This purpose of this study was to assess the perceived knowledge of students enrolled in a lifetime fitness/wellness course at the beginning and end of the course and to measure their knowledge through a comprehensive exam.
Method
The students (n = 120) rated their knowledge of each course topic on a scale of 1-5; 1 indicating little or no knowledge to 5 being extremely knowledgeable. Two versions of the exam were developed from a test bank. The two forms were piloted with senior Kinesiology students with r = .978 (n = 20). A test blueprint established content validity.
Analysis/Results
On the preliminary questionnaire, the most frequently reported response was having good knowledge in muscular fitness (tie), nutrition, weight management, stress management, tobacco, alcohol, and sexually transmitted diseases; adequate knowledge for flexibility, muscular fitness, body composition; some knowledge in cardiovascular fitness, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases. A small percentage reported little or no knowledge in all categories as well as some reported being extremely knowledgeable. The Exit questionnaire revealed that no students felt they had little or no knowledge. The most frequent choice was having good knowledge (range 45%-61%) and being extremely knowledgeable (23 – 35%). Students were asked if they felt their course exam scores reflected their knowledge about the topics and 40% reported somewhat; 34.2% disagreed. When asked if their anticipated course grade reflected their knowledge, 21.3% agreed, 38.7% responded somewhat, and 33.3% disagreed. Sixty nine percent of the students felt their fitness had improved with 28% staying the same. Seventy two percent reported their attitude about fitness improved with 25% staying the same. Sixty nine percent reported that feedback about their fitness influenced their attitude and they made changes; while 65% reported a positive change in their fitness behaviors. The preliminary exam had a mean/sd score of 25.8, 4.67 (59%) and post 27.7, 4.88 (63%). A dependent t-test showed a significant difference (t = -2.870, p = .005) but in reality there was no practical difference. Many of the post scores were lower. This could be due to the exam not counting toward their grade and students rushing through.
Conclusions
Assessing a general education course is a challenge. It is encouraging that most students reported improving their knowledge, fitness, and health behaviors. Suggestions from the students included more interaction and applied labs. Although they reported learning, many of their scores did not indicate satisfactory progress.