KAHPERD Convention 2026

Walk away with practical, plug-and-play activities that get students moving, collaborating, and thinking about their own wellness. Designed for PE teachers ready to go beyond exercise, this session gives you the tools to build a classroom culture where healthy habits and lifelong fitness truly stick.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing education, but what does that mean for physical education and health teachers? In this session, participants will explore practical ways AI can support lesson planning, assessment, communication, differentiation, and student engagement in both PE and Health classrooms—without replacing the relationships and human connection that make great teaching possible. Attendees will leave with ready-to-use prompts, practical examples, and a framework for using AI responsibly to enhance instruction while supporting lifelong movement, wellness, and health literacy.

Participants will learn about RUFTA5 and leave with a practical timeline and tools to implement a similar event in their own district. Are You Faster Than a Fifth Grader? (RUFTA5) is a district-wide experience where 15 fifth graders from each elementary school race against the superintendent in a two-mile run, while the remaining students participate in a one-mile walk, all culminating together at a shared finish. KCKPS believes students benefit from meaningful connections with district leaders, and RUFTA5 provides that opportunity in a powerful, visible way. This event serves as a culminating elementary experience that celebrates the whole child while promoting perseverance, school pride, and healthy lifestyles. Participants will also explore how cross-department collaboration and community partnerships can support successful implementation and long-term impact.

Are you ready to take your love of learning and movement beyond the gym? Join me to see how we built an outdoor learning classroom at our elementary school. I’ll show how we turned almost nothing into an inspiring space by writing grants, securing donations, and involving our school community. You’ll leave with practical ideas for activities that help students learn, move, create, and connect with nature—and with steps to start your own outdoor classroom.

When given multiple tools to assess health, people tend to choose the one that is most familiar, fastest, or easiest to interpret. Relying solely on weight can overshadow other important indicators of health, such as body composition, cardiovascular function, and muscular development. Understanding this preference, even when other tools are available, matters for both educators and fitness professionals. This study used naturalistic observation to assess gym-goers' usage of health and anthropometric assessment tools. Results indicated that while gym-goers initially showed interest in less commonly used assessment tools, they overwhelmingly used the scale. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

This presentation, Builders and Bulldozers, uses a simple elementary physical education game as a powerful metaphor to explore human behavior across personal, professional, and organizational contexts. The discussion examines how individuals alternate between “building” others up and “bulldozing” them, often influenced by stress, environment, and learned behavior. Drawing from performance and organizational psychology, the presenters highlight that bulldozing is not a reflection of character but a response to internal overload, unmet emotional needs, or reactive leadership patterns. In contrast, builders demonstrate emotional regulation, intentionality, and the ability to foster psychological safety, trust, and collaboration. The presentation further emphasizes the impact of internal dialogue, suggesting that self-bulldozing often precedes negative interactions with others, whereas self-building promotes resilience and growth. Practical strategies are provided to help individuals shift toward builder behaviors, including pausing before reacting, regulating emotions, validating others, and repairing interactions quickly. Through reflective prompts, listeners are encouraged to evaluate their own tendencies and consider how their actions influence others. Ultimately, the presentation underscores the power of choice in shaping environments and relationships, challenging individuals to intentionally build others up rather than tear them down.

Experiential learning provides students with opportunities to apply classroom concepts through meaningful, hands-on experiences coupled with critical reflection. This interactive session highlights an experiential learning project that connects college students with older adults residing in assisted living communities through the design and implementation of engaging leisure activities and games. Participants will engage in a sample activity, discuss implementation strategies, and leave with adaptable resources they can use to develop similar experiential learning opportunities at their own institutions.

Using Exercise Physiology Knowelge to Enhage Elmentray Education Studnets

Physical education is critically important for students with visual impairment to combat sedentary lifestyles and develop overall physical fitness, motor planning, and self-esteem. This session will focus on increasing knowledge of the disability of visual impairment as well as introducing teaching strategies and equipment to provide accessible fitness activities for students who are not able to learn visually.