Investigation of the Current Status of Aquatic Physical Activity in K-12 Public School Physical Education Programs in the State of Florida

The purpose of the study was to investigate the current status of Aquatic Physical Activity (APA) in K-12 public school physical education programs in the state of Florida. If steps are ever to be taken to effectively promote APA in Florida public schools, efforts must be made to assess the current standing of such programs. Seven research questions guided the study. In general, questions focused on the extent and types of aquatic programs used in Florida public schools, the attitudes of physical educators towards APA, the accessibility of aquatic facilities, the professional qualifications of educators relative to teaching APA, and the varying uses of APA based on school level and based on school location in Florida. A quantitative approach was used to conduct this research utilizing a survey technique. The principal research design was a descriptive cross-sectional design. The population for this study consisted of physical educators in Florida K-12 public schools. Data was collected through a self-administered on-line survey in an effort to gather descriptive information. Descriptive statistics including frequency distributions and percentages were used to analyze the participants' responses to the questions. Analysis of Variance was reported and discussed. The research questions were answered by the information gathered from the survey questionnaire. Additionally any unsolicited qualitative comments offered by participants regarding the study were used to provide more depth and meaning for quantitative data. The following conclusions were reached based on the analysis of data from this study: a) the majority of physical education professionals do not use APA within their physical education classes; b) instructional swimming is the most commonly used type of APA in Florida's public school physical education programs; c) the majority of physical education professionals agree that APA is a valuable component within a program, but that the barriers (e.g., lack of aquatic facilities, scheduling conflicts, safety issues, feasibility, lack of training) toward implementing an APA program are many; d) most physical education professionals do hold aquatic certifications; e) the majority of physical education professionals have not ever attended an APA workshop or training; but would be willing to attend an APA workshop within their school district were workshops offered; and f) the majority of physical education professionals did not have access to on-site aquatic facilities.