Children's Physical Activity and On-Task Behavior Following a Classroom Intervention

Background/Purpose: Previous research indicates that physical activity (PA) breaks in the general education classroom can increase children’s PA and on-task behavior. To build on this research, the purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of a classroom PA break intervention on children’s PA and on-task behavior.

Method: 210 children from three 3^rd grade, three 4^th grade and three 5^th grade classes in one elementary school participated in a classroom PA break intervention for 12 weeks (4 weeks baseline; 8 weeks intervention). Classroom teachers were trained to implement 10-minute bouts of classroom PA breaks using the TAKE 10!^® program. In-school PA, in the form of step counts, was measured using pedometers at baseline (week 1), mid-intervention (week 8) and end-intervention (week 12). On-task behavior was measured through classroom observations using momentary time sampling. A one-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze PA. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA was used to compare on-task behavior between: (a) pre-no TAKE 10!^® versus post-no TAKE 10!^® during baseline, and (b) pre-TAKE 10!^® versus post-TAKE 10!^® during intervention. Significance levels were adjusted for multiple comparisons with the Bonferroni procedure.

Analysis/Results: Students accumulated approximately 672 more daily in-school steps during mid-intervention (6301 ± 1500) compared to baseline (5629 ± 1232). The difference of in-school steps taken between baseline and the mid-intervention was statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was a non-statistically significant (P > 0.05) decrease in students’ daily in-school steps of approximately 152 from baseline to end-intervention (5477 ± 1417). The two-way repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant increase (P < 0.05) in mean on-task behavior from pre-TAKE 10!^® (82.3 ± 4.5) to post-TAKE 10!^® (89.5 ± 2.7) during intervention. Conversely, there was a significant decrease (P < 0.05) in mean on-task behavior from pre-no TAKE 10!^® (91.2 ± 3.4) to post-no TAKE 10!^® (83.5 ± 4.0) during baseline. There was a mean percentage increase of on-task behavior by 7.2% during intervention and a mean percentage decrease of on-task behavior by 7.7% during baseline.

Conclusions:

Classroom PA breaks were effective in increasing children’s in-school PA from baseline to mid-intervention and improving on-task behavior in the classroom. The decrease in in-school PA during end-intervention may be attributed to the decrease in outdoor PA participation during the winter season. Therefore, classroom PA breaks may provide an alternative source of PA during the winter season.