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PATH sample activities

Physical education is synonymous with exercise: batting a ball, throwing a football, or running for speed and fitness. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked that physical education teachers give their students' brains a real workout, too. A case in point: In 23 New York City schools, teachers use a challenging curriculum developed by faculty at Queens College.

The curriculum, called PATH for Physical Activity and Teen-age Health, was born out of frustration, said Dr. Paul Fardy of Queens College's department of family, nutrition and exercise sciences.

"Cardiac rehabilitation is extremely expensive," said Fardy, a cardiac specialist and member of Professional Staff Congress, the union that represents instructional staff at the City University.

"Every time I'd work with a new patient on exercise, smoking cessation, diet and nutrition, or stress reduction, I'd wonder how to get the information to younger people so they could prevent ending up in this situation," he said.

Fardy identified the need through a 1988 pilot project at a Queens school, where tests of 500 high school students found 53 percent already had at least one major factor of heart disease.

Stepping up to the challenge

PATH in action exercises both the body and the brain.

In Lori Bier's physical education class at Flushing High School, while she completes attendance and sets up class, the 40 students are expected to write about how heart muscles work. Students like Lynette Price struggle a bit with the lesson, which explains how deoxygenated blood is delivered to the lungs and oxygenated blood goes to the rest of the body.

"I don't really like it, but I do know it's good for me," Price said, pointing to the workbook's explanation that heart attacks and heart disease cause half of the deaths in the U.S.

Bier is a member of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City affiliate of New York State United Teachers. As part of today's lesson, she explains how to take a resting heart rate. Students learn one way to prevent heart disease is regular aerobic exercise that gets the heart rate up.

At that, Bier starts a music tape and leads the students in step aerobics, a workout that involves stepping up and down from an elevated block. After 10 minutes, students take their heart rates again. Cindy Joseph was surprised to find her heart rate had doubled.

The lesson is the first step in the PATH program, which seeks to integrate physical and health education with behavior modification. In general, the student workbook and the curriculum are designed to reverse the trend toward increased inactivity and the potential for health problems as adults.

UFT teachers like Bier and Carla Nasso have seen a difference in students who have completed PATH.

"We hear the kids all the time as they realize how connected some behaviors are," Bier said. "The best thing is all the information is in one workbook."

Nasso agreed: "The food pyramid is befuddling for adults, let alone kids. The book has a good foundation of explaining it." Bier and Nasso also modify lessons for grade levels.

UFT President Randi Weingarten praised the program for setting higher standards for students. She noted these lessons call for more reading, writing and critical thinking skills, which supports the move to higher academic standards.

"Our goal is to help students succeed in school and in life," Weingarten said.

Brain exercises throughout the 140-page workbook develop math and reading skills. Bier said a favorite lesson is learning how to use information from food labels.

"That's where the kids really see the impact on what they eat," Bier said. The lesson points out that packaging can be deceptive. A small bag of cookies or chips may have more than one serving.

"First the kids look at it and think 6 grams of fat may not be so bad," Bier said. "But if they eat the whole bag, which had 2.5 servings, it's really 15 grams of fat."

For samples of workbook activities go to www.nysut.org on the Web.

The PATH curriculum is available for $4 per workbook. To order, contact Paul Fardy, Family, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, Queens College, Flushing, N.Y. 11367. You must specify middle or high school grades when ordering.

- Betsy Sandberg

Are kids being shortchanged? NYSUT flexes muscle in support of subjects that are under siege

A recent headline in The New York Times proclaims there's "No time for napping in today's kindergarten" as a result of accelerated academic pressure.

If naps are in jeopardy, so is exercise. This year's New York State United Teachers survey of local leaders found concerns expressed in 118 of 386 districts that kids are not getting the weekly state minimum requirement of 120 minutes of physical education.

Foreshadowing those concerns, an earlier survey of 456 upstate and Long Island districts by the state Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance found the average kindergarten through third-grade student only receives phys ed twice per week for at least 30 minutes. The average fourth-, fifth- or sixth-grader has a bit more: physical education two times a week for at least 40 minutes.

Janet Marcus does not need surveys to tell her that kids are not getting the time they need.

"They come to us with fairly low-level skills," said Marcus, a 28-year certified physical educator at Murry Berg Traum High School in Manhattan."We're no longer getting kids with the fundamental sports skills like the ability to dribble a basketball," said Marcus, a member of the United Federation of Teachers.

Concerned that certain subjects could be overlooked in the state's move to higher standards, NYSUT's subject area committee for Health Education, Physical Education and Family and Consumer Science is lobbying for the State Education Department to include information on whether a district complies with commissioner's regulations on these subjects in district report cards.

"We know that administrators and school boards pay close attention to what is reported to the public," said Hank Sessa, who chairs the union committee. "Meanwhile, as educators we know kids need a total educational experience. Respect, responsibility and how to handle winning and not winning are important lessons that may not be emphasized in other areas."

Besides dropping the ball in physical education, 51 districts out of 386 fall short of requiring a minimum 30 weeks of instruction in Home and Career Skills by the end of eighth grade, according to the union survey.

The union is also deeply concerned about pressures that could curtail vital occupational and vocational programs that prepare students for work (see related article, page 7.)

Physical inactivity is a serious, nationwide problem, according to a 1996 report of the surgeon general which suggested childhood and adolescence are pivotal times for preventing sedentary behavior as adults.

Are special subject areas falling to the wayside as schools emphasize other state standards? Tom Hobart, president of NYSUT, said the union believes the pressure to meet higher academic standards cannot be allowed to erode physical education and other key programs. "Activities that promote a healthy lifestyle make for better students, which is an important part of meeting higher academic standards," Hobart said, noting that physical education programs also include academic components that help students prepare for state standards.

For more information

• Content-based workshops on Health, Physical Education and Family and Consumer Sciences will be presented at the NYSUT Standards and Assessments Conferences Jan. 19-20 in Albany, March 2 in White Plains and March 30 in Rochester.

• The State Education Department has curriculum resource guides, standards and sample tests at www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/physed.html on the Web.

• For a wide range of other groups that offer curriculum help, go to pelinks4u.org on the Web.