systematic attention in most preschoolprograms. Child-care personnel and teach-ers in school settings who have had specialtraining in the area of early childhoodphysical education are a rarity. Physical ac-tivities are supervised or led by adults whofrequently are unaware of effective teaching

strategies, do not understand the centralityof movement in child development, and of-ten employ assessment practices that are in-appropriate as measures of children’s statusand progress (Burgeson, Wechsler, Brener,Young, & Spain, 2001). Against that reality,NASPE documents assert that in order toeffectively promote activity habits early inlife, developmentally appropriate physicalactivities for preschool children must be de-veloped based on the following guidelines:(1) Preschoolers should accumulate at least1 hour of daily, structured physical activity.

(2) Preschoolers should engage in unstruc-tured physical activity whenever possibleand should not be sedentary for more that1 hour at a time. (3) Preschoolers should de-velop competence in movement skills thatare building blocks for more complexmovement tasks. (4) Preschoolers should

have access to indoor and outdoor areasthat meet or exceed recommended safetystandards for performing large-muscle ac-

tivities.

Structure and Play in the Curriculum

Unfortunately, practices common to elemen-tary school physical education are appliedwith minimal modification to preschool chil-dren. This “push-down” curriculum is in-appropriate inasmuch as 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds have unique characteristics and needswhen compared to their older peers. In par-ticular, young children learn primarilythrough play, and this characteristic accom-panies them in all of their early experiences

with formal instruction (Sanders & Graham,1992).

Physically active play not only engagesthe enthusiasm of young children, it pro-vides them with opportunities to practicemovement skills in a variety of contexts. Incontrast, overreliance on play is detrimentalto development if, in the process, skills areneglected that, by necessity, must be taught.Thus, a degree of structure is required totake full developmental advantage of chil-dren’s playful movement experiences.

Planning and careful organization of

physical activities maximize opportunitiesfor children to acquire a wider variety of physical skills than might be developed dur-ing play alone. The combination of structureand play results in a unique curriculum. In-stead of playing traditional large-group orcircle games, it is preferable that children de-velop fundamental movement skills via in-struction related to skill themes (generic ver-sions of what may some day become sportskills) and movement concepts (knowledgeof how skills can be modified for specificpurposes).

Conclusion

Physical activity is crucial to overall devel-opment during early childhood. It pro-motes mastery of skills and attitudes thatmay lead to more healthful behaviors laterin life, and it also facilitates cognitive and




9/10

EARLY CHILDHOOD 205

social development in ways that, due to theunique physiological and neurological lim-itations imposed by the proximity to in-

fancy, cannot otherwise proceed. The lack of research on the incidence of physical activ-ity among young children suggests an as-sumption that, as children, they are creatingtheir own opportunities. Likewise, parentsand a variety of caregivers appear to as-sume that physical activity is provided“somewhere else.” Yet the evidence thatdoes exist suggests that opportunities forgross-motor, large-muscle activity are de-clining, even for very young children.

Such shifts in the social context that de-termines the nature of daily life for children

may have serious negative consequencesfor physiological and neurological devel-opment. From a public health perspective,they also mean that children have less op-portunity to learn the fundamental skillsnecessary to reverse the increase in obesityand other diseases associated with a sed-entary lifestyle. This points to the need for

both free play and specific skill instructionin physical education.

Although parents, caregivers, and move-ment specialists all agree on the necessity of physical activity, there is no consensus on

how to ensure that it occurs. One possibilityis to take advantage of public and commer-cial pay-as-you-go programs (i.e., YouthSport). However, instructor training in sport-

based programs is unsure, the motor skillstaught are often highly specialized, and ac-cess for all children is far from universal. Theonly way to ensure comprehensive and in-formed instruction is to support qualityearly childhood physical education in thepublic schools.

To guide young children toward becom-ing physically active for a lifetime, physical

education experiences in early childhoodmust include (a) the learning of develop-mentally appropriate skills, (b) personneltrained in appropriate instructional prac-tices for physical activity, (c) promotion of a positive and safe physical activity envi-ronment, including child-sized equipment,

and (d) an inclusive curriculum based on anunderstanding of movement concepts andskill themes.

Note

The authors may be contacted at the follow-ing e-mail addresses: [email protected] [email protected].

References

Annie Casey Foundation. (2003). Kids count databook: State profiles of child well-being. Washing-ton, DC: Author.

Barnett, W. S., Robin, K. B., Hustedt, J. T., &Schulman, K. L. (2003). The state of preschool:2003 state preschool yearbook. New Brunswick,NJ: National Institute for Early EducationResearch.

Barnett, W. S., & Yarosz, D. J. (2004). Who goes topreschool and why does it matter? New Bruns-wick, NJ: National Institute of Early Educa-tion Research.

Bredekamp, S., & Copple, C. (Eds.). (1997). De-velopmentally appropriate practice in early child-hood programs. Washington, DC: NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Chil-dren.

Brustad, R. J. (1993). Who will go out and play?Parental and psychological influences onchildren’s attraction to physical activity. Pe-diatric Exercise Science, 5, 210–223.

Burgeson, C. R., Wechsler, H., Brener, N. D.,Young, J. C., & Spain, C. G. (2001). Physicaleducation and activity: Results from theSchool Health Policies and Programs Study2000. Journal of School Health, 71, 279–293.

Ginsberg, K. (2007). The importance of play inpromoting healthy child development andmaintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pe-diatrics, 119, 182–191.

Goodway, J. D., & Branta, C. F. (2003). Influenceof a motor skill intervention on fundamental

motor skill development of disadvantagedpreschool children. Research Quarterly for Ex-ercise and Sport, 74, 36–46.

Goodway, J. D., & Robinson, L. E. (2006, March).SKIPping toward an active start: Promotingphysical activity in preschoolers. Beyond the

Journal, 1–6 [On-line]. Available: http://www. journal.naeyc.org/btj/200605/GoodwayBTJ.pdf



http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1111%2Fj.1746-1561.2001.tb03505.xhttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1542%2Fpeds.2006-2697http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1542%2Fpeds.2006-2697http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F02701367.2003.10609062http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F02701367.2003.10609062http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1111%2Fj.1746-1561.2001.tb03505.xhttp://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F02701367.2003.10609062http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F02701367.2003.10609062http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1542%2Fpeds.2006-2697http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1542%2Fpeds.2006-2697


10/10


JANUARY 2008

Goodway, J. D., & Savage, H. (2001). Environ-mental engineering in elementary physicaleducation. Teaching Elementary Physical Edu-cation, 12(2), 12–14.

Greenman, J. (1988). Caring spaces, learning places:Children’s environments that work. Redman,WA: Exchange Press.

Kelly, L. E., Dagger, J., & Walkley, J. (1989). Theeffects of an assessment-based physical edu-cation program on motor skill developmentin preschool children. Education and the Treat-ment of Children, 12, 152–164.

National Association for Sport andPhysicalEdu-cation. (2000). Appropriate practices in move-ment programs for young children ages 3–5. Res-ton, VA: American Alliance for Health,Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

National Association for Sport andPhysicalEdu-cation. (2002). Active Start: Physical activity forchildren birth to five years. Reston, VA: Amer-ican Alliance for Health, Physical Education,Recreation and Dance.

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Curtin, L. R., Mc-Dowell, M. A., Tabak, C. J., & Flegal, K. M.(2006). Prevalence of overweight and obesityin the United States, 1999–2004. Journal of the

American Medical Association, 295, 1549–1555.Piaget, J. (1964). Development and learning. In R.

E. Ripple & V. N. Rockcastle (Eds.), Piaget re-discovered: A report of the conference on cognitiveskills and curriculum development. Ithaca, NY:Cornell University, School of Education.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2003). Activeliving: Healthy schools for healthy kids. Prince-ton, NJ: Author.

Rudisill, M. E. (2004). Meeting Active Start guide-lines: Introduction. Teaching Elementary Physi-cal Education, 15(2), 17.

Sanders, S. (1994). Preschool physical education:Challenges for the profession. Journal of

Physical Education, Recreation and Dance,65(6), 25–56.

Sanders, S. W. (2002). Active for life: Developmen-tally appropriate movement programs for young

children. Washington, DC: National Associa-tion for the Education of Young Children.Sanders, S. (2006). Physical education in kinder-

garten. In D. Gullo (Ed.), K today: Teaching andlearning in the kindergarten year (pp. 127–137).Washington, DC: National Association forthe Education of Young Children.

Sanders, S., & Graham, G. (1992). Kindergartenchildren’s initial experiences in physical edu-cation: The relentless persistence for playclashes with the zone of acceptable re-sponses. Journal of Teaching in Physical Edu-cation, 14, 372–383.

Sanders, S., & Stork, S. (2001). Preschoolphysicaleducation: Implications of national stan-dards for physical education upon earlychildhood movement programs. Teaching El-ementary Physical Education, 12(5), 3–23.

Sawyer, R. K. (2001). Play as improvisational re-hearsal. In A. Göncü & E. L. Klein (Eds.),Children in play, story, and school (pp. 19–38).New York: Guilford.

Stork, S., & Sanders, S. W. (2000). You say potãto,I say potato: Problems associated with thelack of shared meaning in instruction andlearning. Quest, 52, 60–78.

U.S. Youth Soccer. (n.d.). Official rules for small-sided games [On-line]. Available: http://usyouthsoccer.org/

USA Gymnastics. (n.d.). Preschool fundamen-tals [On-line]. Available: http://www.usa-

gymnastics.org/education/pre-fun_index.htmlWelcome to the YMCA. (n.d.). YMCA programs

for child care: A place to grow [On-line].Available: http://www.ymca.net/programs/programs_for_child_care.html
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1001%2Fjama.295.13.1549http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1001%2Fjama.295.13.1549http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F07303084.1994.10606935http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F07303084.1994.10606935http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F00336297.2000.10491701http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F07303084.1994.10606935http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F07303084.1994.10606935http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1001%2Fjama.295.13.1549http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1001%2Fjama.295.13.1549http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/action/showLinks?crossref=10.1080%2F00336297.2000.10491701

La Educación Física en Educación Infantil

Documents

Transcript of La Educación Física en Educación Infantil