Phys Ed Class More Effective When There's More Talking

[Guest guest]

Phys Ed Class More Effective When There's More Talking

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=55660

A new approach to traditional high school gym class dramatically

increases how often teens exercise outside of school.

Researchers at Ohio State and Denison universities developed and

tested the new program in which students at a rural Ohio high school

learned how create a personalized exercise program. The students

spent one gym class each week learning the skills necessary for

planning a lifelong exercise program.

Nearly half of the students said that they spent no time exercising

outside of school prior to beginning the program. That number

dropped to less than one in 10 students once the program ended.

" Traditional gym classes don't work for many students, " said Rick

Petosa, a study co-author and an associate professor of physical

activity and educational services at Ohio State. " Sports-based

physical education does not increase physical activity outside of

school. "

The new approach to gym class, called " Planning to be Active, " was

developed by Petosa and Hortz, an assistant professor of

physical education at Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

" Most current physical education research focuses on increasing the

number of minutes of physical activity in the classroom, " Hortz

said. " Instead of exercising during class time, we had students

spend their time thinking about, planning and analyzing their

approach to exercise outside of the classroom. "

The results appear in a recent issue of the Journal of Adolescent

Health.

The study included 143 students from the same high school - the

intervention school - to participate in the new program. An

additional 97 students from a neighboring high school served as a

comparison group - Hortz did not present the new program to these

students.

Students at both schools attended physical education classes five

days a week, where the emphasis was on learning the skills necessary

to participate in sports.

Each week for eight weeks, Hortz met with the students at the

intervention school during one gym class period.

During these lessons the students learned how to develop their own

personal exercise plan. For example, some students planned to

exercise with family and friends, while other students chose to

exercise alone.

" The program encouraged students to plan the way that they preferred

to be active, " Hortz said.

The intervention group participated in sport-related activities

during their other daily gym classes.

All students were asked to keep a seven-day record of how often they

exercised outside of normal school hours (between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.)

They kept these written records at two different times †" one week

before the program started and the week after the program ended. A

30-minute exercise session counted as a workout for a day.

At the beginning of the study, nearly half of the students (46.9

percent) participating in the intervention program said they spent

no time exercising outside of school.

By the end of the study, that shrank to less than one in 10 students

(9.1 percent.) Walking, bicycling and small group games, such as

three-on-three basketball, were among the top activities students

participated in during their leisure time.

" These findings suggest that the program encouraged sedentary

students to become active, " Petosa said. " Exercise doesn't have to

be a strenuous, heart-pounding, sweat-inducing session that leads to

exhaustion. In fact, research shows significant health benefits can

be gained when a sedentary person becomes moderately active. "

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that

teenagers get 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity

each day. Walking briskly, which many students in this study said

that they did, qualifies as moderate exercise.

By the end of the study, the students from the intervention group

increased the number of days they exercised to nearly three days

(2.94 days), up from 0.89 days at the study's beginning. The

comparison group only increased their work out frequency by half a

day, from 1.34 days to 1.81 days.

The number of students who worked out at a moderate pace four or

more days a week increased eight-fold (from 4.2 percent to 33.6

percent.)

" We conducted the study from January to March, when it was most

convenient for the school systems in the study, " Hortz said. " The

slight rise in activity among students in the comparison group may

be due to the fact that the weather improved, making it more

conducive to exercising outdoors. "

Hortz and Petosa are continuing their collaboration, and are

currently evaluating the program in about a half-dozen high schools

this school year.

" Physical activity starts to decline during adolescence and

continues to do so throughout adulthood, " Hortz said. " We're trying

to help change students' attitudes toward physical activity. This

program lets them exercise whenever, however and wherever they want

to. "