Physical Education Major

The undergraduate physical education major is designed to prepare individuals to teach physical education and provides certification to coach at the middle and high school levels.

Preparing individuals to teach and coach

The program poses an integrated concentration of courses in motor development, health-related fitness and wellness, biological sciences, rhythms, individual and dual sport methods courses, elementary and secondary methods, physical education for exceptional children, adventure education, and two aquatics certifications, all with an emphasis on learning how to teach.

The physical education degree will put you in schools

Students begin studying physical education foundations and their application to human development and learning as early as the freshman year. This is accompanied by more than 20 contact hours of supervised field experience with an on-campus preschool motor development program involving preschool children with and without disabilities.

During the first two years of study, each activity course is designed to prepare pre-service teachers to learn and apply teaching applications. Ten contact hours in the schools is experienced during the sophomore year. The physical education program combined with the Clare College liberal arts requirements of the University provide physical education majors with a well-rounded undergraduate experience.

Early assurance program

Qualified high school seniors who enroll in an undergraduate teacher-preparation program have a reserved seat in one of our master's degree programs upon completion of their undergraduate studies. Learn more.

Upon successful completion of the Physical Education program at St. Bonaventure University, graduates:

will know and apply discipline-specific scientific and theoretical concepts critical to the development of physically educated individuals;
will be physically educated individuals with knowledge and skills necessary to demonstrate competent movement performance and health-enhancing fitness as delineated in the NASPE K-12 standards;
will be able to plan and implement developmentally appropriate learning experiences aligned with local, state and national standards to address the diverse needs of all students;
will be able to use effective communication and pedagogical skills and strategies to enhance student engagement and learning;
be able to use assessments and reflection to foster student learning and inform decisions about instruction;
demonstrate dispositions that are essential to becoming effective professionals.

National Girls & Women in Sports Day

St. Bonaventure is an active participant in NGWSD, and each year hosts some 500 middle school and high school girls for daylong activities on campus.

Learn More

Scraba to give presentation at annual AHPERD conference

Sep 09, 2021 | Dr. Paula J. Scraba, O.S.F., associate professor of physical education, will present at the annual conference of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, to be held Nov. 17-20 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

St. Bonaventure University graduates inducted into education honor society Kappa Delta Pi

May 19, 2021 | Thirty-two St. Bonaventure University students who earned graduate and undergraduate degrees this year were inducted into the university’s Xi Nu chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education, in a virtual ceremony held May 14.

Girls & Women in Sports Day goes virtual: SBU students create athletic skills videos

May 09, 2021 | Dr. Paula Scraba always relies on a good deal of collaboration with members of the St. Bonaventure community each year to pull off the annual Girls & Women in Sports Day event at the university.