Purpose of the Study
In order to enhance regular exercise during school recess, testing a pedometer-based approach that included public sharing involving teams of kids along with other self-monitoring, action planning, and rewarding aspects took place. The interventions were created to be doable for a class educator to conduct during a break (Miller et al., 2018). Performance assessment simply did not raise levels of exercise over those shown throughout baseline in the exclusion of self-monitoring.
Methods
Participants and Settings
18 normally growing students took part in this investigation. The participants ranged in age from 5 to 8 years old, and there were an equal distribution of boys and girls in the classes. The green team and the blue team were formed from two groups of students. All sessions were held during the regular morning recess hour in the classroom, which lasted from 13 to 34 minutes on average over the course of the study.
Dependent and Independent Variables
In both Experiments 1 and 2, the average strides per minute for the overall group served as the main dependent variable. The independent variable was the game structures implemented and student participation.
Discussion
Limitations
It was difficult to evaluate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using the averaged steps per minute for the examination period since the pedometers that were utilized only recorded total movements during the period. The inability to respond to exercise frequency is one obvious pedometry drawback.
Implications
Employing this strategy for an entire class has proven to be possible because initiatives using open sharing have been utilized to enhance a wide range of bodily activity effectiveness. Future studies should look into how students can help with daily activities like monitoring student achievement, since this would also reduce part of the teacher work needed to execute this kind of program.
Social Validity
It is socially acceptable for kids aged 6 to 17 to participate in 60 minutes of physical activity each day. The CDC mandates that these 60 minutes must be filled with MVPA, which includes exercises like jogging, light exercise, climbing, and leaping (Miller et al., 2018). Walking at a moderate pace can be a sign of MVPA, hence encouraging it would keep the kids healthy.
Reference
Miller, B. G., Valbuena, D. A., Zerger, H. M., & Miltenberger, R. G. (2018). Evaluating public posting, goal setting, and rewards to increase physical activity during school recess. Behavioral Interventions, 33(3), 237–250.