Student Attitudes toward Physical Education

Abstract

A group of 199 college males completed the Wear physical education attitude inventory. The responding subjects were subsequently classified according to the size of the high school attended, the college of matriculation, and the physical education class in which they were currently enrolled. No significant variations in attitude scores toward physical education were found within the subgroups of each of the three classifications. However, a significant difference in attitude scores was found between the responses to the four categories of items of the inventory. A significant variation in response was obtained between the subset formed by the physiological and the social items and the subset created by the mental-emotional and general items of the Wear attitude inventory.     

Effects of Food Supplement on the Performance of Selected Gross Motor Tests

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to study the effect of a well-advertised vitamin-mineral supplement on three selected gross motor tests. Experimental and control groups were formed in two groups, football players and physical education majors. Measurements were taken at five different time periods covering a period of 12 weeks. No statistically significant differences in motor performance were found between those subjects taking the supplement and those taking the placebo.     

Six-year trends and intersectional correlates of meeting 24-Hour Movement Guidelines among South Korean adolescents: Korea Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, 2013–2018

BackgroundGrounded in intersectionality theory, this study examined the 6-year prevalence trend and correlates in meeting Canada's 24-Hour Movement Guidelines (Guidelines hereafter) in a nationally representative adolescent samples of South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea).MethodsSelf-reported, annually repeated cross-sectional data collected between 2013 and 2018 were used (n = 372,433, 12–17 years old, 47.9% females). Adolescents were categorized as meeting or not meeting different sets of physical activity, screen time (ST), and sleep recommendations within the Guidelines, separately for weekdays and weekend days. Intersectional correlates included sex and social class (i.e., family economic status, parental education level, and academic performance). Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed.ResultsOverall, the proportion of adolescents meeting physical activity, ST, and sleep recommendations were 5.3%, 60.3%, and 10.2% on weekdays and 5.3%, 28.2%, and 46.4% on weekend days, respectively. Between 2013 and 2018, no substantial changes were observed for meeting the physical activity or sleep recommendation, while meeting the ST recommendation was markedly lower in 2018. The proportion of meeting all 3 recommendations were 0.5% for weekdays and 0.8% for weekend days. Overall, compared to female adolescents, male adolescents were consistently associated with more favorable patterns of meeting different sets of recommendations, regardless of social class. Among females only, social class appeared to be not important or even detrimental in meeting different sets of recommendations. Being male, compounded with social class, was associated with meeting the ST recommendation.ConclusionLess than 1% of Korean adolescents met the overall Guidelines. Intersectionality-based analysis and intervention may be important in promoting healthy active lifestyles among South Korean adolescents.     

Effects of Mental Practice on Skill Development after Controlled Practice

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to test the effect of mental practice on skill performance after exposing subjects to real performance of a novel motor skill. Subjects practiced physically for one week prior to being divided into control, mental practice, and physical practice groups. Subjects then practiced in treatment groups for three weeks. Results indicated mental practice to be effective in facilitating juggling performance in subjects having experienced controlled actual practice.     

Relationship of Trait Anxiety,Peer Presence,Task Difficulty,and Skill Acquisition of Sixth-Grade Boys

Abstract

The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) trait anxiety questionnaire was administered to all sixth-grade boys at one school (N = 181). Based on results of the questionnaire, 40 high-anxious and 40 low-anxious subjects were identified for participation in the study. Stratified random assignments of these subjects in a counterbalanced manner resulted in the creation of eight experimental groups. The effects of an audience and task difficulty on learning and performance were considered in the experimental design. Two social conditions—learning in the presence of a single spectator or alone—and two conditions of task difficulty on the pursuit rotor—hard and easy—were employed. Each subject was tested on one day, under one condition of task difficulty, and under one social condition. Data were treated with a three-factor multivariate analysis of variance. Dependent variables were three STAIC anxiety scale scores used to evaluate within-task feelings of anxiety and three mean performance scores for each of three blocks of pursuit rotor trials. The results of the analyses indicated that significant main effects due to social situation were not apparent until the last block of trials, when subjects in the spectator condition did better. State anxiety scores for those who performed alone were significantly higher than for those who performed with a spectator present over all blocks of trials.

Although low-anxious subjects' overall mean performance scores were higher than high-anxious subjects' on the hard task, they were not significantly different from each other until the last block of trials. The overall mean performance scores for both groups for the easy task proved significantly higher for the low-anxious group. Though the results partially support the hypothesis that a spectator increases the learner's drive and facilitates performance, the majority of the results favor the theoretical hypotheses that a spectator reduces drive and serves to console or reassure the learner.     

Cross-Validation of the Revised Motivation for Physical Activity Measure in Active Women

Abstract

The five different training methods used in this study consisted of various proportions of swimming and of weight training exercises. Sixty subjects were divided into five equated groups. Each group was exposed to a different treatment over a period of six weeks. Tests of swimming speed were administered at the beginning of the experiment, and at the end of each week. All five treatments resulted in significant swimming improvements, but none of the treatments were significantly more effective than the other treatments.     

Children's Responsiveness to Motivational Suggestions during School Entry

Abstract

According to crisis theorists, people are susceptible to the influence of others during a crisis. In an effort to test this notion, 60 first grade children were given motivational suggestions to enhance their performances on a hand dynamometer during the first three weeks of school. The research design tested the effectiveness of motivational suggestions by comparing performances of 30 subjects who received suggestions to the performances of 30 subjects in a control group. The only significant differences found were in the performances of the subjects who received motivational suggestions. The results did not uphold the notion of crisis theorists, but they did indicate that motivational suggestions were effective in enhancing performance.     

Walking football as sustainable exercise for older adults – A pilot investigation

The health benefits of playing football and the importance of exercise and social contact for healthy ageing are well established, but few older adults in the UK take enough exercise. Football is popular, flexible in format and draws players into engrossing, effortful and social exercise, but the physical demands of play at full speed may make it unsustainable for some older adults. Restricted to walking pace, will play still be engaging? Will health benefits be retained? Will physical demands remain manageable? This pilot study aims to investigate: (1) the experience of older adults playing walking football every week, is it sustainable and rewarding, (2) the intensity and locomotor pattern of walking football, (3) the scale and nature of walking football health benefits and (4) possible cognitive benefits of playing walking football through measures of processing speed, selective and divided attention and updating and inhibition components of executive function. ‘Walking football’ and ‘waiting list’ groups were compared before and after 12 weeks of one-hour per week football. Walking football was found to be engaging, sustainable for older adults and moderately intensive; however, selective health and cognitive benefits were not found from this brief intervention.

Highlights

• Walking football is a lower impact but authentic form of football that enables older players to extend their active participation.

• Walking football is enjoyable and moderately demanding and may be a sustainable form of exercise for older adults.

• Health and cognitive benefits to playing walking football were not found.

     

Effects of Various Training Programs on Speed of Swimming

Abstract

Six groups of subjects were tested to determine if various training programs affected performance in speed in swimming 30 yards. No evidence of improvement was found after one group of subjects had been exposed to absolutely no exercise for six weeks and, also, after a group of subjects had participated in various exercises with weights three times weekly for six weeks. Two groups of swimmers who participated in practicing starts, kicking, arm stroking, and sprinting 30 and 60 yards significantly improved their performances in speed in swimming; one group of subjects followed the preceding program three times weekly and another group used the same routine six times a week. Two other groups, one of which was exposed to weight training and swimming, and one of which was exposed only to 30-yard sprints and practicing starts, both showed statistically significant differences in performance.     

The dose–response association between V̇O2peak and self-reported physical activity in children

ABSTRACT

Background

Previous research into the association between aerobic fitness and physical activity in children is equivocal. However, previous research has always assumed that such an association was linear. This study sought to characterize the dose–response association between physical activity and aerobic fitness and to assess whether this association is linear or curvilinear and varies by sex, age and weight status.     

Effectiveness of Rest,Abdominal Cold Packs,and Cold Showers in Relieving Fatigue

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare three methods of relieving fatigue between bouts of strenuous exercise—rest, abdominal cold packs, and cold showers. Fifteen subjects were used in the study; each subject participated in each of the three treatments, making a total of 45 measurements. The subjects ran on a treadmill which was set at 8 mph with a 10 percent elevation, until their pulse rates reached 180 beats per minute. One of the three treatments was then applied for 10 min., after which the subjects engaged in a second treadmill run until heart rates reached 180 beats per minute. The time of the second treadmill run was the main criterion measure.

A complete randomized block design was used to test the differences among the three treatments for statistical significance. The Newman-Keuls sequential range test was employed to test differences between all possible pairs of treatment. Abdominal cold packs proved to be the most effective treatment, with the cold shower second and rest third.     

Spot Reduction of Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue

Abstract

This study was designed to determine if the skinfold measurements on an exercised arm would decrease as a result of regular weight training with that arm. Thirty-two subjects completed three sets of 7-RM curls and three sets of 7-RM triceps extensions on either a daily or an alternate day schedule for a period of 6 weeks. The nonexercised arm was measured to establish the specificity of the spot reduction on the exercised arm. The results indicate that hard exercise in a specific area of the arm will result in a reduction of the subcutaneous adipose tissue in that area.     

Physical activity levels,game performance and friendship goals using two different pedagogical models: Sport Education and Direct Instruction

Background: Advances in technology have changed children’s lifestyle so much that the majority of them do not meet the recommended 60 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Compulsory Physical Education has been highlighted as an ideal context to achieve the suggested physical activity (PA) goals, since it could be the only place where some students become truly physically active. In those classes, the teacher selects a pedagogical approach and this selection could be vital to meet the advised PA levels.

Purpose: The goal was to assess the effects of two instructional approaches, Sport Education Model (SEM) and Direct Instruction (DI) in Primary Education students’ physical activity intensity levels, game performance, and friendship goals.

Method: A total of 88 students with an average age of 11.16?±?0.63 years, enrolled in two year-5 (from 10 to11 years) and two year-6 (from 11 to 12 years) Physical Education classes of the same school agreed to participate. The number of participants in the SEM was 47 and in DI was 41. The schools’ administration distributed one class of each grade to the experimental group, which experienced SEM, and to the non-equivalent group, which experienced DI. The content selected for both study groups was the same: Handball. Both study groups experienced a 15-session learning unit (45 min per class, three sessions per week). The goal was to conduct the experiment in a non-manipulated (intact) educational context. It followed a pre-test, post-test, experimental, non-equivalent group design. Participants wore Actigraph GT3X accelerometers in order to monitor physical activity levels, answered questionnaires to assess friendship goals, and their game performance was assessed using the Game Performance Assessment instrument (GPAI).

Results: Results showed that students who experienced the SEM had significantly higher light and moderate physical activity levels, friendship-approach and friendship-avoidance goals, while the ones who experienced DI had significantly higher sedentary physical activity levels. The GPAI scores showed significant gains in students’ game performance in both study groups, but these were larger in the SEM one.

Conclusions: The SEM could be considered more effective than DI to improve Primary Education students’ PA levels, game performance and friendship goals.     

Validity and Generalizability of Social Dance Performance Ratings

Abstract

The purpose of three related studies was to develop a social dance instrument that had logical validity and generalizable performance ratings. Three social dance experts critiqued the instrument and concluded the items described the characteristics of good social dance performance. Twelve couples from a social dance class were videotaped for 5 min while performing the fox trot. Their performances were evaluated by a different set of coders in each of the three generalizability (G-) studies conducted (Subjects × Coders × Days ANOVA design). Dance performances were held constant across coding occasions so the day facet represents degree of consistency in coding, not stability of subjects' performances. Decision (D-) studies were also conducted for various measurement conditions. Results of the G-studies indicated that coders with several years of experience teaching and evaluating dance had less systematic coder bias and less systematic coder bias for a subset of dancers than coders who had little or no experience evaluating movement of any form. The performance ratings given by novice coders could be generalized for any randomly selected coder evaluating on any given day (G = .79). It was concluded the social dance test was valid and coders could be trained to obtain generalizable performance ratings.     

Movement Education: Its Effect on Motor Skill Performance

Abstract

The purposes of the present study were to evaluate transfer of movement education training to new skill performance and to evaluate skill improvement as a result of movement education and traditional training. The subjects were 47 first grade students who were in one of two classes. Each physical education class received one 30-minute class and one 20-minute class per week for 20 weeks. Subjects were taught movement principles either by a movement education approach or by a traditional approach. Johnson's Throw and Catch Test (1962) and a batting test for distance were used as pretests. These same tests were repeated as post tests in addition to two other tests which measured performance on striking and kicking distance and accuracy. Teaching approach groups were not significantly different on the latter two tests which measured the transfer of training effect. Traditional learning was better than movement education in developing throwing, catching, and batting performance. These results suggest that when one's objective is to teach a specific skill within a relatively short time period, a command style with demonstration is better than movement education.     

Contextual Interference Effects in Learning Three Badminton Serves

Abstract

This study investigated the generalizability of results of contextual interference effects by extending previous laboratory research to a field setting. Thirty female subjects (N = 30) learned three badminton serves in either a blocked (low interference), serial (mixed interference), or random (high interference) practice schedule. The subjects practiced the serves three days a week for three weeks. On the day following the completion of practice the subjects were given a retention and transfer test. Results replicated previous findings of contextual interference research by showing a significant group by block interaction between acquisition trials, retention, and transfer. The random group performed better on both retention and transfer than the blocked group. The significant trial block by contextual interference interaction also supports the generalizability of contextual interference effects, as posited by Shea and Morgan (1979), to the teaching of motor skills.     

Observation and Classification of Prehension in Preschool Children: A Reliability Study

Abstract

Changes were observed in the thickness of a subcutaneous fat layer as a result of exercising an underlying unilateral muscle over a period of time using the subcutaneous fat layer over the inactive contralateral muscle as a control. The observations were made on 15 male subjects who participated in a ten-week weight-training program which involved the triceps of the dominant arm. A Harpenden skinfold caliper was used to estimate the thickness of the subcutaneous fat layers. The findings did not support the postulate that subcutaneous fat is reduced in localities where muscles are active and in proportion to their activity.     

Impact of a pedometer-based goal-setting intervention on children’s motivation,motor competence,and physical activity in physical education

Background: School physical education (PE) programs provide a prime environment for interventions that attempt to develop school-aged children’s motor competence and overall physical fitness, while also stimulating competence motivation to engage in physical activity during childhood. It is generally recognized that a pedometer-based intervention strategy combined with a goal-setting strategy may be effective in increasing physical activity participation among school-aged children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an 8-week pedometer-based goal-setting intervention on children’s motivation in PE, motor competence, and physical activity.

Methods: A pretest–posttest comparison group design was used with the 8-week intervention (3 days/week for 24 sessions). Participants were 273 (boys?=?136, girls?=?137) students recruited from 3 elementary schools in the US. Classes in each school were randomly allocated to three experimental conditions: (1) an intervention group with a personalized pedometer weekly target to reach in their PE class (N?=?110), (2) an intervention group with the fixed pedometer target range to reach in each PE class based on the recommended criteria (N?=?90), or (3) a control group without intervention (N?=?73).

Analysis/results: The factorial repeated measures MANOVA indicated significant multivariate effects for the group [F(6, 528)?=?12.954, p?Post hoc analyzes showed that both experimental groups had significantly higher expectancy-value beliefs, motor competence, and physical activity compared to the control group (p?Conclusions: Health practitioners should be aware that goal-directed action can contribute to school students’ PE-related achievement motivation, motor competence, and achieving the recommended 60?min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.     

Blood Plasma Cholesterol Changes during a Physical Training Program

Abstract

Blood plasma cholesterol levels were followed in six experimental and six control subjects during a five-week training program (two-mile run for time, five days per week) and an eight-week detraining period. Plasma cholesterol levels were determined by the Duboff-Stevenson ultramicro method.

Plasma cholesterol levels were significantly reduced during the course of intensive training. A temporary rise in plasma cholesterol occurred during exercise, probably indicative of fat mobilization and ultimate utilization during physical exercise. Plasma cholesterol levels returned to pretraining levels within four weeks after training was stopped. The diurnal and weekly blood cholesterol variations were rather small, 2 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

The pathways by which exercise assists in the lowering of plasma cholesterol levels are discussed.     

Sex and Athletic Status as Factors in Reaction Latency and Movement Time

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of sex and athletic status on reaction latencies and movement time. One hundred subjects, categorized into five groups of 20 subjects each—male athletes (MA), female athletes (FA), male nonathletes (MNA), female nonathletes (FNA), and control group (CG)—were tested over a period of five consecutive days. Several different types of incentives were used to ensure that subjects provided the fastest times possible. Two blocks of 25 trials were administered to each subject on each day. A 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 × 2 mixed factorial analysis of variance was used to test for between-subject differences of group (experimental/control), sex, and athletic status and for within-subject differences of days and blocks. The four dependent variables were reaction time (RT) mean, RT consistency, movement time (MT) mean, and MT consistency. Results did not support the classic finding of male superiority over females in RT/MT or athletes' superiority over nonathletes. Evidence of athletic superiority emerged, but for the first day of practice only. As subjects were allowed extended practice over a 5-day test period in which knowledge of results (KR) and other incentives were provided, differences in the experimental groups disappeared. Sex was the predominant factor in consistency, with males being less variable in RT (p = .02) performance than females. There were no sex differences in MT consistency.