Assessment of Student Engagement, Physical Activity Levels, and Body Composition in Third-, Fourth-, and Fifth-grade Physical Education Classes PDF Download

Author: Tiffany M. Fuller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Body mass index
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
"The purpose of this research study was to examine levels of physical activity participation in elementary-aged school children who participated in at least a weekly 40-minute physical education class. In doing so, the contribution of physical education classes to daily accumulated physical activity levels among children was determined. More specifically, this research study examined the amount of time children were physically active within forty minute physical education class sessions. This research study also described the types of activities in which children were involved in during and after school. Finally, the link between BMI and physical activity levels were examined. In particular, this study was guided by the following questions: 1. How is instructional time used in third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade physical education classes across three schools? Specifically, what are the mean percentages of time spent in (a) performing activity, (b) receiving information, (c) giving information, (d) waiting, (e) relocating, and (f) other. 2. What are the mean grade, school, and gender differences in physical activity levels and body mass indices of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students across three schools? 3. What are the various types of physical activities that third-, fourth-, and fifth grade students engage in outside of physical education classes across three schools? 4. What is the relationship between physical activity level and body mass index for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade male and female students across three schools? The SBE form was used to describe the way that instructional time was used. Specifically, the SBE form was used to code what a student was doing during a physical education class. The student's behavior was coded according to six categories: (a) performs motor activity, (b) receives information, (c) gives information, (d) waits, (e) relocates, and (e) other (Anderson, 1980). The Yamax Digi Walker SW 200 (YX200) pedometers were utilized for this study to measure the number of steps that third, fourth-, and fifth-graders took during physical education classes on three separate class periods. The instrument used to identify the various types of "outside" activities that students were involved in was a modified form of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) (Kowalski, Croker, & Dosen, 2004). Lastly, the BMI served as indicator of obesity levels of students. BMI was determined by first obtaining a person's height and weight (Yauss, 2005). The height of each student using a standometer was recorded in centimeters and the weight was measured in kilograms using a digital scale (Health of Meter). The BMI was then determined by using the following formula: BMI=KM/M℗ø. Conclusions Based on this study's findings the following conclusions were made: 1. Overall, it was found that students spent less than half of their instructional time in being physically active. Much of the inactive time was spent listening to the teacher and waiting to engage in an activity. However, when grade level was considered the amount of motor activity somewhat increased. The increase was especially evident in the third- and fifth-graders. 2. Teachers differed in terms of the way they organized their instructional time. Woodson's teacher instructional time was organized in a way that more than half of the time was spent in non motor engaged activities. Students at Mercy and Richmond Elementary School spent the higher amounts of instructional time performing motor activity. 3. The third-graders at Richmond Elementary School spent the highest amount of instructional time in performing motor activity, while the fourth graders spent the least amount of time in performing motor activity. The third-graders and fifth-graders at Woodson Elementary School spent the highest amount of time in performing motor activity. The fifth-graders at Mercy Elementary School had the highest amount of time in performing motor activity. 4. Females at Richmond Elementary School spent the same amount of instructional time as males in performing motor activity. However, differences between male and females were more prevalent when examining individual schools. At Woodson Elementary School males spent a higher amount of instructional time in performing motor activity than females. Lastly, at Mercy Elementary School feales spent more instructional time than males and they both spent over half the instructional time in performing motor activity. s found that males took more average steps per minute than females. It was found that third graders took more steps per minute than the fourth- and fifthgraders. Lastly, it was found that students at Mercy received the highest among of steps per minute, while Richmond received the lowest. 6. It was found that a grade by school interaction was significant (p