In the Spring
of 2003, two elementary schools implemented the inclusion of scheduled physical
activity into the school day that was supplemental to physical education and
recess. This environmental change was
planned in Fall 2002.
The intended outcomes of the
environmental change were:
·
Implementation of
short bouts (at least five minutes) of physical activity at least one time a
week.
·
Implement
regularly scheduled (at least once a week) physical education classes.
Environmental Change Initiation
The idea for this
environmental change came as a result of the following:
·
The requirement
for physical education at the elementary level is not consistently followed,
especially in schools without a physical education specialist.
·
Increase in
accountability for reading and math scores - No Child Left Behind.
·
Structured
reading programs are approximately 90 minutes in length with no interruptions
in that time block.
·
Young children
(e.g., grades K-2) often do not have many physical activity opportunities during
recess or after lunch. Sports and Intramural activities are not developmentally
appropriate for many children in grades K-2.
Public Health Agency Roles
The Department of Health provided
funding for equipment and materials to the targeted schools in this project as
well as support in the form of Mrs. Carol Matsuoka – always available for
ideas, suggestions, information, and as a sounding board.
Major Partners
In addition to the support
listed above, major partners included the Department of Health – Healthy Hawaii
Initiative (Mrs. Carol Matsuoka), and the Department of Education –
Official Support
Administration, faculty, and
staff from
Results from the Environmental Change
Major outcomes to date
resulting from the environmental change include:
·
Targeted schools
are implementing short bouts of physical activity (no less than five minutes). Implementation
by teachers led to a publication in a physical education journal.
(Maeda, J.K., &
·
A children’s
fitness video is played daily on the closed circuit television system at
·
K-2 classroom
teachers and the principal at Lincoln Elementary painted patterns (similar to
hopscotch) to promote movement on a stretch of walkway at school and use it
often for their short bout of physical activity. The children also use it
during recess times.
·
Data of
children’s recess choices were collected and presented as a poster at an
international conference.
(Maeda, J.K., &
Lessons Learned
The most important lessons
learned from this environmental change were:
·
Short bouts of
physical activity can be implemented during the school day by teachers.
·
Supportive school
staff is essential.
·
Funding for
equipment and supplies help schools begin to implement change.
·
Supporting school
staff by making any intervention or procedure as easy as possible helps. The
principal investigator must be willing to accommodate them and make things as
easy and time efficient as possible. Projects that are time consuming and ‘add’
work for teachers are less likely to be supported.
·
Gaining parental
consent for research can take a long time – however, gaining support from the
teachers and administrators to the point where they make extra efforts such as
calling parents or talking with them after school definitely helps in this
process.
Opposition
There was no opposition to the environmental change
upfront. However, No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Legislation is an underlying force that prevents many schools from developing
and maintaining programs that are not directly related to reading or math
scores. Although physical activity can help, the need to raise test scores
carries much more weight. Failing schools often lose programs that are not the
core subjects. The two schools that are included in the case study have met
current standards for their respective schools related to NCLB. However, if
they did not meet standards, it may have been hard to start or to continue due
to increased demands by NCLB and other Department of Education requirements of
schools. In other schools worked with, these demands overshadowed similar
implementation. They liked the idea and thought that kids needed more physical
activity, but already had too much to do in an already short day. The school
day here is shorter than others around the country.
Funding is a form of opposition, but more so in terms
of hiring an elementary physical education specialist. This is not the silver bullet, however, it is a step to help already stressed
classroom teachers to teach quality physical education and to promote
increasing physical activity.
The two schools in general have very supportive
administrators, faculty, and staff. They all see the value of physical
education and physical activity so it wasn't too hard to convince them to
participate. Lincoln Elementary really wants to hire an elementary physical
educator, but a lack of funding for such a position is the challenge.
Efforts were made to make everything very easy for the
teachers to do - if any intervention is time consuming on the part of the
teachers or increases their workload, the principal would not allow it. Classroom teachers have a large load, especially
now, and as such, efforts were made to accommodate them. Funding certainly
helped in this area in terms of providing equipment and flexibility relative to
also purchasing items that the schools requested for their physical education
program.
Submitted By
Julienne K.
Maeda, Ph.D.
Associate Professor/Principal
Investigator
(808)956-3810
(808)956-7976 FAX
For more information, please
contact:
Julienne K.
Maeda, Ph.D.
Email: julienne@hawaii.edu
Phone: (808)956-3810 (office)