A stranger, having viewed all such scenes and having asked what is going on might have been told: “This is physical education!” If this stranger is middle-aged and has experienced a traditional form of physical education, it is easy to understand why she asked “what’s going on?”
It is also easy to see why the answer “This is physical education!” might be surprising, simply because the activities would look as different from the traditional stereotype of “fizz ed.”
Each curriculum model has a different view of the subject matter of physical education. What is physical education? It is education in sport? Is if fitness education? Is it social development? Is it development through risk and adventure? Is it movement? Or is it all of these things and maybe more?
The problem with a broad conceptual definition of the subject matter is that it becomes so loose almost nothing can be excluded. A subject matter so loosely defined that it excluded.
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A subject matter so loosely defined that it excludes very little is inevitably going to include activities that are hardly useful or defensible by any criteria.
The question then becomes, if physical education encompasses everything, can it ever stand for something specific and important?