Roller Skating and Interdisciplinary Physical Education

Today, more than 23 million children and adolescents are obese or overweight in the United States. Physical educators strive to find appropriate, yet fun activities to encourage and increase physical activity. Introducing students to a variety of activities can promote family involvement in physical activity and create lifelong physical activity habits in children outside of school. Activities of mutual interest (such as roller skating) for girls and boys presented in a coeducational setting can accomplish these goals. Roller skating can be fun and can provide health-related fitness benefits. A roller skating curriculum may spark interest in lifelong physical activity and create an opportunity to incorporate various subject areas such as mathematics, science, health, etc. This article describes an interdisciplinary skating unit that was taught and implemented in a fourth-grade physical education class.