Project Fizz Ed: We Build Up - We Don't Tear Down

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The public school priorities of the 1990s have nudged physical education even closer to the back burner of education, leaving many physical education departments understaffed and operating in overcrowded environments with inadequate equipment. Physical educators frustrated with their working conditions often compromise their efforts to promote student education, adopting instead the stereotypical approach of simply "rolling out the ball" and supervising a modified recess.

The physical education department at Sheffield Middle/High School in Sheffield, Pennsylvania is no different from any other public school. However, its staff has developed a program to effectively deal with the understaffed and overcrowded conditions, while enhancing the education of each individual student. The program, known as Project Fizz Ed, was developed out of necessity in the fall of 1993 when an entire eighth grade, numbering 78 students, was scheduled for one 40-minute class a day, five days a week, for a two-week-on, one-week-off cycle.

The staff at Sheffield refused to resort to the roll-out-the-ball approach, opting instead to establish and meet educationally sound goals. The goals for Project Fizz Ed were (1) to enhance the self-esteem of each student, (2) to improve the efficacy of each student, (3) to allow students to enjoy friendly competition …