![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify students’ perspectives of the role of healthy behaviours in their well-being and school success. Since a number of studies focused on establishing the link between healthy behaviours and learning have relied on quantitative measures, it was deemed important to provide a different perspective on the topic and give students a voice. Participants were 50 Aotearoa/New Zealand nine- and 10-year-old students of various ethnic backgrounds from two elementary schools. Using situated learning theory to determine the impact a school environment that promotes physical activity has on students’ perspectives, four categories were drawn from student focus-group interviews: (1) opportunities to be active, (2) roles of physical activity, (3) students’ misconceptions of health concepts, and (4) students’ support for health education and physical education at their schools. Students in this study were afforded multiple opportunities to be physically active and acknowledged the benefits these bouts of activities gave them while differentiating the types of opportunities and value they gained from them. Within their community of practice, students were sometimes ‘full’ participants as their knowledge was fully constructed, and sometimes ‘peripheral’ participants, needing more time, active engagement and content knowledge to better grasp some concepts. Little health education content knowledge was provided to classroom teachers, which might have caused some of the misconceptions held by students related to the impact of physical activity and nutrition on their brain function.
Introduction
Healthy behaviours usually refer to those actions that help maintain or regain good health and prevent illness and disease, such as regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, getting an adequate amount of sleep, or receiving inoculation. This study focused more specifically on perspectives students have on two healthy behaviours, physical activity and diet, and their potential impact on psychological functions. According to Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) (2015: 3) ‘learning and health are interrelated…and when children’s basic nutritional and fitness need are met they attain higher achievement levels’.
These two specific behaviours and their impact on cognition have been highly popular recently in the literature and media in general. A simple Google search using ‘physical activity’ and ‘improved cognitive function’ yielded over two million results and so did the terms ‘diet’ and ‘cognitive function’ (e.g. Galbete et al., 2015; Ngandu et al., 2015; Sibley and Etnier, 2003; van de Rest et al., 2014). A number of researchers have more specifically examined the impact of these behaviours on children. In a meta-analysis examining the quantitative literature published over 60 years, Fedewa and Ahn (2011) found a significant and positive effect of physical activity on children’s achievement and cognitive outcomes, with aerobic exercise having the greatest effect. They also found that while students of all ages (primary, middle and high school) cognitively benefited from being physically active, primary-age children were found to benefit the most. Some of the largest cognitive benefits were linked with mathematical achievement, IQ and reading achievement, all critical components of the standardized testing movement.
Some authors have also looked at the impact of physical activity on selective attention or ‘the capacity for or process of reacting to certain stimuli selectively when several occur simultaneously’ (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.). In a study analysing the impact of a single 30-minute physical education programme on selective attention, the aerobic endurance exercise-based physical education programme was found to effectively improve selective attention (Kubesch et al., 2009). Tine and Butler (2012) also used aerobic exercise to determine its impact on selective attention of children with low and high socio-economic status (SES). They found that both groups improved with children with low SES exhibiting greater improvement than children with high SES. Other authors have compared different intervention methods relative to the selective attention of school-age children (Budde, et al., 2008; Stylianou et al., 2011, 2013) and the more active the children were, the better were their results on selective attention measures such as the d2 test of attention or the Stroop test.
A few studies have looked beyond physical activity to also include other health-related behaviours when looking at associations with cognitive achievement. Shi et al. (2013) surveyed parents of seven- to 14-year-old children on their child’s physical activity habits, diet, health status, and academic and behavioural issues. These authors found that children classified as ‘healthy eaters’ were more likely to exercise more than four days a week, less likely to be overweight–obese, and less likely to have academic and behavioural problems when compared with their less healthy eating peers. They also found that physical activity and healthy meals were associated with an improved health status, and that the proportion of children eating unhealthy meals or being sedentary increased with age. Also through questionnaires, Sigfúsdóttir et al. (2007) surveyed 14- and 15-year-old students on topics such as weight, height, eating habits, physical activity outside of school, absenteeism and average grades in the core subjects to determine whether body mass index (BMI), diet and physical activity were related to their school performance. Results showed that all three factors were significantly correlated, with a healthy BMI most strongly associated with academic achievement.
Students’ perspectives
The vast majority of studies examining the topics of interest in this paper have used quantitative measurements to determine links between healthy behaviours and other components such as cognitive functions. However, the authors of this last study (Sigfúsdóttir et al., 2007) directly asked teenagers about their behaviours as opposed to asking parents to respond on behalf of their children. Seeking students’ perspectives is a research methodology that has been more commonly used in the last decade and is encouraged. Dyson (2006) argues that students’ perspectives are critical to better understand what they like, do not like, what they value and their participation in physical activities and in physical education.
In the field of health education, several studies have examined students’ perspectives related to different health topics. For example, Spence (2013) analysed 15- and 16-year-old students’ meanings of health. She discovered that students associated ‘feeling well’ and ‘feeling good’ with wanting to be happy and have fun. Adolescents described being happy as knowing they can do something, looking good and talking to others, while having fun encompassed opportunity to laugh, have fun with others and hanging out with friends. She suggested that the current health education discourse, which focused more on risky behaviours, did not reach these young people who want to focus on positive dimensions of their everyday lives such as doing well. Gosling et al. (2008) targeted a younger population (nine- and 10-year-olds) to explore perspectives of physical activity and healthy eating. Focus-groups revealed that males and females differed in their attitudes toward physical activity and healthy eating, and that contradictory messages about food and diet were received from their parents, schools, the food industry and their peers. Further, in a study focused on in-depth beliefs and experiences related to the choice of fast and/or healthy foods by adolescents, Loannou (2009) reported that 15- to 17-year-old youths associated fast food with youthfulness and a lifestyle image while associating healthy food as opposite to the image of being young. While qualitative approaches have been used to examine some health concepts, the links students make among physical activity, nutrition and cognition have received little attention in the literature.
Younger children have also been asked about their ideas about health. Burrows and her colleagues found that eight- and nine-year-olds (Year 4) and 12- and 13-year-olds (Year 8) seem to have accepted discourses associating physical activity, fitness and health with guilt and self-monitoring of the body (Burrows et al., 2002). These children had knowledge of the messages widely publicized through popular and professional mediums ‘citing eating, exercise and hygiene practices as the most important health promoting behaviours’ (Burrows et al., 2009: 157), but not necessarily the capacity to think through them, and determine how to relate them to their own lives (Burrows and McCormack, 2014).
Kirk and Macdonald (1998: 376) argue that ‘learning is an active process in which the individual seeks out information in relation to the task at hand and the environmental conditions prevailing at any given time, and tests out her or his own capabilities with the context formed by the task and the environment’. These authors also state that learning will be influenced by the social and cultural contexts. Since ‘schools are a perfect setting’ (ASCD, 2015: 3) to teach healthy behaviours to children, how does the learning environment allow them to appreciate the importance of adopting healthy behaviours for better success in schools? With this question in mind, the purpose of this study was to identify students’ perspectives of the role of healthy behaviours (i.e. physical activity, nutrition and other health-related concepts) in their well-being and school success. The Situated Learning Theory (SLT) developed by Lave and Wenger (1991) was used to determine the impact a school environment that promoted physical activity had on students’ perspectives. The significance of this study lies in its focus on giving a voice to the primary beneficiary of the different efforts put together by legislators, school administrators, teachers and parents to educate children about healthy behaviours and determine whether children understand the role and importance of these concepts in their lives. Since a number of studies focused on establishing the link between healthy behaviours and learning have relied on quantitative measures, it is important to provide a different perspective on the topic and give students a voice. This evidence will broaden the knowledge related to learning that takes place in the Aotearoa/New Zealand (A/NZ) schools related to physical activity and health concepts, and the perceived impact of these behaviours on students’ well-being.
Situated learning framework
SLT is founded on the belief that in order to learn, individuals join a group of individuals in the same situation (community of practice) in which they will have an opportunity to participate in and learn from (Lave and Wenger, 1991). This community of practice is set within the social and cultural contexts it exists in and has a significant influence on what is learned and how learning takes place. Kirk and Macdonald (1998) extended the theory further by combining it with a perspective to better integrate forms of Social Construction Theory in the pedagogy of physical activity. They argue that the work of Lave and Wenger has the potential to ‘assist the development of our understanding of the broad range of social practices of which learning is an integral part’ (Kirk and Macdonald, 1998: 380).
A number of studies have used a situated perspective in physical education (e.g. Rovegno, 2006), with some authors focusing on the curriculum (e.g. Kirk and Kinchin, 2003; Kirk and Macdonald, 1998), or on teaching and teachers’ knowledge (Flavier et al., 2002; Rovegno, 1995), or on teacher learning (Rovegno, 1994), while others have focused on student learning and knowledge within a sport setting (e.g. Langley, 1995, 2001; Langley and Knight, 1996). Kirk et al. (2000) also used SLT to create a framework composed of three dimensions (perceptual–physical, social–interactive and institutional–cultural) to determine how secondary school students learned during a Teaching Games for Understanding unit in basketball.
Situated learning has also been used in research within physical activity but outside the realm of physical education. For example, Standal and Jespersen (2008) used a situated learning approach to investigate learning that occurred within a rehabilitation programme for adults with acquired disabilities in which peers with experience living with specific disabilities would teach newly disabled individuals. Christensen et al. (2011) also used this theory to explore talent development and skill learning in youth elite football. Therefore, it appeared appropriate to utilize SLT to determine the impact a school environment that promoted physical activity had on students’ perspectives.
Methods
Context
Setting
Two primary schools in a metropolitan area of the North Island of A/NZ were selected for this study. Pseudonyms were given to both schools and their students. South Hill had a population of about 580 students of multi-ethnic background, including 40% Pasifika, 29% Māori, 30% Indian and 1% NZ European students. It is identified as low SES as defined by the A/NZ Department of Education. Parkview had a population of 645 students with a different ethnic makeup (56% of NZ European, 25% of Chinese, 11% of Indian and 8% of Māori heritage) and a much higher SES. These schools were selected because of their different populations, their commitment to teaching health and physical education, and their willingness to participate in the study. More specifically, students at these schools received 45 minutes of physical education twice a week. Classes were taught by classroom teachers and the content varied based on space, equipment and degree of implementation of the national curriculum by each individual teacher (see description below). A 15-minute fitness/active/movement break was also incorporated every day of the week at Parkview. The activity could re-group more than one class and had limited to no equipment involved (e.g. running around a specific area or aerobic dance). Organized sports were offered to the older students (Years 5 and 6) on the school grounds after school. Sports like rugby, cricket, soccer and tennis were most frequently offered and instructors were typically hired through external organizations providing this type of service. Since there are no physical education specialists in New Zealand primary schools, there are a large number of external providers hired to teach sport skills in these schools (Dyson et al., 2016). Finally, both schools had a ‘Morning Tea’, a 30-minute break that occurs mid-morning, and a 60-minute lunch break. For both, students were required to first eat before being allowed to be physically active or take part in a more sedentary activity like reading.
Curriculum
Health and Physical Education are integral components of the A/NZ school curriculum. The New Zealand Curriculum Framework for health and physical education (New Zealand Ministry of Education, 2014) identifies four concepts at the heart of this learning area: (1) Hauora, a Māori philosophy of well-being that includes spiritual, mental and emotional, physical, and social well-being; (2) attitudes and values in which students are invited to be responsible for their own well-being, and respect and care for other people and the environment; (3) the socio-ecological perspective where the interrelationship that exists between the individual, others and society is explained; and (4) health promotion to help develop and maintain supportive physical and emotional environments in personal and collective actions. Learning activities to integrate these four concepts are categorized into four strands (personal health and physical development, movement concepts and motor skills, relationship with other people, and healthy communities and environments) and seven key areas of learning (mental health, sexuality education, food and nutrition, body care and physical safety, physical activity, sport studies, and outdoor education) and are to be included in teaching and learning programmes at both primary and secondary levels.
At the primary level, this curriculum framework is the responsibility of classroom teachers since no health and physical education specialists are present in elementary schools. The level of implementation varies greatly not only by school but also by teacher. As part of a teacher qualification requirement they received, on average, 18 hours of course work during their preparation to familiarize themselves with the health and physical education learning area (Dyson et al., 2011). Further professional development is also provided in health and physical education for teachers in some regions by the local university and from the national association of physical education PENZ (http://www.penz.org.nz).
Participants
Thirteen classroom teachers teaching at South Hill and Parkview agreed to facilitate the recruitment of participants. At South Hill, Years 5 and 6 (equivalent to fourth and fifth grade in the USA) were combined and a total of five teachers (three single classes and one double class) helped out with the recruitment, while four teachers in Year 5 and four in Year 6 at Parkview agreed to do the same. They were asked to coordinate with school leaders to distribute consent and assent forms to their students, and collect them once signed by students (assent form) and their parents (consent form). Approval from the Institutional Review Board along with participating school administrators was obtained prior to recruiting participants. From the 358 students who received the consent form, 237 students returned it, agreeing to participate in the study. Of these 237, 50 volunteered to share their thoughts in focus-group interviews of two or three. Participants were from South Hill (n = 22) and Parkview (n = 28) and either nine or 10 years old. These Year 5 and Year 6 students included both genders (females = 51%) and various ethnic heritages (European New Zealand n = 14; India n = 7; Samoa n = 7; Tonga n = 5; Maori n = 5; Fiji n = 4; Cambodia n = 2; South Africa n = 2; England n = 1; Scotland n = 1; Russia n = 1; Laos n = 1).
Data collection
This study was part of a multi-faceted research project looking at the effect of existing school-based physical activity programmes on students’ selective attention, school leaders’ and classroom teachers’ efficacy in their roles in creating healthy school cultures, and students’ perspectives of healthy behaviours in schools. Only the students’ perspectives are reported in this manuscript and include the following data sources used for data triangulation purposes: interviews field notes, pictures, document collection.
Focus-groups
Focus-groups involve ‘organised discussion with a selected group of individuals to gain information about their views and experiences of a topic’ (Gibbs, 1997: 1). They typically allow researchers to gather multiple perspectives about participants’ attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions about specific topics that might not be revealed as easily in one-on-one interviews. A semi-structured guide that was expanded from one used in the USA (Brusseau et al., 2011) that had undergone peer review by three experts experienced with interviewing students in school settings was used for this study. Questions were related to students’ physical activity and eating habits during school breaks (Morning Tea and lunchtime) and at home, their transportation mode to and from school, and their health and physical education programme. In addition, their conception of physical education as opposed to fitness and sport, their opinion about who should teach them about healthy behaviours, and their thoughts on the impact of physical activity and nutrition on their brain and their performance in the classroom were discussed. More specifically, students were asked questions such as: What do you do at Morning Tea? What food do you bring to school? What does physical education mean to you? Does physical activity help you think in the classroom? What do your teachers tell you about health? Students were grouped into eight groups of three and two groups of two at South Hill, and four groups of three and six groups of two at Parkview. All but one focus-group were recorded (one participant did not want to be recorded). Notes of participants’ answers were taken during all the interviews.
Field notes, photos, documents
Observations with field notes were taken during all visits to the schools by every member of the research team (N = 5). Pictures of students involved with specific activities such as Morning Teas, lunch breaks, physical activity breaks or working in their classrooms, along with pictures of the classrooms, common areas, playgrounds, etc. were taken at different moments of the data collection by three members of the research team to support field notes. Finally, school leaders and teachers were asked to share any documents related to the health and physical education curriculum.
Data analysis
A total of 19 focus-groups were transcribed verbatim from the audio files. Independently, three members of the research team reviewed the transcriptions and the notes taken during the interviews using constant comparison to analyse the data and establish common themes or categories. As their analysis progressed, notes were taken and ultimately shared with the first author, who drew four categories from these independent analyses. Multiple strategies were used to establish trustworthiness of the data such as peer debriefing, negative cases and triangulation of data (Patton, 2002). More specifically, peer debriefing was used among the first four authors to challenge the categories identified through the independent analyses. Negative case searches were conducted to identify data that would not support or appear to contradict findings emerging from the data analysis (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). Finally, triangulation of data (i.e. student interviews, field notes, pictures and documents collected at the school) was also used to confirm and better understand the categories identified and provide a richer and more robust account of the context in which the data was collected (Miles et al., 2014).
Results
Four categories were drawn from the data analysis process. The first category describes the opportunities students had to be active and how they differentiated these opportunities. The second category addresses the role physical activity plays in students’ well-being while category three identifies students’ misconceptions of health concepts. Finally, the fourth category highlights students’ support for a comprehensive health and physical education programme in schools.
Opportunities to be active
Multiple opportunities were available for students to be active before, during and/or after school. More than half of the students interviewed at South Hill walked or biked to and from school every day while more than 75% of those interviewed at Parkview did the same. Students talked about how this early bout of activity in the morning gave them an opportunity to socialize with their friends and siblings, and helped them get ready for the day. For example Lua (South Hill, male) said:
I feel good, cuz I like walkin’ with my friends and I usually pick up my brothers and sisters. It feels good when you walk with them, cuz you don’t get that much time to see them in class, so I just walk with them, and talk and say, ‘How was school?’
Other students responded to the question: How do you feel about walking to and from school? with responses such as: ‘Good’, ‘It’s healthy’, ‘I feel all right, not tired’, ‘Fresh…just fresh’, ‘I feel healthy’. The weather, safety concerns from parents, or not wanting to be sweaty were reasons given to be dropped off or picked up even when the distance would allow students to walk to/from school.
Students were observed running enthusiastically during Morning Tea to various activities that freely developed on different playing areas (fields and hard tops) or doing more sedentary activity like reading or chatting with friends (field notes, 4 March 2014). Limited equipment, if any, was available for the Morning Tea break but was more readily available for the lunch break. Some of the activities available for students were: handball, four square, soccer, rugby, paddle ball, swing, jungle gym, tag games and walking (field notes, 4 March 2014). The teachers did not facilitate these activities but rather encouraged the students to play freely with their school-mates.
Students discussed how they differentiated these opportunities according to their mandate (required or not), organization (organized or free play) and goals pursued (fun, educational, competitive, fitness). When asked to compare ‘physical education’ with ‘sports’ and ‘fitness’, they typically associated physical education with learning, having fun, playing games, experiencing a variety of activities and using equipment. Robby (Parkview, male) said: ‘That’s more learning how to, say, handball, like American handball, long ball, cricket and softball’. On the other hand, sports for them meant well-known organized activities such as soccer, netball, rugby or cricket, activities that are competitive in nature, and conditions where they are required to select one activity to focus on but having a choice as to which one to choose. Kylia (South Hill, female) said, ‘Cause we’re learning in physical education and in sports we’re just playing it’, while other students at Parkview discussed the mandatory nature of physical education (PE):
You don’t get to choose what you’re playing in PE.
You have to, like, go and play a game that the PE teacher chooses.
Yeah, yeah. But in sports you can just choose what you want to play.
Finally, fitness was associated with very specific activities such as stretching, running, push-ups and activities with little equipment and no skill development opportunities provided. For Ailene (female) at Parkview, fitness ‘is things like you do in boot camp, like pushups, burpies,…planks, squats’. Vishal (male) at South Hill said, ‘PE is stuff to do with sports, and fitness is to do with your health’. For Margaret (female), also at South Hill, physical education was about learning. She said:
Suppose when you do fitness your mind kind of just tells you what to do. When you’re doing PE, the teachers and like sports people, they try and help you and tell how to do things better and improve on your skills.
These two other female students at South Hill said:
Well, the difference between PE and fitness is that PE that’s when you mostly play games and do acrobat rings, like all that gymnastics and sports…
Cool, and what about fitness? What’s fitness then?
Running around. Just getting you pumped up.
I think fitness is just like stretching your arms and running and doing some exercise so you can feel free.
Only one student looked at fitness as a means to lose weight or gain muscle mass. He said, ‘Fitness is where you get big muscles and train to get stronger and get fit if you’re quite large and to lose weight and to make yourself want to do stuff more’ (Paul, male, Parkview).
For students at Parkview, fitness was most often associated with an aerobic dance activity called ‘Jump Jam’ where multiple classes would go out into a common area to execute a dance that they learn through a video. This activity was performed almost daily. Keith (male) and Jeremiah (male) explained:
Well, fitness for us is Jump Jam. We go in the hall, and they will put some music on, and there is this main dancing. It’s from Jump Jam. It’s this disc that they put into the computer, and then we follow his dance moves.
Once the moves were learned, teachers would identify a small group of students to lead the dance (field notes, 3 March 2014). Students were awarded up to 100 points for their efforts in it, points that would go toward their ‘house’ (team) and potentially give them prizes at the end of the semester (Keith, male and Jeremiah, male interview, Parkview; field notes, 3 March 2014).
These students saw a difference between physical education and sports or fitness. They recognized some learning intentions (objectives) associated with PE, while associating fitness with traditional strengthening or aerobic-type activities. Sports were associated with organized, competitive activities where students were expected to be skilled in order to play.
The roles of physical activity
Students clearly associated with physical activity as being critical for their well-being, and believed it should be integrated within their school day. When asked about the effect of physical activity on their brains, Karam (male) from South Hill said, ‘I realized that before we do physical activities, we don’t pay attention that good. Then after, we pay good attention’, while Rongo (male, South Hill) said, ‘It helps us learn. It makes our brain switch on.’ These three students at Parkview all agreed that activity helped them think better. They said:
Yes. You get rid of your energy.
You can just focus on your work.
Yeah, because, like, sometimes you’re in class and you see other people outside having so much fun and you’re just like, ‘Oh, I wish I could –’
‘I wish I could do that.’
Yeah, and then, like, you go out there and then you come back and you see them out there, ‘Ah, yeah, we’ve just done that.’ It’s fun for them. We can just focus on our work. It helps us focus, work better, and work faster.
Yeah.
For Jodi (female), at Parkview, the activity created a physiological reaction that helped her think and learn. She said:
Well, I was gonna say it increases the heart rate, as well. It’s like when you go outside, you just relax and then it helps you. Your brain is all pumped up and you’re ready to learn stuff cuz it really helps your brain.
A few students mentioned that physical activity did not help them think better, made them tired and sweaty, and therefore they were not as enthusiastic as others to integrate it in their daily routine. When asked if PE and sport time help him think better in the classroom, Jack (male, South Hill) said: ‘Nope. Cuz you never learn in PE. You never learn stuff that you’re supposed to learn. You just learn games and stuff.’
Students were also asked about what they ate and how nutrition impacted their body and their brain. Food such as sandwiches, meat pies, fruits, chips, crackers, cookies and granola bars were often mentioned by these students and no differences were apparent between schools or the different ethnic groups in the mentioned food. The link between food consumption and their bodies was relatively well understood. Students linked overeating and eating junk or sugary food with getting fat, diabetes, or not being able to sustain daily activities. They also talked about eating junk food or sugary food in moderation or as a treat as opposed to making it a regular part of their diet. For example these students at South Hill said:
If you eat good food, healthy food, you won’t – it’s good for your body.
You don’t get tired.
You won’t get tired. Your body won’t –
Stop working.
Stop on you or die. [Laughter]
I agree because if you eat, then you have a lot more energy. Then you’ll be able to learn. You can satisfy your hunger, and then you’ll be more smarter.
Students’ misconceptions of health concepts
Health education was, at times, incorporated within some classroom lessons. Neither school provided a comprehensive Health Education programme that matched the New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). Students at South Hill talked about being taught ‘concepts’ of well-being like physical, spiritual, emotional and social. When asked about what their teachers tell them about health, student responses at both schools were related to hygiene (e.g. brushing teeth and showering), nutrition (e.g. eating lots of vegetables and fruits, or eating limited amounts of certain food like chocolate), being active and limiting screen time. For example, Tahi (female, South Hill) said: ‘You have to eat healthy food, not some junk food…You always have to wash your hands before you eat…and be careful what we’re eating in case we are allergic to something, or it’s poisonous.’ Paul (male) and Carmen (female, Parkview) shared how their teacher encouraged them to be active at home by going to the park to play or joining sport teams rather than getting on the computer or watching TV.
Sometimes health concepts were not fully understood by students. For example, Emani (female) at Parkview said, ‘This teacher told me “eat healthy food and you’ll get stronger”…I think…Yeah…’ and Ailene (female, Parkview) said, ‘Doesn’t she say – I remember a teacher told me that if you eat healthy you’ll live a happier life or something. I don’t remember. It’s just “eat healthy and you’ll get something out of it”.’ A few students associated specific behaviours with negative consequences like teeth falling out or turning yellow if eating too much sugar, getting fat if too sedentary, or in Daisy’s words (female, South Hill): ‘Our teacher tells us not to eat that much sugary food because you might get diabetes or something.’
Questions relating health concepts and performance in schools provided a wide range of responses that indicated that students may have had a difficult time explaining the benefits of healthy food and physical activity as they relate to brain function. Across focus-group meetings, every student agreed with the concept that proper nutrition and physical activity were important for good brain function but very few could explain why. When prompted, a variety of reasons were offered by students, such as the brain (a) needing ‘vitamins to wake it up or switch it on and helping it think and remember more’ (Maia, female, South Hill); (b) needing ‘healthy food to grow it’ (Kylia, female, South Hill); (c) ‘giving [it] more energy to work better’ (Brenda, female, Parkview); (d) needing ‘fresh air to cool the brain off if inside a stuffy classroom’ (Margaret, female, South Hill); (e) needing healthy food such as ‘apples to get the brain more clever’ (Lela, female, Parkview); (f) needing ‘fresh air to get the blood pumping and have the heart and the brain work better’ (Dhar, male, South Hill); or in the word of this student (g): ‘it’s because when you feed yourself nutrition, some of the nutrition comes to your brain and it helps you think better.’ (Fen, female, Parkview).
Students’ support for health education and physical education at their schools
Students strongly supported having nutrition and other health topics taught within the school curriculum to learn from their parents and their teachers in a way that was complementary or reinforcing. Karam (male) at South Hill said, ‘because you will learn more and more about it, if you do it, if you learn about it at home and school.’ For Fen (female) and Danu (male) at Parkview, having health education in both environments ‘doubles the knowledge’. This student at South Hill built on her peers’ answers to explain the complementarity that happens when both environments teach these concepts: ‘I think, basically, it is – you can learn both things from here. Your parents make you try different foods at home. Then, at school, you just learn about things.’ The following students at Parkview also realized the advantage of receiving the same message in both places and getting the opportunity to do it. They answered the follow-up question as to why both were critical by saying:
Because your parents tell you to go to the park and go do something, not play on the computer, and eat healthy, to not get fat. At school they try to make you to…
You have to go outside and play.
get into school teams and eat healthy and they do long lunches and teas so you can be more fit and active.
Dhar (male), at South Hill talked about the dissonance it would bring if healthy behaviours were only encouraged and expected in one of the two environments they live in, school and home:
If you’re doing everything right at school and then you go home and just eat and do everything wrong at home, you’re not going to be able to balance it out. If you do it at both then you’ll have stable diet and everything will be perfect.
Finally, when these students were told that some people believe that schools should focus on academics and not worry about teaching health concepts and PE, one student agreed with the statement saying that it would allow them to get a better education (Tahi, female, South Hill). All other students answered with a resounding ‘No!’ Some of the reasons provided when probed highlighted their need for physical breaks during the day to feel and think ‘right’, to ‘avoid becoming fat’ or ‘give their brain a time to relax’ and get ‘higher energy’. Dhar (male) at South Hill even asked if they could write a ‘persuasive writing’ paper to oppose this idea. He said:
Because if you just stay inside and just keep on learning and learning and learning, your brain won’t work properly. It’ll just keep on switching off. If you have that little bit of nutrition and outside play, then you will feel better and you won’t be able to switch off. You’ll be listening because you already had your time that you needed.
Discussion
Fifty students aged nine and 10 years were asked about their perspectives of the role of healthy behaviours (i.e. physical activity, nutrition and other health-related concepts) in their well-being and school success. The four categories that were drawn from the student focus-groups are discussed using the SLT (Lave and Wenger, 1991) as the framework to contextualize the learning of these children within the A/NZ culture, the school curriculum and the school culture.
Opportunities to be active, the first category, and the roles physical activity play in their well-being, the second category, were embraced by these students. From walking/biking to and from school, to the Morning Tea break, the lunch break, the daily physical activity break, the weekly PE class and the optional sports coaching after school (Years 5 and 6 only), opportunities were numerous, varied and embedded in their routine. This high frequency of physical activity opportunities was fostered by the local community (teachers, school leaders and parents), and students had legitimate opportunities to participate and learn from them, a critical component of the SLT (Lave and Wenger, 1991). This high frequency of opportunities is also in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (2010) and other organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) with their ‘Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program’ that advocates for 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA, heart rate ≥140 beats/min) daily. While the intensity of the physical activity performed was not measured, students were at least provided with opportunities to be active daily, a recommendation that many of the schools in other highly developed countries like the United States or Canada are not able to accommodate (Active Healthy Kids Canada, 2011; National Association for Sport and Physical Education and American Heart Association, 2012; Turner et al., 2014).
Students shared the benefits they gained from being active and appreciated the different purposes these opportunities served. These shared experiences highlight another feature of situated learning experiences by students, that is, they learned about and practised healthy behaviours with peers, teachers and the school community, or in other words, had a community of practice for healthy behaviours. They also seemed to value these opportunities and the impact they had on their well-being, not only physical but also mental and emotional, which appears to be consistent with the concepts associated with health and physical education in the A/NZ Curriculum (NZC) (Ministry of Education, 2007).
The majority of students who participated in this study enjoyed being active. They shared this during the focus-groups and it was witnessed during the times spent in the schools. This is encouraging since some studies have shown that enjoyment of physical activity has been positively correlated with level of activity (e.g. Sallis et al., 1992; Woods et al., 2012), while others found that students experiencing an irrelevant curriculum and negative experiences became alienated and turned off from participating in school PE (Cothran and Ennis, 1999), or experienced injustices with the delivery of the PE curriculum (Gagnon et al., 2000) and other inequities related to gender and ability in PE (e.g. Azzarito and Solomon, 2005). These students did not share concerns of this nature but were also not specifically asked if they had encountered them when participating in the different settings. We believe that the positive environment in which these students are able to be physically active allows them to fully participate in the sociocultural practice of their community (Lave and Wenger, 1991).
While students were quick to share their feelings of enjoyment when participating in the different forms of physical activities afforded them, they held a number of misconceptions (third category) related to the benefit of healthy food and physical activity to brain function. This is not uncommon as a number of studies have shown how little students know about health-related topics such as the purpose of participating in fitness testing (Hopple and Graham, 1995), the identification of aerobic and non-aerobic physical activities (Brusseau et al., 2011; Kulinna, 2004) or the differentiation between physical fitness and physical appearance (Kulinna, 2004; Placek et al., 2001). Misconceptions are highly resistant to modification, and will typically change when current understandings are deemed unsatisfactory and other ideas or parts of ideas are proposed and are considered true (Hare and Graber, 2000). The often naïve conceptions these students expressed also align with recent studies published by Pasco and Ennis (2015a, 2015b), who indicate that mental models and conceptual understandings held by students might influence their dispositions to adopt a healthy lifestyle (Burrows et al., 2002). Therefore, it is critical for teachers to not only provide multiple opportunities to be active, but to also address children’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviours as they are linked to increased physical activity patterns (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1997). Brusseau and his colleagues (2011: 71) concur by stating that it ‘is essential to both provide opportunity for activity and to provide learning opportunities for scaffolding knowledge related to physical activity and healthy behaviours in school settings’. Clearly these students have not yet mastered some content associated with healthy behaviours. They need to continue their apprenticeship to progressively become more knowledgeable and eventually move toward full participation in their community of practice.
Our findings report that students did have access to and knowledge of physical activity, but this does not mean that students are physically educated (Ministry of Education, 2007). Neither of these schools employed physical education specialists nor did they provide professional development in PE for their teachers. With the exception of teachers who actively seek professional development in PE, there is little evidence of school-wide approaches in A/NZ schools. This leaves the physical education of students to generalist classroom teachers without professional development in PE or to the many external providers of physical activity in their schools (Dyson et al., 2016; Penney et al., 2013).
Keeping health education and PE in school (fourth category) as a relevant and important portion of the curriculum is not something these students took lightly. They were adamant about the need to keep these subjects in school arguing that they needed to have both contexts (home and school) reinforcing or complementing one another in the support of healthy behaviours. While this is a very legitimate rationale, we will also argue that within the context of a community of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991), the shared knowledge constructed through the multiple opportunities provided to these children within the school structure highly contributed to their perspectives toward and engagement in the different forms of physical activities made available to them.
The opinions shared by these participants about the dominant place physical activity occupied throughout the school day also serves to highlight the lesser importance given to the teaching of health education concepts as proposed in the curriculum. As indicated earlier, health education and PE classes and other physical activity opportunities offered throughout the day were the responsibility of the classroom teachers who had had, on average, 18 hours of instruction to be certified to teach these learning areas (Dyson et al., 2011; Petrie, 2011, 2012). Similar to teachers in studies published by Morgan and Bourke (2008) and Penney et al. (2013) some classroom teachers involved with this study had a positive personal experience with sports or physical activity and took the lead in developing initiatives that included other classes within their school. This positive attitude seemed to have helped achieve the number of physical activity opportunities experienced by students in this study. However, because health education happens within the confine of the classroom, it becomes the responsibility of each teacher. Petrie et al. (2014) argue that the holistic and social critical models of health and well-being promoted in the New Zealand curriculum are not likely to be achieved because of the mandated prioritization of literacy and numeracy in primary schools and the reduction in time allocated to health education and PE during initial teacher education preparation programmes.
Some students in this study were able to generally talk about broad concepts related to health such as hygiene, nutrition and importance of physical activity, and a few were able to list the four concepts of well-being associated with Hauora from the NZC (Ministry of Education, 2007). The impact of some of these concepts on the brain was, however, not well understood. This was suggested by the answers obtained during the student focus-groups, such as needing healthy food to grow the brain or make it more clever, or needing fresh air to cool the brain off after sitting in a stuffy classroom for a while.
Conclusion
Students in this study were afforded multiple opportunities to be active and acknowledge the benefits these bouts of activity gave them while differentiating the types of opportunities and value they gained from them. Within their community of practice, they sometimes were full participants as their knowledge was fully constructed, while other times they were still peripheral participants needing more time, active engagement and content knowledge (Shulman, 1987) to better grasp concepts. Generalist classroom teachers at these schools supported the need for a comprehensive health education and PE programme in school effectively contributing in that community of practice. However, little health education and PE appeared to be provided, which likely caused some of the misconceptions held by students related to their PE and the impact of physical activity and nutrition on their brain function.
Limitations
While efforts were made to gather students with different perspectives in the focus-groups, participants were volunteers and therefore might have been attracted by the topics discussed because of positive feelings toward physical activity and healthy behaviours. In spite of the diversity of the participants, no differences were noticed based on school attended, gender, ethnic background or SES. Considering how these characteristics are typically important factors when discussing physical activity opportunities and healthy behaviours in general (Moore and Littlecott, 2015; Sterdt et al., 2014), grouping students by these characteristics might have elicited other kinds of responses and better highlighted any differences in perspectives based on gender, ethnicity or SES. Impact of gender and ethnicity on students’ perspectives could be studied as a future research direction, as well as teacher views. Finally, while focus-groups typically allow researchers to gather multiple views, individuals within the group might not have expressed their individual views but, rather, agreed to what seemed to be contextually or culturally desirable (Gibbs, 1997). Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to identify the individual view from the group view.
Implications
The multiple opportunities to be physically active clearly impacted the perceptions of students in these A/NZ schools toward its importance on their well-being and support the idea that social and cultural contexts contribute to and influence what is learned and how learning takes place (Dyson, 2006). These opportunities, provided on a daily basis, seem to confirm the need for initiatives such as the ‘Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program’ (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013), which advocates for a variety of school-based physical activities to enable all students to participate in 60 minutes of MVPA each day through physical activity before, during and after school combined with PE, staff development and family and community engagement.
The same cannot be said, however, about the opportunities to learn health education concepts such as the impact of nutrition and physical activity on children’s cognitive function before, during or after physical activity breaks. A better integration of health concepts throughout the curricula would likely afford students a better understanding of these concepts and relationships with schoolwork. Teachers’ limited content knowledge in health education and PE likely reduces the potential of students’ learning gains. Therefore, employing PE specialists and providing classroom teachers with more comprehensive content knowledge development within their professional preparation might help improve this aspect of the curriculum that seemed to be underdeveloped with teachers and students within the schools observed.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
References
|
Active Healthy Kids Canada (2011) Don’t Let This Be the Most Physical Activity our Kids Get After School. The Active Healthy Kids Canada 2011 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. Toronto: Active Healthy Kids Canada. Google Scholar | |
|
ASCD (2015) Whole school, whole community, whole child: A collaborative approach to learning and health, ASCD and CDC. Available at http://ASCD.org/learningandhealth (accessed 3 September 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Azzarito, L, Solomon, MA (2005) A reconceptualization of physical education: The intersection of gender/race/social class. Sport, Education and Society 10(1): 25–47. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Brusseau, T, Kulinna, PH, Cothran, DJ (2011) Health and physical activity content knowledge of Pima children. The Physical Educator 68(2): 66–77. Google Scholar | |
|
Budde, H, Voelcker-Rehage, C, Pietrabyk-Kendziorra, S. (2008) Acute coordinative exercise improves attentional performance in adolescents. Neuroscience Letters 441(2): 219–223. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Burrows, L, McCormack, J (2014) ‘Doing it for themselves’: A qualitative study of children’s engagement with public health agendas in New Zealand. Critical Public Health 24(2): 159–170. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Burrows, L, Wright, J, Jungersen-Smith, J (2002) ‘Measure your belly.’ New Zealand children’s constructions of health and fitness. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 22(1): 39–48. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Burrows, L, Wright, J, McCormack, J (2009) Dosing up on food and physical activity: New Zealand children’s ideas about ‘health’. Health Education Journal 68(3): 157–169. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1997) Guidelines for school and community programs to promote lifelong physical activity among young people. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 46 (RR-6): 1–36. Google Scholar | Medline | |
|
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013) Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: A Guide for Schools. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/physicalactivity/pdf/13_242620-A_CSPAP_SchoolPhysActivityPrograms_Final_508_12192013.pdf (accessed 24 March 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Christensen, MK, Laursen, DN, Sørensen, JK (2011) Situated learning in youth elite football: A Danish case study among talented male under-18 football players. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 16(2): 163–178. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Cothran, D J, Ennis, CD (1999) Alone in a crowd: Meeting students’ needs for relevance and connection in urban high school physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 18(2): 234–247. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Creswell, J, Plano Clark, V (2011) Designing and Conducting Mixed Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Dyson, B (2006) Students’ perspectives of physical education. In: Kirk, D, Macdonald, D, O’Sullivan, M (eds) Handbook of Physical Education. London: SAGE Publications, pp.326–346. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Dyson, B, Gordon, B, Cowan, J (2011) What is physical education in primary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand? Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education 2(3/4): 5–16. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Dyson, B, Gordon, B, Cowan, J (2016) External providers and their impact on primary physical education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education 7(1): 3–19. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Fedewa, AL, Ahn, S (2011) The effect of physical activity and physical fitness on children’s achievement and cognitive outcomes: A meta-analysis. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 82(3): 521–535. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Flavier, E, Bertone, S, Hauw, D. (2002) The meaning and organization of physical education teachers’ actions during conflict with students. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 22(1): 20–38. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Gagnon, J, Martel, D, Dumont, S. (2000) Le pouvoir de l’élève sur l’agir de l’enseignant ou l’enseignante: Un constant d’impuissance [Student power on teachers’ behaviours: Powerless findings]. AVANTE 6(1): 37–50. Google Scholar | |
|
Galbete, C, Toledo, E, Toledo, JB. (2015) Mediterranean diet and cognitive function: The SUN project. The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging 19(3): 305–312. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Gibbs, A (1997) Focus groups. Social Research Update 19. Available at: http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU19.html (accessed 10 September 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Gosling, R, Stanistreet, D, Swami, V (2008) ‘If Michael Owen drinks it, why can’t I?’ – 9 and 10 year olds’ perceptions of physical activity and healthy eating. Health Education Journal 67(3): 167–181. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Hare, MK, Graber, KC (2000) Student misconceptions during two invasion game units in physical education: A qualitative investigation of student through processing. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 20(1): 55–77. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hopple, C, Graham, G (1995) What children think, feel, and know about physical fitness testing. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 14(4): 408–417. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Kirk, D, Kinchin, G (2003) Situated learning as a theoretical framework for sport education. European Physical Education Review 9(3): 221–235. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Kirk, D, Macdonald, D (1998) Situated learning in physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 17(3): 376–387. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Kirk, D, Brooker, R, Braiuka, S (2000) Teaching games for understanding: A situated perspective on student learning. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, April 2000 (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED442761). Google Scholar | |
|
Kubesch, S, Walk, L, Spitzer, M. (2009) A 30-minute physical education program improves students’ executive attention. Mind, Brain and Education 3(4): 235–242. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Kulinna, PH (2004) Physical activity and HRF knowledge: How much 1–6 grade students know. International Journal of Physical Education 41(2): 111–121. Google Scholar | |
|
Langley, DJ (1995) Student cognition in the instructional setting. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 15(1): 25–40. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Langley, DJ (2001) The influence of functional constraints on sport-skill learning in a senior adult. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity 9(3): 269–284. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Langley, DJ, Knight, SM (1996) Exploring practical knowledge: A case study of an experienced senior tennis performer. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 67(4): 433–447. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Lave, J, Wenger, E (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Loannou, S (2009) ‘Eating beans … that is a “no-no” for our times’: Young Cypriots’ consumer meanings of ‘healthy’ and ‘fast’ food. Health Education Journal 68(3): 186–195. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Miles, MB, Huberman, AM, Saldana, J (2014) Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. London: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Ministry of Education (2007) The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Google Scholar | |
|
Moore, GF, Littlecott, HJ (2015) School – and family – level of socioeconomic status and health behaviours: Multilevel analysis of a national survey in Wales, United Kingdom. Journal of School Health 85(4): 267–275. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Morgan, P, Bourke, S (2008) Non-specialist teachers’ confidence to teach PE: The nature and influence of personal school experiences in PE. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 13(1): 1–29. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
National Association for Sport and Physical Education and American Heart Association (2012) 2012 Shape of the Nation Report: Status of Physical Education in the USA. Reston, VA: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Google Scholar | |
|
New Zealand Ministry of Education (2014) The New Zealand Curriculum Online: Health and Physical Education. Available at: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum/Learning-areas/Health-and-physical-education/What-is-HPE-about (accessed 6 November 2014). Google Scholar | |
|
Ngandu, T, Lehtisalo, J, Solomon, A. (2015) A 2 year multidomain intervention of diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk monitoring versus control to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk elderly people (FINGER): A randomized controlled trial. The Lancet 365 (9984): 2255–2263. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Oxford Dictionaries (n.d.) Oxford University Press. Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/selective-attention (accessed 4 January 2016). Google Scholar | |
|
Pasco, D, Ennis, CD (2015a) Third grade students’ mental models of blood circulation related to exercise. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 34(1): 76–92. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Pasco, D, Ennis, CD (2015b) Third grade students’ mental models of energy expenditure during exercise. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 20(2): 131–143. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Patton, MQ (2002) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Penney, D, Pope, C, Hunter, L. (2013). Physical Education and Sport in Primary Schools: Final Report. Hamilton, New Zealand: University of Waikato. Google Scholar | |
|
Petrie, K (2011) An enduring issue: Who should teach physical education in New Zealand primary schools? Journal of Physical Education New Zealand 44(1): 12–17. Google Scholar | |
|
Petrie, K (2012) Enabling or limiting: The role of pre-packaged curriculum resources in shaping teacher learning. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education 3(1):17–34. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Petrie, K, Burrows, L, Cosgriff, M (2014) Building a community of collaborative inquiry: A pathway to re-imagining practice in health and physical education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education 39(2): 45–57. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Placek, JH, Griffin, LL, Dodds, P. (2001) Middle school student’s conceptions of fitness: The long road to a healthy lifestyle. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 20(4): 314–323. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Rovegno, I (1994) Teaching within a curricular zone of safety: School culture and the situated nature of student teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 65(3): 269–279. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Rovegno, I (1995) Theoretical perspective on knowledge and learning and a student teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge of dividing and sequencing subject matter. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 14(3): 284–304. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Rovegno, I (2006) Situated perspectives on learning. In: Kirk, D, Macdonald, D, O’Sullivan, M (eds) Handbook of Physical Education. London: SAGE Publications, pp.262–274. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Sallis, JF, Simons-Morton, BG, Stone, EJ. (1992) Determinants of physical activity and interventions in youth. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 24(6, Suppl.): 248–257. Google Scholar | |
|
Shi, X, Tubb, L, Fingers, S T. (2013). Association of physical activity and dietary behaviours with children’s health and academic problems. Journal of School Health 83(1): 1–7. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Shulman, LS (1987). Knowledge of teaching: Foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review 57(1): 1–21. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Sibley, BA, Etnier, JL (2003) The relationship between physical activity and cognition in children: A meta-analysis. Pediatric Exercise Science 15(3): 243–256. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Sigfúsdóttir, ID, Kristjánsson, ÁL, Allegrante, JP (2007) Health behaviour and academic achievement in Icelandic school children. Health Education Research 22(1): 70–80. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Spence, G (2013) Young people’s perspectives on health: Empowerment, or risk? Health Education 113(2): 115–131. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Standal, ØF, Jespersen, E (2008) Peers as resources for learning: A situated learning approach to adapted physical activity in rehabilitation. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly 25(3): 208–227. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Sterdt, E, Liersch, S, Walter, U (2014) Correlates of physical activity of children and adolescents: A systematic review of reviews. Health Education Journal 73(1): 72–89. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Stylianou, M, Kulinna, PH, Teatro, C. (2011). Classroom physical activity breaks and students’ attentional control. Paper presented at the American College of Sport Medicine Conference on Physical Activity, Cognitive Function, and Academic Achievement, Washington, DC, USA, November 2011. Google Scholar | |
|
Stylianou, M, Lorenz, K, Kulinna, PH. (2013). Classroom physical activity, physical fitness, & 4th grade students’ selective attention. Paper presented at the Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) 2013 national convention, Charlotte, NC, USA, April 2013. Google Scholar | |
|
Tine, MT, Butler, AG (2012) Acute aerobic exercise impacts selective attention: An exceptional boost in lower-income children. Educational Psychology 32(7): 821–834. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Turner, L, Johnson, TG, Slater, SJ. (2014) Physical activity practices in primary schools and associations with physical education staffing and training. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 85(4): 488–501. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
van de Rest, O, van der Zwaluw, NI, Tieland, M. (2014) Effect of resistance-type exercise training with or without protein supplementation on cognitive functioning in frail et pre-frail elderly: Secondary analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Mechanism of Ageing and Development 136-137: 85–93. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Woods, CB, Tannehill, D, Walsh, J (2012) An examination of the relationship between enjoyment, physical education, physical activity, and health in Irish adolescents. Irish Educational Studies 31(3): 263–280. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
World Health Organization (2010) Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health. Geneva: WHO Press. Google Scholar |
Author biographies
Dominique Banville is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Health and Human Performance in the School of Recreation, Health and Tourism at George Mason University. Her scholarship focuses on curriculum and teacher development.
Pamela Hodges Kulinna is a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. She studies teaching, teacher education and curriculum with an emphasis on creating healthy and active schools.
Ben Dyson is an Associate Professor in Health and Physical Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is internationally recognized as a leading Researcher in Physical Education in two related areas of scholarship: research on innovative curriculum and pedagogy in schools and Cooperative Learning as a pedagogical practice. He is the current Senior Co-Editor of the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education.
Michalis Stylianou is a Lecturer of Health, Sport & Physical Education in the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at The University of Queensland. He studies the process of creating healthy and active schools using comprehensive and coordinated approaches that involve students, school staff, parents, and the community.
Rachel Colby is a Physical Education Specialist Teacher at Papatoetoe South Primary in Auckland New Zealand. She received her Master’s degree from University of Auckland, NZ.
Craig Dryden is a Health and Physical Education Teacher at Howick College. He is a Masters Student at the University of Auckland, NZ.