Fitness Testing and Physical Education
Fitness testing (FT) in physical education is a controversial topic. Advantages of fitness testing in PE is that the tests are generally safe to implement, involve minimal equipment, and they are easy to administer. When FT's are used as stimulus material for education about movement, such as components of fitness and physiological responses to different types of activity, they have the potential to contribute to the developmet of student understanding about the value of movement.
The question is whether the potential advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These disadvantages include:
The appropriateness of some fitness tests for use with children and youth, because they were developed for adults, is questionable;Children's responses to physical activity are different to adults;'Field tests' are often imprecise measures, therefore, the test result validity and reliability is questionable;Too many factors (other than the individual child's actual fitness) can influe…
The question is whether the potential advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These disadvantages include:
The appropriateness of some fitness tests for use with children and youth, because they were developed for adults, is questionable;Children's responses to physical activity are different to adults;'Field tests' are often imprecise measures, therefore, the test result validity and reliability is questionable;Too many factors (other than the individual child's actual fitness) can influe…
