 |
|
Walking forum report shows need to expand physical activity in schools
October 01, 2008CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- With childhood obesity expanding to epidemic proportions in the United States, educators, researchers and health practitioners are actively seeking to identify effective means of addressing this public-health crisis.
Among the solutions proposed by teachers, researchers and others who met during a roundtable discussion of the issues at a major international conference at the University of Illinois, is the integration of physical activity programming throughout the curriculum in the nation's schools. In other words, the group recommended that physical activity no longer be confined to the domain of the physical education classes.
"There are a number of steps that can be taken to accomplish this," said U. of I. kinesiology and community health professor Weimo (pronounced WE-moh) Zhu, the lead organizer of the "Walking for Health" conference. For example, "science teachers can teach the science behind physical activity -- theories about energy transfer. Or teachers can combine graphics and arts, going on a walk to look at different parts of the city."
A summary of the group's findings and recommendations was compiled in a recently published consensus report titled "We Move the Kids." The report -- along with 10 others by conference participants -- was published this past summer in a supplemental volume of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (Vol. 40, No. 7), the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. The ACSM was a co-sponsor of the 2005 walking conference with the U. of I.
Zhu called the supplement "the most comprehensive collection of the current literature on walking."
The "We Move the Kids" roundtable discussion and follow-up report focused on strategies for promoting physical activity, integrating physical activity with other health behaviors in school curricula, and potential barriers to accomplishing these goals.
"There was a general recommendation to go beyond what happens in the P.E. class, and to try to create a healthy environment for the children during school and after school across the curriculum," said Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko (VOY-tek HODGE-koh-zye-koh), the head of the kinesiology and community health department and a co-author of the roundtable report.
Chodzko-Zajko said the concept of integrating topics across the curriculum is not necessarily a new pedagogical idea.
"It's very common, especially at the elementary level. So, if there's a major theme occurring -- elections, or some big national event -- it's not unusual for elementary schools to integrate that across the curriculum, in math, geography, social sciences. The idea here is that concepts not only in physical activity, but concepts in wellness, need to be integrated.
"If you talk to the pedagogy people, they say two things: Kids need physical education, where they learn motor skills and activities that are going to set them up to develop the competencies they need to be physically active. But they also need to know how to be regularly physically active.
"So there's a double mission. The school has a responsibility to educate them in motor skills but also provide students with an opportunity to be active."
And, Chodzko-Zajko said, "many schools are failing in both regards, without question."
He noted that while schools are federally mandated to have wellness plans, many -- including those within walking distance of the site of the 2005 walking conference -- don't employ teachers trained specifically in physical education.
"That's amazing, really, when you think of it," he said.
On a more positive note, U. of I. kinesiology professor Amelia Woods, another co-author of the "We Move the Kids" report who has worked one on one with teachers in Champaign, Ill., elementary schools, said "there are some really innovative physical educators in this community."
Woods, who is the author of the book "Interdisciplinary Teaching Through Physical Education," pointed to Wendy Huckstadt at Bottenfield School and Wendy Starwalt at Carrie Busey, both in Champaign. Among the strategies they employ in the classroom are ones recommended in the roundtable report, such as using pedometers and other motivational devices; offering rewards and incentives; and setting individual and group goals.
"Wendy Huckstadt organized a program called the Mileage Club, where students can cover a quarter-mile track before and after school, at recess and sometimes during physical education to earn little plastic foot charms," Woods said. "Once they cover five miles, they earn a charm. The charms are put on necklaces. Teachers and students all wear them."
Woods said after school, parents come to pick up their children, and it's not unusual to see students, parents and teachers all walking around the track after school.
"It's really awesome," she said.
Starwalt has done many innovative things as well. "She also incorporates the foot charms in her program, and has introduced 'Fitness Fridays,' to try to emphasize the benefits of physical activity," Woods said.
Chodzko-Zajko noted that one of the major hurdles he and his colleagues face is getting society to abandon old notions of physical education in the schools.
"The challenge, I think, is that people have come to think that children should get their physical activity in P.E. class, and they're lucky if they have one class a week," he said. "So, we need to help the kids track their activity using pedometers. But they can't be expected to get that activity (only) during P.E. class."
In addition to encouraging the systemic inclusion of physical activity and wellness in the classroom, recommendations in the "We Move the Kids" report include strategies for educators, school administrators, and even parents and communities.
Among them:
"’ positioning physical-education teachers as role models not just for students, but other teachers as well.
"’ supporting student participation in sports clubs and other physical-activity opportunities.
"’ opening gyms, pools, playgrounds and other school facilities to students and community members before and after school hours.
"’ providing administrators with information about health benefits of physical activity and information about childhood obesity and inactivity.
"’ offering in-service training to educate non-P.E. teachers on ways to build activity into their curricula.
"’ creating collaborative partnerships involving teachers, parents, businesses and professional associations that advocate the benefits of physical activity.
"’ organizing annual health fairs or physical-activity events that emphasize the importance of physically active lifestyles for people of all ages.
Along with Chodzko-Zajko, Woods and Zhu, additional co-authors of the roundtable report are U. of I. kinesiology and community health professors Darla Castelli and Kim Graber. Castelli and Graber organized a subsequent conference at Illinois last fall called Physical Activity in Contemporary Education to further promote the importance of integrated physical-activity and wellness programs in schools and communities.
Another conference participant contributing an article to the journal supplement is David M. Buchner, former chief of the Physical Activity and Health branch in the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Buchner joined the U. of I. kinesiology and community health department this fall as director of the university's new master of public health degree program, which will be offered beginning in fall 2009. He also leads the writing team responsible for drafting the federal government's first-ever "Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans"; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue the guidelines in October.
Buchner's journal article, "The Importance of Walking to Public Health," co-authored with Harvard University professor I-Min Lee, serves in part as a review of the existing body of research on walking for health purposes. The article also considers the type of walking that produces the greatest health benefits and considers methodological issues relevant to epidemiologic studies on the relationship between walking and health.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
A summary of the group's findings and recommendations was compiled in a recently published consensus report titled "We Move the Kids." The report -- along with 10 others by conference participants -- was published this past summer in a supplemental volume of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (Vol. 40, No. 7), the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. The ACSM was a co-sponsor of the 2005 walking conference with the U. of I.
Zhu called the supplement "the most comprehensive collection of the current literature on walking."
The "We Move the Kids" roundtable discussion and follow-up report focused on strategies for promoting physical activity, integrating physical activity with other health behaviors in school curricula, and potential barriers to accomplishing these goals.
"There was a general recommendation to go beyond what happens in the P.E. class, and to try to create a healthy environment for the children during school and after school across the curriculum," said Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko (VOY-tek HODGE-koh-zye-koh), the head of the kinesiology and community health department and a co-author of the roundtable report.
Chodzko-Zajko said the concept of integrating topics across the curriculum is not necessarily a new pedagogical idea.
"It's very common, especially at the elementary level. So, if there's a major theme occurring -- elections, or some big national event -- it's not unusual for elementary schools to integrate that across the curriculum, in math, geography, social sciences. The idea here is that concepts not only in physical activity, but concepts in wellness, need to be integrated.
"If you talk to the pedagogy people, they say two things: Kids need physical education, where they learn motor skills and activities that are going to set them up to develop the competencies they need to be physically active. But they also need to know how to be regularly physically active.
"So there's a double mission. The school has a responsibility to educate them in motor skills but also provide students with an opportunity to be active."
And, Chodzko-Zajko said, "many schools are failing in both regards, without question."
He noted that while schools are federally mandated to have wellness plans, many -- including those within walking distance of the site of the 2005 walking conference -- don't employ teachers trained specifically in physical education.
"That's amazing, really, when you think of it," he said.
On a more positive note, U. of I. kinesiology professor Amelia Woods, another co-author of the "We Move the Kids" report who has worked one on one with teachers in Champaign, Ill., elementary schools, said "there are some really innovative physical educators in this community."
Woods, who is the author of the book "Interdisciplinary Teaching Through Physical Education," pointed to Wendy Huckstadt at Bottenfield School and Wendy Starwalt at Carrie Busey, both in Champaign. Among the strategies they employ in the classroom are ones recommended in the roundtable report, such as using pedometers and other motivational devices; offering rewards and incentives; and setting individual and group goals.
"Wendy Huckstadt organized a program called the Mileage Club, where students can cover a quarter-mile track before and after school, at recess and sometimes during physical education to earn little plastic foot charms," Woods said. "Once they cover five miles, they earn a charm. The charms are put on necklaces. Teachers and students all wear them."
Woods said after school, parents come to pick up their children, and it's not unusual to see students, parents and teachers all walking around the track after school.
"It's really awesome," she said.
Starwalt has done many innovative things as well. "She also incorporates the foot charms in her program, and has introduced 'Fitness Fridays,' to try to emphasize the benefits of physical activity," Woods said.
Chodzko-Zajko noted that one of the major hurdles he and his colleagues face is getting society to abandon old notions of physical education in the schools.
"The challenge, I think, is that people have come to think that children should get their physical activity in P.E. class, and they're lucky if they have one class a week," he said. "So, we need to help the kids track their activity using pedometers. But they can't be expected to get that activity (only) during P.E. class."
In addition to encouraging the systemic inclusion of physical activity and wellness in the classroom, recommendations in the "We Move the Kids" report include strategies for educators, school administrators, and even parents and communities.
Among them:
"’ positioning physical-education teachers as role models not just for students, but other teachers as well.
"’ supporting student participation in sports clubs and other physical-activity opportunities.
"’ opening gyms, pools, playgrounds and other school facilities to students and community members before and after school hours.
"’ providing administrators with information about health benefits of physical activity and information about childhood obesity and inactivity.
"’ offering in-service training to educate non-P.E. teachers on ways to build activity into their curricula.
"’ creating collaborative partnerships involving teachers, parents, businesses and professional associations that advocate the benefits of physical activity.
"’ organizing annual health fairs or physical-activity events that emphasize the importance of physically active lifestyles for people of all ages.
Along with Chodzko-Zajko, Woods and Zhu, additional co-authors of the roundtable report are U. of I. kinesiology and community health professors Darla Castelli and Kim Graber. Castelli and Graber organized a subsequent conference at Illinois last fall called Physical Activity in Contemporary Education to further promote the importance of integrated physical-activity and wellness programs in schools and communities.
Another conference participant contributing an article to the journal supplement is David M. Buchner, former chief of the Physical Activity and Health branch in the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Buchner joined the U. of I. kinesiology and community health department this fall as director of the university's new master of public health degree program, which will be offered beginning in fall 2009. He also leads the writing team responsible for drafting the federal government's first-ever "Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans"; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is expected to issue the guidelines in October.
Buchner's journal article, "The Importance of Walking to Public Health," co-authored with Harvard University professor I-Min Lee, serves in part as a review of the existing body of research on walking for health purposes. The article also considers the type of walking that produces the greatest health benefits and considers methodological issues relevant to epidemiologic studies on the relationship between walking and health.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Physical Activity Current Events and Physical Activity News RSSDaycare may double TV time for young children, study finds
In a new study, the amount of television viewed by many young children in child care settings doubles the previous estimates of early childhood screen time, with those in home-based settings watching significantly more on average than those in center-based daycares.
Playing sport up to the end of pregnancy is healthy for the baby and the mother
Contrary to more conservative customs, exercising up to the end of pregnancy has no harmful effect on the weight or size of the foetus.
Texas Children's discharges first pediatric patient with implanted mechanical heart device
Texas Children's Hospital is the nation's first pediatric hospital to discharge a child while on an intracorporeal ventricular assist device (VAD), a feat previously accomplished only at adult institutions.
Reduced muscle strength associated with risk for Alzheimer's
Individuals with weaker muscles appear to have a higher risk for Alzheimer's disease and declines in cognitive function over time, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Indiana U. at APHA: Studies about health education for people with ID, stability balls at work
An Indiana University study involving adults with intellectual disabilities found that the adults increased their personal health knowledge after taking a semi-weekly class for four weeks.
Physical education key to improving health in low-income adolescents
School-based physical education plays a key role in curbing obesity and improving fitness among adolescents from low-income communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley.
Energy gap useful tool for successful weight loss maintenance strategy
Americans continue to get heavier. Most weight control methods short of bariatric surgery are generally considered ineffective in preventing obesity or reducing weight.
Health-centered weight control method shows promise
Most weight-control strategies emphasize energy-restricted diets and increased physical activity - and most are not effective over the long term.
Weight Training Boosts Breast Cancer Survivors' Body Image and Satisfaction with Intimate Relationships, Penn Study Shows
In addition to building muscle, weightlifting is also a prescription for self-esteem among breast cancer survivors, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research.
Study finds link between childhood physical abuse and arthritis
Adults who had experienced physical abuse as children have 56 per cent higher odds of osteoarthritis compared to those who have not been abused, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers.
More Physical Activity Current Events and Physical Activity News Articles
 |
Physical Activity and Health by Claude Bouchard (Author), Steven N. Blair (Author), William Haskell (Author) Sedentary habits have been identified as a major public health problem in many countries. The timely Physical Activity and Health addresses an unmet need by providing a comprehensive treatment of the relationship between physical activity and health outcomes. Physical Activity and Health is the first textbook to bring together the results of the most important studies in this rapidly changing field and offers a detailed yet concise and clear presentation of key concepts. The text provides a conceptual framework to help readers relate results from single studies or collections of studies to the overall paradigm linking physical activity and physical fitness to health. Written by Claude Bouchard and other leading scientists from around the world, this richly illustrated... |
 |
Physical Activity Pyramid (Exercise Chart) Art Poster Print - 24" X 36" by Poster Revolution This poster says at the top "Pysical Activity Pyramid". It shows various types of activities with examples and pictures, along with the frequency during the week. These include: Sedentary, Leisure activities, Stretch and Strengthen, Recreational sports, Aerobic exercise, and Light Activities. |
 |
Research Methods in Physical Activity - 5th Edition by Jerry Thomas (Author), Jack Nelson (Author), Stephen Silverman (Author) Many students fear and loathe research methods classes, which conjure up images of musty, dusty books, boredom, and confusion. Students have a welcome surprise waiting for them with Research Methods in Physical Activity, Fifth Edition, as the text effortlessly guides them through the research process. This latest edition of this internationally recognized textbook does not rest on its laurels as the leading research methods text. The authors have updated the resource in order to provide the following benefits: * Shed new light on the research process, particularly regarding use of library facilities * Enhance studentsβ understanding of basic statistical calculations and the relevance of their uses * Present a major revision to the chapter on qualitative research and... |
 |
Great Activities for Physical Education: Grades K-2 Starring: Artie Kamiya Directed By: Bill Richardason In this unique program, Artie Kamiya presents several fun physical education activities that promote student fitness and skill development. The DVD provides numerous developmentally appropriate activities for students in Grades K-2. Teachers will be able to save invaluable planning and preparation time. Games and activities included are: Walking through the Jungle, Let s Go Hunting, I See, The Egg Game, Ninja Turtle Tag, Seals and Sharks, The Birdie Dance and Birdie Dance Tag, The Seven Jumps Dance, Cranes and Crows, Odds and Evens, Jellybean Tag, Octopus Tag, Fish Gobbler and People to People. All of these activities can be easily implemented into any curriculum. |
 |
Sandwich Bag Science: 25 Easy, Hands-on Activities That Teach Key Concepts in Physical, Earth, and Life Sciences-and Meet the Science Standards by Steve Tomecek (Author) Find out how an empty sandwich bag can be jam-packed with science in this collection of learning-rich, hands-on activities. Students discover the force of atmospheric pressure, investigate physical and chemical changes in matter, test germination rates of seeds, and so much more. A fun and easy way to meet the National Science Education Standards! For use with Grades 4β8. |
 |
Yookidoo Discovery Playhouse by International Playthings Watch your baby thrill to this adorable playhouse.Offers hours of stimulating funDoubles as a quiet hideawayRoomy enough for multiple childrenActivities on both the inside and outsideIncludes ball play, shape sorting and peek-a-boo gamesEngages the senses with color, light and soundEncourages rewarding, imaginative play and physical developmentFabric construction is sturdy yet lightweight Stable, folding frame for easy storage and portabilityAssembles easilyThere's so much to learn, enjoy and share with this colorful playhouse. |
|
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY INTERVENTIONS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS by SportsWorkout.com With modern conveniences and technology always beckoning, todays children are less active and more obese than everwhich leads to an ever-increasing need for more effective interventions to help them become more active. Physical Activity Interventions | |
 |
Parachute Activities With Folk Dance Music by Various This recording mixes parachute activities and other routines with folk dance steps. By using the parachute, folk dance steps become more exciting. This fun-filled group activity is ideal for the classroom and physical education teacher. |
 |
Walk4Life MVP Pedometer-Moderate to Vigorious Physical Activity Pedometer by Walk4Life |
 |
Measuring Physical Activity in Youth - DVD by Healthy Learning Measuring Physical Activity in Youth - DVD No matter what type of research an individual is doing, accurate measurement is essential. On the other hand, studying children and adolescents involves special measurement challenges. In Measuring Physical Activity in Youth, a leading researcher of children s physical activity shares information, insights, and ideas about what works and what does not. This comprehensive review emphasizes the newest technologies and provides practical guidance for strategies that work. Among the topics covered: pros and cons of self-reports, at what age are self-reports useful?, heart-rate monitoring, using accelerometers, interpreting accelerometer results, and research challenges. Produced in cooperation with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |