The Fitness and Wellness IQ: Measuring College Student Learning in Campus Recreation Fitness and Wellness Programs

Abstract

Collegiate campus recreation departments are held to increasingly higher levels of accountability, particularly as to whether recreational programs and activities have impact on student learning. This pioneering study found that students who participated in selected fitness and wellness programs offered by a certain four-year, public institution of higher education in the Mid-west scored significantly higher (t= 3.865, α = .000, sd = 2.68) on an exam (the Fitness and Wellness IQ) designed to test their knowledge and understanding of appropriate fitness and wellness practices. Certain demographic categories (gender, age, and residence) produced significant differences in mean scores. These findings have important ramifications for campus recreation departments, divisions of student affairs, and institutions of higher education in general based on the impact on student learning from traditionally non-academic institutional programming.