SARASOTA, Fla., July 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — This week, Dr. Michelle Tichy, professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Northern Iowa and chair of the Holistic Learning Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association with her small team of researchers will begin a comparative study of the major Learn-to-Swim (LTS) systems used for adults in the United States in order to identify best practices in teaching adults. By assembling a full list of best practices, the research can help develop a new national curriculum for adults to learn to swim.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130719/PH50093-a )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130719/PH50093-b )
Currently there are very few dedicated adult learn-to-swim curricula in the United States. Adults who take most swimming lessons are typically presented with the same steps and sequence as those of children's lessons.
21st Century Swimming Lessons, Inc., a non-profit swim school in Sarasota, Florida has taught adults to overcome their fear of water and swim for thirty years. It found that adults need different steps and a different sequence than children to learn to swim.
"By comparing the major LTS systems and culling the best practices among them, we can build a curriculum that succeeds with every single adult by meeting them at their level no matter what they can or cannot do. The system will be able to advance them through the stages of LTS until they achieve goals they've had their entire lives such as lap swimming, playing with children and grandchildren in the pool, and SCUBA diving. Many adults would say it's enough just to know they won't drown," says Mary Ellen "Melon" Dash, Executive Director of 21st Century Swimming Lessons.
"21st" received a grant of $10,000 from the National Swimming Pool Foundation to help create 1 million new swimmers by 2022. The grant will fund the study.
LTS systems that have been invited to participate are the American Red Cross, YMCA, Swim America, Starfish Aquatics, Miracle Swimming (21st's system), and Total Immersion. It is hoped that each organization will "show its cards" to the researchers in order that there be at least three people in the U.S. who know all the best practices of adult LTS. Then, with permission of each organization whose practices were determined to be best practices, the results will be published for the advancement of a first-rate national program for all adults, regardless of level.
Contact:
Melon Dash
21st Century Swimming Lessons
Email
941-921-6420
http://www.conquerfear.com