Influencing Factors On Planning Decisionmaking Among Spanish In-Service Physical Education Teachers. A Population-Based study

Introduction. Traditionally, literature has contributed qualitative approaches for studying how to plan Physical Education (PE). To our knowledge there are not quantitative populationbased studies regarding the decision-making process among in-service Spanish PE teachers. The aim of this study was to analyze possible differences in the factors of influence on planning decision-making in PE with a large sample of Spanish in-service teachers depending on their characteristics (gender, teaching experience) and the educational context (educational stage, type of school).Method. The sample consisted of 618 teachers from 15 Spanish autonomous regions (422 males and 196 females; aged 23-63 years old). An electronic version of the validated Planning Decision-Making in PE Questionnaire was applied, using the google web platform. It is composed of eight factors (curriculum standards, pre-service training, physical environment, physical activity experiences, teaching experiences, socialization by other teachers, material and equipment, and level of preparation in the subject matters).Results. The results showed differences regarding the factors of influence in planning PE between teachers, caused by personal (teaching experience) and contextual (educational stage and type of school) factors. Habitual physical activity and pre-service training influenced novel teachers more in comparison to experienced teachers. Teachers from secondary schools were influenced more by their initial training, the curriculum standards, and the material and equipment. Public school teachers were more influenced by the curriculum standards and the physical environment, than those from private schools.Conclusion. According to previous qualitative research regarding the level of teaching experience, results suggest that initial training for PE teachers should consider including higher support from experienced teachers in order to avoid the dependence on the national curriculum standards. It is important to include the use of the physical environment of the school center regarding the effect that outdoor activities have on the students’ physical activity habits in their leisure time. </jats:p

Innovative teaching units applied to physical education – changing the curriculum management for authentic outcomes

The aim of this article is to reflect on the original attributes that define planning in order to reformulate the concept of teaching units in Physical Education (PE), providing teachers with new structures of planning that allow them to achieve authentic outcomes. Some issues related to students’ learning are raised as regards the duration of a traditional teaching unit, as well as the total time amount and allocation dedicated to students’ learning. Based on previous psychological and learning theories, as well as on in-service teachers’ experience, four proposals of innovative teaching units are provided. Providing opportunities for significant and meaningful learning level in PE is not an easy task for teachers. The main objective of the proposals is to provide students with substantial learning experiences and to accomplish authentic outcomes by planning PE classes. Intermittent, alternated, irregular, and reinforced teaching units are analysed. The proposals focus on new approaches to time allocation in PE, and on a renovated concept of unit planning and curriculum design. Several applications for each type of teaching unit are shown in order to highlight PE teachers’ opportunities to innovate their planning. The proposals of intermittent, alternated, irregular, and reinforced teaching units could guide teachers through planning of PE based on related learning and may provide an effective tool for PE planning to overcome learning deficiencies attributed to traditional teaching units

Differences in physical activity levels in school-based contexts – influence of gender, age, and body weight status

The purposes of this study were to compare the objectively measured physical activity levels across physical education, school playtime and extra-curricular sport in secondary school students, as well as to examine the influence of gender, age, and body weight status on adolescents’ objective physical activity levels in these contexts. A hundred and two secondary school students (age 12.53±1.56 years) participated in the present study. Students’ objective physical activity levels were estimated by the multi-sensor device SenseWear Pro2 Armband during a physical education, school playtime and extra-curricular sport session. The result of the one-way multivariate analysis of covariance indicated statistically significant higher values of steps/ min, average metabolic equivalent of task, and time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in extracurricular sport than in physical education and school playtime (p<.001). Additionally, metabolic equivalent of task values were statistically significantly greater in physical education than in school playtime (p<.001). On the other hand, the results of the two-way multivariate analyses of covariance showed an influence of gender and age on physical activity levels in these contexts (p<.001), whilst for body weight status no influence was found (p>.05). This preliminary evidence could inform and guide future policy regarding the promotion of physical activity among adolescents in these important school-based contexts. Since physical activity engagement in compulsory physical activity contexts, such as physical education lessons, is clearly insufficient, parents, teachers and institutions should encourage students to achieve health-related physical activity levels during their free time

El modelo de planificación de tres ejes en Educación Física

The high complexity of planning Physical Education is due to the great quantity of factors that influence its process. Consequently, many doubts appear in the decision-making process of any formational stage of Physical Education teachers. There is a lack of theoretical-practical tools that help teachers to be their own constructors of their curriculum by helping them to design their own proposals, instead of using proposals made by others. The main purpose of this study was to provide Physical Education teachers a theoretical and practical framework, which will guide them in the decisional making process during planning, in order to include in their teaching all the influential factors that need to be taken into account. The threeaxes model of planning is discussed as a guide for planning Physical Education, helping teachers through practical recommendations and proposing strategies in each axis in order to prepare an effective Physical Education planningLa alta complejidad de la planificación de la Educación Física radica en la gran cantidad de factores que influyen en su proceso. Debido a ello, aparecen numerosas dudas en el proceso de toma de decisiones y en cualquier etapa de formación del docente de Educación Física. En determinados aspectos de la enseñanza como la planificación, existe una falta de herramientas teórico-prácticas que ayuden a los profesores a ser constructores de sus propios currículos, que les ayuden a diseñar sus propias propuestas curriculares y evitar así el uso descontextualizado de propuestas hechas por terceros. El principal propósito de este artículo es proporcionar a los profesores de Educación Física un marco teórico y práctico sobre el que basar y guiar sus decisiones de planificación cuando estén preparando sus currículos específicos, incluyendo así todos los factores influyentes que necesitan tener en cuenta en su enseñanza de la Educación Física. El modelo de tres ejes de la planificación es discutido como una guía para planificar la Educación Física, una ayuda de profesores a través de recomendaciones prácticas, y además propone estrategias en cada eje del modelo para preparar un plan efectivo de Educación Física

Gender differences and age-related changes in performance at the duathlon world champions

Analyze the differences in performance between genders, and changes in performance in age group category at Short distance during the ITU Duathlon World Championships held between 2005 and 2016.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Effects of a strength and stretching program, combined or Iisolated, on active flexibility in physical education setting.

Purpose. To examine the effects of a two-session-per-week strength and stretching program on sit and reach score among high-school students in the physical education setting. Methods. A sample of 46 high-school students (16 girls and 30 boys) aged 12-14 years from four classes were clustered and randomly assigned to a strength group (n=8), a stretching group (n=12), a strength + stretching group (n=16) or a control group (n=10). During physical education classes, the experimental students performed a 1-minute stretching, a 1-minute strength or a 2-minutes strength + stretching program twice a week a total of 20 weeks. Control students performed the same physical education classes, but they did not follow any strength and/or stretching program. Active flexibility (estimated by the classic sit-and-reach test) was assessed at the beginning and at the end of the intervention program. Results. The Wilcoxon test results showed that students that performed a combined strength and stretching program increased statistically significantly their active flexibility levels from pre-intervention to post-intervention (∆ = 1.8 ± 3.2 cm; p 0.05). Conclusiones. Since in physical education many curricular contents need to be developed each academic year and the subject is also restricted by its limited curriculum time allocation, teachers could improve students’ flexibility combining stretching and strength workout. Therefore, in addition to the improvement of students’ flexibility levels, this intervention program might permit regular development of other physical education curricular contents.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Differences according to modalities, distances and genders of how the triathletes carry their bicycles for the boxes during the first transition in the Spanish Championships

Introduction The purpose was to compare the proportion in the use (by elite or pro category) of the 4 types of hold-riding the bicycle during the transition between triathletes’ sex (men and women), distance or modality (Olympic, sprint, long and cross) at the Triathlon Spanish Championships. Method The sample was composed by 648 Spanish triathletes, participants of eight elite Spanish championship triathlon during 2016. Results Most of triathletes hold-ride the bike by the seat only while driving it (76.2%), followed by the handlebar (14.9%), seat-handlebar (7.1%) and stem styles (1.9%). The same tendency was showed within sex, category and race subcategories, except for Olympic (seat style was used for the 95% of triathletes), sprint (seat and handlebar styles were similar), and long (seat-handlebar and stem styles were equal). The results showed that there were statistically significantly differences in the proportion of triathletes that used each hold-riding of the bicycle between sex, race, and sex-race subcategories (p 0.05; Cramer´s V = 0.000-0.244). Discussion The difference between men and women is that men have twice the grip on the handlebars. The videos show that this may be because the groups of men in the boxes are greater than those of the women, and this sometimes forces them, to take the bike by the handlebar to control it better and avoid incidents. While in the Olympic, sprint and long-distance elite triathletes mostly used the seat style, and in the cross race the handlebar style.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Comparison of the effect of a Physical Education-Based Stretching Program applied during the Warm-Up, ColdDown and both periods on hamstring extensibility in Primary Schoolchildren.

Purpose. To compare the effects of a physical education-based stretching program applied during the warm-up, cold-down and both periods on hamstring extensibility in primary schoolchildren. Methods. A sample of 237 schoolchildren aged 7-12 years old (128 girls and 109 boys) from two primary school centres participated in the present study and met satisfactorily the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A cluster randomized controlled trial design was used. The classes balanced by grade were randomly assigned to the warm-up (n = 57), cold-down (n = 55), both periods (n = 61) or control groups (n = 64). During the physical education sessions, the students from the interventional groups performed a four-minute stretching program twice a week for eight weeks. The intervention program was applied during the warm-up (4 minutes), cold-down (4 minutes) and warm-up (2 minutes)-cold-down (2 minutes) for the warm-up, cold-down and both periods groups, respectively. Hamstring extensibility (estimated by the back-saver sit-and-reach test) was assessed at the beginning and at the end of the intervention program. Results. The one-way ANOVA (p 0.05). Conclusions. In order to develop students’ flexibility, PE teachers should apply stretching programs during the cold-down period. Due to the negative effect of static stretching on performance as previously found in the literature, it seems that PE teachers should improve students´ flexibility during the cool-down period of the sessions.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels in physical education, school recess and after-school time. Influence of gender, age, and weight status

Background: Primary and secondary school ages have been considered key moments to address the decrease of moderate-tovigorous physical activity (MVPA). Individual (eg, age, gender, and weight status) and contextual factors (moments of the day) need to be considered for a better explanation of the phenomenon. The quantity and quality of physical activity in Physical Education (PE), school recess (SR), and after school (AS) time need to be taken into account to solve the low levels of MVPA in youth. Methods: A sample of adolescents (N = 231, 14.6 ± 1.2 years old) was studied using accelerometry to determine the objective MVPA level in PE, SR, and AS. Results: Results indicated statistically significant differences on MVPA between contexts (AS > PE > SR, P younger in PE and younger > older in SR time; P girls in all contexts, P nonoverweight in AS, P < .01). Conclusions: Because students did not meet the daily MVPA recommendations, some strategies have been provided in each of the contexts analyzed

Comparison of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels between physical education, school recess and after-school time in secondary school students: an accelerometer-based study

Regular physical activity is an important factor of health in youth. Unfortunately, in Chile 85% of adolescents do not achieve the 60 min daily recommendation of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Physical education, school recess and after-school time are considered crucial environments for adolescents to meet the recommended moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels. This study compared the moderateto-vigorous physical activity levels between physical education, school recess and after-school time in Chilean secondary school students, and examined the influence of gender and weight status. A hundred and fifty-six Chilean secondary school students (finally 89 participants were included), aged 13-14 years, were monitored by objective measures of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during physical education, school recess and after-school time. Results indicated statistically significant differences in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity between contexts (total minutes: After-school time>physical education>school recess; percentage: Physical education>after-school time=school recess, pgirls, p<.05). Policy-makers are encouraged to increase the number of physical education classes and teachers to ensure that more physical education class time is spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, especially among girls. The increase in students’ moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels during school recess and after-school time should also be promoted