Relative Influence Of Various Physical Education Activities On Motor Ability And Physical Fitness On Male College Freshmen

The Pennsylvania State College The Graduate School Department of Health and Physical Education RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF VARIOUS PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES ON MOTOR ABILITY AND PHYSICAL FITNESS ON MALE COLLEGE FRESHMEN A dissertation ^>y Carl W. Landiss Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education August 1951 Approved: J 7 T ____________ In Cha^gfe, Professional Preparation and Research Professor of Educational Research Professor of Psychology *Z?//z^ ~dhyslcal education activities on endurance test scores, Fordham^ and Berrafato? in con­ current but separate studies used four test items to meas­ ure muscular endurance. chins, push-ups, The test battery was composed of sitting tucks, and hops. Freshmen and sophomore college students attending the Chicago Undergrad­ uate Division of the University of Illinois, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, were used. Fordham^ tested the effect 6 Sheldon LeRoy Ford ham, ,TThe Effect of Four Selected Phys­ ical Education Activities on Muscular Endurance Test Scores.7' (unpublished Master's thesis. The Graduate College of the University of Illinois, 1949;, pp.BO. 7 Peter Robert Berrafato, "The Effect of Various Physical Ed­ ucation Services Courses on the All-round Muscular Endurance of University Students." (unpublished Master's thesis, The Graduate College of the University of Illinois, 1949), pp.73. 8 Fcrdham, l o c . cit. 13 of classes in apparatus, individual tumbling, badminton and basic physical conditioning. Three of the courses were elective with the students being placed in the con­ ditioning class due to low scores made on a five item (push-ups, chins, squat thrusts, squat jumps, and sit-ups) motor fitness test. semester period. The study was conducted over a one- From this study Fordham found^ that stu­ dents taking the basic conditioning course made the greatest improvement in mean standard scores, plus 1 9 *3 5 ; apparatus mean gain of plus 12.84; individual tumbling mean gain 8.05; and students taking badminton improved with a mean gain of 3.07. BerrafatolO using the same test items studied intra­ mural athletes, boxing, wreight lifting, wrestling and volleyball in improvement of all-round endurance. His findings were as follov/s:-*-1 Boxing, mean gain = 11.29; weight lifting, mean gain » 11.06; intramural athletes, mean gain = 9 -4 0 ; wrestling, mean gain = 6.50; and volley­ ball, mean gain = 5.09. of standard scores. 9 Ibid., p .64 10 Berrafato, loc. cit. 11 Ibid.. p. 53 The mean gain is indicated in terms CHAPTEB III THE MEASURES USED AND TEST ADMINISTRATION Two test batteries were used in this study: (1) the three-item test developed by the Army Air Forces-*- and known as the PFR test, and called in this study the Physical Fit­ ness Tes t ; and (2) the Larson Test of Motor Ability ^ . con­ sisting of four items. The two tests actually tend to overlap in what they test as some of the same factors were used as validating criterion for both tests. I. PHYSICAL FITNESS TEST The criterion used by the AAF in the development of the Physical Fitness Test was composed of fifteen items used to measure seven constituents of physical fitness as follows^: 1. Muscular Endurance. The capacity of the individual for long-continued contractions (submax­ imum) where a sufficient number of muscle groups are used with a sufficient duration and intensity to put a demand on the functions of circulation and respiration. 1 Array Air Forces Regulation No. 50-10, Training-Physical Fitness Test. (Washington, D.C.: Headquarters, Army Air Forces, 28 April 1943). 2 Leonard Variables Quarterly Education