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386 BCE
Ancient Greece
P.E. began in ancient Greece. Plato is the one who invented physical education, hosting classes at his school titled Akademia. -
Exercise
Johann Basedow was the first to recognize the important of exercise -
School
the Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts was the first school in the nation to make PE an integral part of their educational program. -
Lewis
Diocletian Lewis 1823-1866 promoted PE in various ways. Opened the Normal Institute of PE in Boston. -
school system
the practice was truly born in the United States, beginning with a city school system in Cincinnati, Ohio, which became the first entire schooling system to implement the program. -
Twice a day
California followed soon after, in 1866, as the first state to pass a law requiring twice a day exercise in public schools. -
New ways to exercise
Dudley Sargent invented over 80 machines using pulleys and weights. -
Three R's
During the 1890s traditional education was challenged by John Dewey and his colleagues, whose educational reforms led to the expansion of the "three R's" to include physical education. -
Games
Games and activities in the 1900s to 1920s. Midnight, roll ball, puss in the circle, spider and crows and cranes. Crows and cranes is one line is crows and the other line is cranes and the teacher calls out one of those and they turn around and chase after them. -
College
over 400 United States colleges and universities were offering the physical education major to teachers. -
Programs
physical fitness programs saw cutbacks during times of recession, and in 1980 and 1990 many programs were dropped from educational institutions -
study
in a study conducted by both the Department of Education and the New York Health Department, it was found there there was a definite relationship between physical fitness in schools and higher academic success rates in public schools. -
Middle school
of the 50 states in the nation, 41 of them require physical education for their middle-school students.