Health & Physical Education
Health and Physical Education courses in Orange County Schools empower students to develop lifelong habits for physical fitness, emotional well-being, and overall health. These courses emphasize the importance of making informed decisions about personal health, understanding the benefits of active living, and building skills for maintaining physical and mental resilience.
Health and Physical Education Course Options
Health & Physical Education (Graduation Requirement)
Health and PE Grades 9-12 - 60492X0
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: None
The health component of this course teaches students the habits and practices that will help them maintain a healthy lifestyle now and in the future. Topics include stress management, substance abuse, nutrition, weight management, self-protection, and relationships.
Students also learn how to avoid serious health risks, manage their own behavior, and build self-esteem. Sex education stresses the benefits of abstinence until marriage, the importance of avoiding out-of-wedlock pregnancy, and the need to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. The physical education component includes personal fitness, recreational dance, game and sport skills, and gymnastics. Students must dress out and participate actively if they are to acquire a better understanding of and appreciation for the importance of lifetime fitness. Physical Education teachers will administer fitness testing.
Health & PE Electives
Lifetime Sports I - 60392X0C
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Health & Physical Education
This elective course is designed to provide a basic knowledge of various sports & skills one may utilize throughout one’s life. Plus you will partake in cardiovascular & strength conditioning, which will improve flexibility and muscular strength/endurance for students. The main focus will be to increase cardiovascular fitness/endurance. This will include, but not be limited to the following: 1-2 mile runs, fitness stations, sprint workouts, jumping rope, track interval running, and step aerobics. Students will also participate in various exercises to build muscular strength/ endurance. Students will be introduced to various individual/team activities/sports where students will become more competent, literate, and enthusiastic within these activities/sports. Some of these activities/ sports will be basketball, football, volleyball, tennis, soccer, softball, strength training, fitness testing and cardio training.
Lifetime Sports II - 60392X02
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Lifetime Sports I
This program is designed to include the development of a greater knowledge and application of personal fitness development and demonstration of more advanced skills in lifetime sports. Activities are divided equally within the total weeks of the semester.
Personal Fitness I - 60392X03
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Health & Physical Education
This program emphasizes regular participation in a variety of enjoyable fitness activities that promote a healthy and wellness-oriented lifestyle. This is an individual health-related fitness program in which the students, through active participation, develop knowledge and skills to provide enjoyment in the areas of cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, and muscular strength/ endurance.
Personal Fitness II - 60392X04
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Personal Fitness I
This program involves continued participation in aerobics, step aerobics, and weight lifting. Other topics such as nutrition and muscle physiology are studied. Personal improvement through an individualized exercise and nutrition plan will be stressed in this program. This program includes a focus on the five components of flexibility, muscular strength and endurance, body composition, and cardiovascular training.
Sports Medicine I - 60632X0
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Health & Physical Education
This program is designed for students interested in the career of athletic training. The primary focus will include, but not be limited to, the following topics: The Sports Medicine Team, organization and administration, injury prevention, physical training and conditioning techniques, nutritional considerations, protective sports equipment, psychology of sports injury/illness, mechanisms and characteristics of sports trauma, tissue response to injury, human anatomy, exercise physiology, biomechanics, kinesiology, CPR/bloodborne pathogens, injury assessment and evaluation, environmental concerns, basic taping and bandaging, explanations of therapeutic modalities, basic exercise rehabilitation, drug use/abuse in sports, and skin disorders. Students may be required to engage in practical experience outside of class for the purpose of applying knowledge and techniques learned in class.
Sports Medicine II- 60642X0
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Sports Medicine I, Biology, and Instructor Approval
This course is designed to educate students interested in fields such as athletic training, physical therapy, medicine fitness, physiology of exercise, kinesiology, nutrition and other sports medicine fields. There will be a hands-on application in areas of prevention, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of sports injuries. Students will be required to perform additional hours outside the classroom with sports teams and athletes to further enhance their learning.
Strength Training & Conditioning I - 60392X0ST1
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Health & Physical Education
This program is designed for the novice weight-training student. It involves introductory techniques of weight training and cardiovascular conditioning, safety precautions and injury prevention, and other methods of weight management. The major focuses are general muscle toning and achieving total fitness. The development of a personal fitness plan is a part of this program.
Strength Training & Conditioning II - 60392X0ST2
Credit: 1 unit
Prerequisite: Strength Training & Conditioning I
This course is an advanced strength and conditioning program. Students should be in good physical shape for this course. This program is strongly recommended for student athletes.