FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child’s performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child’s needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
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