A lesson structured of “fitness-training” class: proactive learning in college physical education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the educational effect of fitness training class provided as a college physical education. In the fitness-training class, the students created their own training menu based on their physical characteristics or training aim. Academics provided original training diary, which included some training tips to support the students. This class consisted of 19 university students (men: 4, women: 15), who had no usual physical activities. In the first session of this class, the students made today’s the training plan of the today with referring the feedback comments provided by Academics. The feedback comments were provided based on the training record of the previous day. Following making training menu, the students did their workout for a period of about 60 minutes. After the class, the students recorded their training event, the frequency of the event and load on their training diary. The effects of learning and training in this class were examined through fitness tests; “leg muscular strength”, “cardiorespiratory fitness”, “endurance of abdominal muscle”, “balance ability”, “the level of lack of exercise” and “total evaluation” and questionnaire survey about contents and impression of this class. Throughout the 15 series of fitness-training class, the result of fitness tests regarding “leg muscular strength”, “cardiorespiratory fitness” and “total evaluation” were significantly increased and “the level of lack of exercise” was significantly decreased than that of the first session of the class (p<0.05). In addition, from the result of questionnaire survey in this class, it has revealed that most of the students increased the opportunity to have exercise and improved the favorability rating of exercise. The results of this study suggested that a fitness-training class managed mainly by students can acquire the fundamental skill of exercise. In addition, the program of this class may promote the independence of mind and conventionalize exercise in a daily life and enhance the amount of exercise. Therefore, the method of implementation of our fitness-training class would be one of useful examples as college physical education.