A student who graduates from Lock Haven University with a major in Health and
Physical Education will be prepared to integrate and creatively mold content, techniques,
communications, and evaluations into an effective teaching-learning process. The Lock
Haven University Health and Physical Education graduate will demonstrate a commitment to
health, fitness, and movement. Each will be a reflective decision-maker with the ability
to use these skills to become a most effective health and physical education teacher.
A Health and Physical Education major at Lock Haven University is introduced to the
concept of reflective decision making in early professional courses and is provided with
the knowledge, skills and experiences which will enhance the development of each
individuals potential. Integrated into the curriculum are an expanding knowledge base, a
challenging activity component and a wide variety of practicum and teaching opportunities.
Development of continuous self-evaluation techniques and communication skills enhance
professional development and self-esteem. A graduate is well prepared to enter the health
and physical education profession as a teacher in K-12 programs.
The curriculum is student-centered and focuses on providing students with a progression
of experiences which will enable them to meet the needs of an ever-changing society.
Recent program and curriculum revisions place an additional emphasis on practicum
experiences, the use of technology, and the integrating of the knowledge base across the
health and physical education disciplines and beyond. Additional revisions speak to the
preparation of Health and Physical Education professionals who can promote health,
wellness, and fitness in a variety of school, community and work-site settings.
Adding to the program goals as they are stated above, faculty, as well as curriculum
design, emphasize concern for the health and well-being of the individual student. Special
attention is given to the promotion of healthful living through the advancement of
accurate health related information, development of positive attitudes and adoption of a
physically active lifestyle. The future teacher should serve as a role model for students.
Interest is shown for the student's personal health and his/her ability to cope with
problems, present, past, and future, that are directly related to the professions of
health and physical education. This concern is based upon the assumption that teachers
play a vital part in the process of influencing learner's health knowledge, attitudes,
skills, and behaviors; and furthermore, that if teachers are to be effective role models
capable of teaching their learners health enhancing attitudes and skills, they must first
illustrate by example the lifestyle they promote.
Mission Statement
Department of Health and Physical Education
The Department of Health and Physical Education is
committed to the undergraduate and graduate preparation of teachers to plan and implement
Health and Physical Education programs, K-12 in the public schools. The department also
seeks to provide majors in the non-teaching tracts with the knowledge and skills required
to reach their potential in related careers such as sport administration, aquatics and
coaching. The department is likewise committed to the support of general education of
students with regard to the development and maintenance of personal lifespan fitness and
wellness skills.
The Department of Health and Physical Education is dedicated to
the following goals:
1. To provide a quality academic program that is compatible with
the university's mission.
2. To provide theoretical and practical learning activities
essential to the effective performance of a health educator and
physical educator.
3. To equip the future teachers with the skills to analyze
evaluate, and implement various assessment instruments to
determine teaching/learning effectiveness.
4. To acquire the knowledge and skills essential for designing
and administering programs for
students with special needs.
5. To encourage both faculty and students to actively participate
in professional activities
and research.
6. To increase the awareness of the significant role that health,
physical education and sport have in local, national and
international relationships.
7. To provide learning activities that enhance critical thinking,
inquiry, and problem- solving skills.
8. To continuously monitor the objectives of the program,
courses, and activities in order to ensure that current and future
needs are being met.
9. To assess currently enrolled students, as well as alumni, in
order to ascertain how effectively
goals and objectives are being met.
10. To promote multi-cultural awareness by fully utilizing the
established programs at the University.
11. To encourage both faculty and students to actively
participate in a wellness program.
12. To provide future Health and Physical Education professionals
with practical
learning experiences through the use of the most
current technologies in this field.
Outcomes
I. Content Each Student will:
A. Demonstrate fundamental skills in dance, aquatics, gymnastics, as well as
individual, dual, and team sports.
B. Demonstrate an understanding of the scope and sequence of the health education
and physical education curriculums, the available
instructional resources and the varied assessment techniques.
C. Analyze skills and develop individual and group activities for remediation of
weaknesses for all students.
D. Demonstrate an established repertoire of and the ability to create
developmentally appropriate learning activities for
health and physical education.
E. Plan progressive curricular sequences in health and physical education that
will lead to positive lifestyle development and lifelong
fitness and wellness.
F. Utilize and integrate knowledge and skills from all content courses to promote
conceptual learning.
G. Use technology to create mediated lessons and presentations.
II. Professional Practices Each student will:
A. Conduct oneself in a professional manner and model a fit body, a positive
lifestyle, and a well-groomed appearance.
B. Demonstrate organization and preparation for regular attendance; reading
assignments and supplementary material; organizing handouts
and notes for future reference.
C. Show a professional behavior toward teaching by joining and participating in
professional, university, and community organizations
that promote, expand, and enrich one's teaching skills,
abilities, knowledge, and interests.
D. Organize and maintain a professional teaching portfolio that synthesizes and
documents one's development as a pre- professional.
E. Demonstrate a past and present respect for law and order, and maintain
emotional stability as required by Act 33 and Act 34
and professional certification requirements.
F. Show initiative by going beyond normal expectations and by making personal
and/or
professional contributions to the teaching and learning
process.
III. Teaching Each student will:
A. Analyze motor and sport skills so that group and/or individual mastery can be
accomplished.
B. Vary learning activities to best serve the students' learning styles, fitness
levels, skill levels, and interests.
C. Provide a proper and safe learning atmosphere by controlling students and the
environment in a professional manner.
D. Utilize a variety of assessment techniques to interpret students'
developmental levels prior to instruction, to evaluate
the teaching learning process, and to access the final outcomes.
E. When teaching, maximize student participation time by using effective planning
and resources.
F. Demonstrate skill in using computers to assist with instruction, evaluation,
and record keeping.
IV. Communications Each student will:
A. Demonstrate effective speaking skills by using adequate volume and expression
and by
eliminating colloquialisms and substandard speech from
one's teaching language.
B. Demonstrate effective writing skills by spelling, punctuating, and composing
in an acceptable manner.
C. Demonstrate caring communication when interacting with students, faculty, and
staff by using, mature judgment, and respectful
behavior.
D. Use enthusiasm and establish high expectations to motivate and focus students.
E. Communicate a respect for others and the profession by completing all duties
with promptness and quality.
V. Evaluation Each Student will:
A. Engage in self evaluation and reflection by keeping a professional journal and
portfolio for at
least four semesters.
B. Demonstrate a functional knowledge with systematic and creative evaluation
techniques.
C. Construct and administer student evaluations of one's own teaching performance
D. Use a variety of evaluative procedures periodically to (a) assess the
effectiveness of the program on students and (b)
determine the quality and usefulness of teaching aids and materials.
Field
Experiences in Teacher Education
For students in the teacher certification program, K-12 school participation
(clinical experience) starts in the freshman year with observations in public schools as a
part of HPED 100, Foundations of Health and Physical Education. This experience involves
the use of an observation check sheet and a written report were students reflect on their
perceptions of k-12 students and faculty, and the school environment where they completed
their observation. Additionally, all freshmen work with public school children K-6 who
come to the university as part of the HPED 112, Teaching Fundamental Movement and Rhythms.
This experience involves individual and group teaching of movement fundamentals to K-6
public school students. Students assess their own, and their peer's, effectiveness in this
teaching environment.
Additional school participation is part of three sophomore courses: HPED 213,
Elementary School Physical Education Activities, HPED 218, Teaching Tumbling and
Gymnastics, and HPED 210, Teaching Folk and Social Dance. In each class K-6 elementary
school children visit the campus to receive activity instruction. LHU students are
involved in teaching and reflection on teaching in each of these activities. HPED 213 also
requires participation in public schools. Each student is required to teach activities,
which they develop and plan for, in a K-6 setting.
Unique on campus practicum experiences are also provided in HPED 260, Practices and
Principals of Conditioning, and HPED 314, Health and Physical Education Tests. In these
classes students are involved in assisting Health and Physical Education faculty teaching
HPED 60, Wellness For Life, (general education course), with the assessment of student
fitness levels. HPED 234, Water Safety Instructor, also offers students practical
experiences in teaching swimming as members of the community are encouraged to use this
class to receive swimming instruction for their children. Each semester students in this
class teach children P-6 to swim.
Off-campus observation and participation at the freshman and sophomore levels are not
supervised. Instructors of classes requiring such participation outline the requirements
for these experiences which are verified and assessed by the K-12 educators they work
with. Off-campus activities associated with freshman and sophomore level classes are
approximately eight hours. On campus activities consist of about nine contact hours. These
are in addition to the eighty hours of Professional Development field experiences required
prior to their junior year professional semester.
All students are also required to complete a minimum of eighty hours of Professional
Development field experiences with children K-12. Guidelines for these experiences are
introduced in HPED 100 and monitored by each student's advisor. The eighty hours of
experience must be completed prior to entering into the professional semester during the
junior year and become part of the student's professional portfolio. Each student is
required to complete at least twenty hours of experience in physical education school
settings and twenty hours in health education school settings. The requirements also ask
the students to complete these experiences at both the elementary and secondary levels.
The remaining forty hours may be completed in any setting related to health and physical
education or allied fields. The purpose of this requirement is to assist students in
making appropriate career choices and to better prepare them for student teaching and a
career in Health and Physical Education.
The Professional Semester (15.5 credits of professional course work) is taken during the
junior/senior year. It is an aggregate of seven courses designed to provide integrated
experiences for the development of attitudes, skills, and procedures related to effective
teaching. The courses; HPED 310 Techniques and Strategies
for Teaching Physical Education, HPED 311 Teaching Health, HPED 312 Adaptive Physical
Education, HPED 314 Measurement for Evaluation of Health and Physical
Education, HPED Organization and Administration of Health and
Physical Education and RECR 305 Adventure Activities and Outdoor Pursuits provide the opportunities for teaching
and learning issues (e.g. authentic assessment, integration of technology, thematic and
integrated learning, methodologies and strategies of teaching, and theories of learning).
HPED 400, Professional Development, has all students participating in public schools
for a minimum of two hours per week, and in practicum experiences two hours per week.
Seven weeks of participation are completed at both the elementary and secondary levels,
and time is divided between health education and physical education settings.
Additionally, students are given assignments to complete which will make them more aware
of the total school environment. These assignments include such activities as observations
of and interviews with non-teaching staff and observation of classroom teachers and their
students.
In addition to classroom study and peer teaching, and the Professional Development
course, students spend two full weeks each in the public elementary and secondary schools
utilizing their collective knowledge and experiences. Within the participation experience
the student follows the public school teacher's schedule. Student experiences involve
observation, acting as a teacher's aide, teaching students one-on-one, small group
instruction, and progressing to the development and teaching of full classes in both
health and physical education. The experience is supervised and evaluated by instructors
teaching the professional semester courses, and by cooperating public school teachers.
This is done through the evaluation of journals, practicum presentations and teaching
experiences.
The student teaching component of the student's preparation for certification in health
and physical education is a full semester experience during the senior year. The semester
is divided into two parts: seven weeks of the semester are devoted to teaching health and
physical education in the elementary school, and seven weeks are spent in the public
secondary schools. Student teachers are under the tutelage of a mentor teacher in health
and physical education, and are supervised by a full time university health educator and
physical Education Educator. At the same time, students attend the Professional Practicum
in health and physical education. This course provides the forum for discussing problems
and concerns common to all student teachers. Students are also introduced to special
skills and current information relative to the enhancement of teaching skills and career
development.
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