Background/Purpose It is recommended that students engage in physical activity (PA) at least 50% of every PE lesson (NASPE, n.d.). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of professional development (PD) for physical educators on PA levels of their students during class time.
Method The System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time (SOFIT; McKenzie, Sallis, & Nader, 1991) was utilized to record frequencies of student PA intensity and lesson context at baseline and post-intervention during 65 PE lessons taught by 65 different teachers. Follow-up observations were conducted on a random sample of 10 teachers.
Analysis/Results SOFIT frequency counts and percentages were calculated, showing that teachers provided 41.33% time in moderate to vigorous PA at baseline. For lesson context, teachers spent 28.66%, 20.77%, 17.55%, 15.42% and 3.40% of time in games, management, fitness, knowledge, and free play, respectively. Year-long PD consisting of day-long sessions for all PE teachers were conducted. In addition, a professional learning community was created for these teachers. Follow-up data demonstrated that student PA time increased by 7% to 48.76%. Teachers decreased game time by 11%, management by 7% and eliminated free play. Skill practice increased by 7%, while fitness and knowledge time were maintained.
Conclusions Preliminary findings from this study suggest targeted professional development can be effective to assist teachers in increasing the PA levels of children during physical education. Further research is needed to determine the specific teaching behaviors employed by teachers to increase PA.
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