Empowering Teachers to Integrate Physical Activity: Online Communities of Practice

Background/Purpose: Most children in the United States do not meet current guidelines for daily participation in physical activity (PA). Recognizing that schools are ideally situated to promote children’s PA, national recommendations call for the development of comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAP). One component of a CSPAP is PA during the school day, which should include PA integration in academic lessons. Yet, despite is known effectiveness as a strategy to increase children’s daily PA, there is currently a lack of externalized accountability for classroom-based PA promotion. In the absence of such accountability, it is necessary to determine effective means for internalizing classroom teachers’ motivation to promote PA. Preservice education provides a promising platform for early intervention with classroom teachers to increase their desire to engage in PA promotion. This study examined preservice elementary teachers’ (a) motivation for classroom-based PA promotion when given the opportunity to participate in an online community of practice (CoP), and (b) beliefs and future intentions for participation in the online CoP.  The CoP provided training, support, and a platform for professional interactions related to integrating PA into academic subjects and constitutes a new strategy that hasn’t been evaluated before in the context of classroom PA promotion.

Method: Preliminary data from 22 preservice elementary teachers (M_age= 21.86±0.98; N=18 females) enrolled in a PA promotion course taught by the first author over a semester were collected. Participation in the online CoP (named Move for Thought) lasted for 10 weeks. Upon completion, a survey measuring perceived barriers, attitudes, enjoyment, value and future intentions from existing valid and reliable questionnaires was administered.

Analysis/Results: Internal consistency, using Cronbach’s alpha was acceptable for all measures (α> .70). Preservice teachers reported high levels of value (M=6.15±0.65), enjoyment (M=5.40±1.01), attitudes (M=5.64±0.99), and future intentions for the online CoP (M=4.89±1.44) and to integrate PA (M=6.00±0.91). Associations between the motivational variables and current participation in the CoP were positive and significant (r = .41-.60). Regression analysis showed that the level of involvement in the CoP was a significant predictor of intentions for future participation to the CoP (β = .60, p=.003) as well as of motivational outcomes.

Conclusions: Even though preliminary, current findings are encouraging on the role of the online CoP in preservice elementary teachers’ motivation and future intentions to integrate PA and use the CoP.