Exploring Teacher and Student Perceptions of the Impact of Two Recess Periods per Day

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to explore teacher and student perceptions of the implementation of two recess periods per day. Method: Participants were 12 teachers (representing all grade levels and areas) and 13 students (representing all grade levels) from a K-5 elementary school in the Southeastern United States. All participants took part in interviews regarding their perceptions towards having two recess periods per day. Data analysis included transcribing data, detecting preliminary themes through constant comparison, and narrowing of themes from preliminary themes. Results: Five themes were ultimately revealed: Activity, behavior and student engagement, quantity vs. quality, socialization, and teacher-student “contract.” Conclusions: A school-wide policy of two recess periods per day was perceived positively by faculty and students because they believed students are more active, stronger bonds formed between students and teachers, primary children played together, earlier, and lessons had more depth and intensity.Educatio

A Low-cost Material for the Adsorption of Antibiotics

Pharmaceutical pollutants are emerging contaminants that pose significant risk to human health and environment. Their mode of action and persistence in the environment makes them a major concern. The presence of these compounds in the environment has led to the degradation of surface and sub-surface water quality, affecting the health of living organisms. The conventional water techniques for the elimination of pollutants have several drawbacks such as high operational costs, formation of by-products and poor reusability. Conversely, adsorption technique can be considered as a preferred choice due to its simple design, ease of operation, adaptability, efficiency and low costs. The aim of this study is to develop and apply an eco-friendly, readily available, and low-cost adsorbent for the removal of vancomycin. The choice of this antibiotic can be justified by its occurrence in wastewaters, with detection limits of 100.0 - 246.6 ng/l, and been listed on the WHO priority list of antibiotic resistance. For this study, the sawdust was blended and sieved into various particle sizes varying from 90 to 850 µm. The sawdust was treated with 2M sulfuric acid for 24 hours at room temperature and washed with distilled water several times until the neutral pH of washings. The selected sawdust fraction with 180 – 250 µm particles sizes was analyzed using a range of instrumentation techniques. The characteristics of thesawdust such as zeta potential, pH point zero charge, surface morphology, functional groups, specific surface area and pores volume were determined. The impact of operational parameters, including contact time, pH, temperature, and the initial concentration of the antibiotic on its adsorption on sawdust was evaluated using HPLC. The result of this study demonstrates how different adsorption parameters influence the adsorption of vancomycin on treated sawdust particles

Student Academic Performance Outcomes of a Classroom Physical Activity Intervention: A Pilot Study

A Physical activity is beneficial to children’s health, yet academic pressures limit opportunities forstudents throughout the school day. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of aclassroom PA intervention on student academic performance outcomes. Intervention participants(n=15) received daily PA breaks. Reading and mathematics fluency, PA, grades, and standardized testscores were collected. Effects of the intervention were examined using mixed-design ANOVAs.Intervention students had significantly higher reading fluency and mathematics scores postinterventionand higher means for standardized reading and mathematics scores as well as grades.Short bouts of PA are important for improving CBM math and reading fluency scores. Classroomteachers should be encouraged to devote time during academic learning to incorporate PA

The role of biographical characteristics in preservice classroom teachers\u27 school physical activity promotion attitudes

Recommendations for increasing children’s daily physical activity (PA) call on classroom teachers to assume an activist role at school. This study examined relationships among preservice classroom teachers’ (PCT; n = 247) biographical characteristics, perceptions and attitudes regarding school PA promotion (SPAP). Results indicated participants who completed SPAP-related college coursework and had PA-related teaching/coaching experiences reported higher SPAP competence. Significant relationships were found among BMI, personal PA competence and SPAP competence in the contexts of PE and extracurricular settings. Personal PA competence and SPAP competence at recess and in the classroom predicted 19% of the variance in SPAP attitudes. Experiences in PA settings and preservice training may have important implications for the overall success of efforts to enhance school PA promotion

Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: Characteristics of Trained Teachers

As public health concerns about physical inactivity and childhood obesity continue to rise, researchers are calling for interventions that comprehensively lead to more opportunities to participate in physical activity (PA). The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics and attitudes of trained physical education teachers during the implementation of a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program at the elementary level. Using a collective case study design, interviews, observations, field notes, open-ended survey questions, and an online forum monitoring guided the interpretation of teacher perceptions and development of emergent themes. Qualitative data analysis was conducted for each individual teacher and then across the ten teachers which produced four major themes: (a) Leading the Charge: Ready, Set, Go!, (b) Adoption versus Adaptation: Implementation Varies, (c) Social Media’s Place in the Professional Development (PD) Community, and (d) Keys to Successful Implementation. It can be concluded that, based on these findings, elementary physical education teachers are ready and willing to implement CSPAP. Key factors that may influence this implementation are discussed

How Feedback and Goal-Setting Impact Children\u27s Recess Physical Activity

In recent years, schools desire to promote physical activity (PA) for their students but are restricted due to resources being expended in other areas of their curriculum, including standardized testing preparation. Recess/lunch periods have potential to contribute important amounts of PA to youth’s overall levels. Interventions to maximize PA during recess are warranted. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the impact of feedback and goal-setting on students’ PA during recess. A sample of 136 (67 females, 69 males) 4th and 5th grade students in the Southeast United States wore unsealed Walk4Life pedometers during recess for one month. Steps, activity time, participant demographics, and weather were recorded daily. Participants engaged in three conditions during recess: baseline, feedback, and goal-setting. Findings indicated that boys were more active than the girls and the 4th grade participants were more active than the 5th grade participants. Results suggest that the goal setting condition was effective in increasing the percentage of time in PA during an unstructured recess period; however, it did not significantly increase participants’ steps per minute levels at recess. Goal-setting with children can be an effective intervention to increase physical activity during recess

Supporting Students’ Physical Activity Self-Efficacy within High School Physical Education

Research examining physical activity (PA) is significant because of the known benefits of PA. Studying high school (HS) students is particularly important due to the consistent decline in PA as students age. One strategy to increase PA is to increase someone’s self-efficacy (confidence) to be physically active which is commonly positively associated with PA. Most of the research on how to support physical activity self-efficacy (PASE) comes from outside-of-school interventions with minimal literature on how to support students’ PASE within HS physical education (PE). This study attempted to identify and share practices that current HS PE teachers were implementing to support students’ PASE and further develop previous recommendations to support PASE. The study participants were 14 current HS PE teachers that participated in one individual semi-structured interview that lasted approximately 50-60 minutes. Interview questions were designed to ask participants about their daily in-person class routines and how they support PASE based on the four sources of self-efficacy. The results include three themes to assist in supporting HS students’ PASE which include: (a) Maximizing initial success, (b) Redefining success, and (c) Increasing PA awareness and monitoring. All themes and examples coincide with previous recommendations on how best to support PASE. PE teachers have the opportunity to design PA experiences that maximize the chances of students interpreting their experiences as successful and allow students to manage their PA participation. Implementing these types of strategies can hopefully increase students’ overall participation in PA by supporting their PASE

School Day Segmented Physical Activity Patterns of High and Low Active Children

BACKGROUND: Variability exists in children\u27s activity patterns due to the association with environmental, social, demographic, and inter-individual factors. This study described accelerometer assessed physical activity patterns of high and low active children during segmented school week days whilst controlling for potential correlates. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-three children (mean age: 10.7 ± 0.3 yrs, 55.6% girls, 18.9% overweight/obese) from 8 north-west England primary schools wore ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers for 7 consecutive days during autumn of 2009. ActiGraph counts were converted to minutes of moderate (MPA), vigorous (VPA) and moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) physical activity. Children were classified as high active (HIGH) or low active (LOW) depending on the percentage of week days they accumulated at least 60 minutes of MVPA. Minutes spent in MPA and VPA were calculated for school time and non-school time and for five discrete school day segments (before-school, class time, recess, lunchtime, and after-school). Data were analysed using multi-level modelling. RESULTS: The HIGH group spent significantly longer in MPA and/or VPA before-school, during class time, lunchtime, and after-school (P \u3c .05), independent of child and school level factors. The greatest differences occurred after-school (MPA = 5.5 minutes, VPA = 3.8 minutes, P \u3c 0.001). MPA and VPA were also associated with gender, BMI z-score, number of enrolled children, playground area per student, and temperature, depending on the segment analysed.The additive effect of the segment differences was that the HIGH group accumulated 12.5 minutes per day more MVPA than the LOW group. CONCLUSIONS: HIGH active children achieved significantly more MPA and VPA than LOW active during four of the five segments of the school day when analyses were adjusted for potential correlates. Physical activity promotion strategies targeting low active children during discretionary physical activity segments of the day, and particularly via structured afterschool physical activity programs may be beneficial

Examining Physical Education Teaching Practices During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Purpose/Method: This qualitative case study examined through an interpretive worldview how current high school (HS) physical education (PE) teachers (n=14) implemented online experiences that could have influenced students’ interpretations of their vicarious experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic (spring/fall of 2020). The study sought to better understand teachers’ perceptions of how social modeling of PA was implemented online, how online PA experiences impacted opportunities for social comparison among the students, and what teachers’ opinions of these practices were in relation to supporting students’ PA self-efficacy. Results: The results found that the study participants differed in their opinions on the most effective ways to provide students with PA demonstrations and implement students\u27 PA experiences during online instruction. Many of the teachers relied more on online videos to demonstrate PA, resulting in a decrease in teachers personally modeling PA themselves (theme 1). Due to the stress of the pandemic on students’ well-being, teachers and their school districts prioritized students’ social and emotional health which influenced how teachers had students participate in PA online (theme 2). This resulted in fewer PA experiences with students participating in front of each other and none of the teachers requiring students to model PA for peers online. Conclusion: This study serves as a starting point to better understand how teachers implemented online instructional practices that could have influenced students’ interpretations of their vicarious experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. The information collected in this study can be used by current PE teachers to design future online practices

Disparity of Cytochrome Utilization in Anodic and Cathodic Extracellular Electron Transfer Pathways of Geobacter sulfurreducens Biofilms.

Extracellular electron transfer (EET) in microorganisms is prevalent in nature and has been utilized in functional bioelectrochemical systems. EET of Geobacter sulfurreducens has been extensively studied and has been revealed to be facilitated through c-type cytochromes, which mediate charge between the electrode and G. sulfurreducens in anodic mode. However, the EET pathway of cathodic conversion of fumarate to succinate is still under debate. Here, we apply a variety of analytical methods, including electrochemistry, UV-vis absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopy, quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation, and electron microscopy, to understand the involvement of cytochromes and other possible electron-mediating species in the switching between anodic and cathodic reaction modes. By switching the applied bias for a G. sulfurreducens biofilm coupled to investigating the quantity and function of cytochromes, as well as the emergence of Fe-containing particles on the cell membrane, we provide evidence of a diminished role of cytochromes in cathodic EET. This work sheds light on the mechanisms of G. sulfurreducens biofilm growth and suggests the possible existence of a nonheme, iron-involving EET process in cathodic mode.N.K. was supported by a Royal Society Newton International Fellowship, NF160054. E.R., X.F. and N.H. acknowledge the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant “MatEnSAP” (682833). S. K. was supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (EMES, 744317). K. H. Ly acknowledges the Open Topic Postdoc Programme of the Technische Universität Dresden and the Marie Sklodowska Curie IF, GAN 701192. The TEM was funded through the EPSRC underpinning multi-user equipment call (EP/P030467/1