Research has shown that regular physical activity (PA) may reduce the likelihood of acquiring type II diabetes. Pima Indians have the highest rate of type II diabetes in the world and their children are experiencing unprecedented increases in incidence of type II diabetes. Examining the PA patterns of Pima children living in Native American communities is a fundamental step in preparing future interventions to assist this population in developing patterns of lifelong and healthful PA. Understanding where Pima children accumulate PA is a question that remains largely unanswered. It has been estimated that physical education can contribute up to 20% of public school children's daily PA determined by pedometers. To date, no research has examined the Physical Education Step Count (PESC) patterns specific to Pima children. The purpose of this study was to describe the PESC patterns via pedometry (Walk4Life LS2505) of junior high and high school age Pima students living in two Native American communities in the Southwestern United States. Students wore pedometers for 6-8 days during their regularly scheduled 50-minute physical education classes. Content taught during data collection included jogging, track, basketball and volleyball. Participants were 91 students (n=41 girls, n=50 boys) in grades 7-12 resulting in 357 PESC data points. Since an ANOVA suggested that no differences were present between students with 1-4 days (n=70) of data and students with 5-8 days of data (n=21), all data points were included. Analyses included descriptive statistics and MANOVA to investigate difference in PESC by gender and school level (junior vs. high). Students' average steps per physical education class was 1845 (SD=802). MANOVA results indicated that there was a significant gender effect (F(1, 87)=8.55, p<.01; ç = .09), and school level effect (F(1, 87)=7.53, p<.01; ç = .08), with no interaction. Boys (m=2116, sd=1093) took more steps than girls (m=1555, sd=982) and junior high (m=2003.12, sd=812.94) had more steps than high school students (m=1614.23, sd=737.29). Gender and school level differences are consistent with current understanding of objectively monitored PA. The data collected herein represent the first available in this unique population subgroup. Directly comparative data in other populations is limited at this time. Continued research is needed to determine the relative contribution of physical education to total daily PA.Keyword(s): exercise/fitness/physical activity, physical education PK-12