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Physical activity in physical education: teacher or technology effects
Traci Grissom1, Phillip Ward, Beth Martin
1Scottish Corners Elementary School, Dublin, Ohio, USA.
Family & Community Health
|March 22, 2005
Summary
Wearing a heart rate monitor did not change elementary students' physical activity levels. Boys showed higher activity counts than girls, with greater activity variation among boys.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical activity
- Educational technology in physical education
Background:
- Understanding factors influencing physical activity in children is crucial for public health.
- Heart rate monitors are increasingly used in educational settings, but their impact on student behavior is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if wearing a heart rate monitor affects physical activity levels in elementary school students during physical education.
- To compare accelerometer-measured activity counts between conditions with and without heart rate monitor use.
Main Methods:
- An alternating treatment design was employed with 4 elementary students.
- Accelerometer data were collected to measure activity counts under two conditions: wearing a heart rate monitor and not wearing one.
Main Results:
- No significant difference in activity counts was found between wearing and not wearing a heart rate monitor.
- Boys exhibited higher average activity counts compared to girls.
- The variability in activity levels was greater among boys than among girls.
Conclusions:
- Heart rate monitor use does not appear to influence overall physical activity levels in this elementary physical education setting.
- Observed gender differences in activity levels and variability warrant further investigation in physical education contexts.