Summertime is the perfect season for children to go out and play-to run, jump, swim and even walk for daily activities. But not all kids participate in these activities as their favorite pastimes. Today's kids connect with the world via the Internet, computer games, touch screens, text messages and hand-held devices with fast moving thumbs on the keyboard. With less time at play, this all adds up to less physical activity with increased health risks as they get older. 

Georgia's students have a better chance at staying fit in the future. With the required physical education and physical activity in Georgia schools, kids are increasing their chances to prevent chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and liver problems.  

Participation in the National Association for Sport and Physical Education recommended amounts of physical education (at least 150 minutes for kindergarten to 5th grade and 225 minutes for 6th grade to 12th grade per week) combined with 60 minutes a day of physical activity, can help reduce a child's chances battling weight-related chronic diseases as an adult.   

Physical education (PE) is instructional time with activity; there is an expectation for learning set by Georgia standards. Physical activity is providing kids time to move and to be active without expectation for learning, making it slightly different from PE.  

Public policy changes in Georgia are aimed at getting kids to shift their schedules to include more physical activity and physical education as tools for learning and growing stronger in life.   

There are approximately 1.7 million children enrolled in pre-k through 12th grade in Georgia schools. More than 647,000 children in grades 1st to 5th are enrolled in PE, according to Therese McGuire, the physical education & health program specialist, with the Georgia Department of Education (DOE).  

"Presently, there is not a time requirement for PE for 6th to 8th grades" McGuire explained. "We do have a required PE course for high school students, which can be taken during any high school year for half a unit or semester." 

According to the CDC, aerobic activity, such as running, should make up most of a child's 60 or more minutes of physical activity each day.

"The ultimate goal of physical education is for children to learn skills that they can use with confidence to participate in sports and activities as adults," said Jackie Lund, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University. "Many people think that the primary goal of physical education is only to get children active - the standards tell us that it is much more.  We are trying to educate them by teaching skills that they will use for participation in sport or activity."  

Lund led the team that developed the new Georgia Performance Standards for Physical Education. This year-long project ultimately revised Georgia's standards for PE. 

"The previous Georgia standards combined health and physical education concepts and were somewhat confusing to understand," said Lund. "They talked about the process but didn't state outcomes of education. The new standards are outcome-based, meaning that it would be fairly easy to develop assessments to measure whether students have mastered the content and met the standards."  

Everyone agrees that Georgia teachers are instrumental to implementing the new Georgia standards for physical education and reaching the learning outcomes in the standards.  

"In reality, a good physical education program is almost like health insurance-healthy children learn better and movement is a key part of health," said Lund. "Good teachers who have skill progressions and an idea about what children should be able to do when they graduate from school will have no problem meeting the standards." 

Experts like Lund do not blame childhood obesity entirely on the lack of physical education or activity.   

"Poor nutrition and lack of activity both combined lead to high rates of obesity," said Lund. "Parents need to be role models for their children. If children have a quality physical education program, they learn skills that they can use on the playground during recess or when they play with friends. More skilled children are more likely to be active; for these reasons a quality physical education program is the first step in developing healthier children." 

Quality physical education is the key to helping children grow up healthy and happy. We really do children a service when we add activity to their lives," concluded Lund. 

Georgia students may soon get used to hearing "go out and play" as keys to developing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and high test scores. 

-Story by Connie F. Smith, DPH Communications