Hrivnak, George

Kenworthy, Amy L

English

The research presented here examines the efficacy of an andragogicalyet non-traditional teaching tool for business students –the incorporation of a fitness session at a university gymnasium as part of their negotiation curriculum. The teaching exercise under examination here incorporates an integrative instructional approach, using an experience-based, active platform for learning (Campbell, et al., 2006) to extend students’ understanding of both the importance of physical activity as well as cross-disciplinary connectivity utilizing literature drawn from the management sciences as well as the neurocognitionand health sciences domains

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Bond UniversityResearch RepositoryDo Sweat It: Student Reactions to Research on the Relationship Between Physical andMental StatesKenworthy, Amy L; Hrivnak, GeorgePublished: 01/01/2012Document Version:Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication in Bond University research repository.Recommended citation(APA):Kenworthy, A. L., & Hrivnak, G. (2012). Do Sweat It: Student Reactions to Research on the RelationshipBetween Physical and Mental States. Poster session presented at Research Week 2012, Gold Coast, Australia.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.For more information, or if you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact the Bond University research repositorycoordinator.Download date: 10 May 2019BACKGROUNDDO SWEAT IT: STUDENT REACTIONS TO  RESEARCH ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STATESRESEARCHERS & PUBLICATIONRESEARCH PROJECT OVERVIEWDr. Amy L. KenworthyThe research presented here examines the efficacy of an andragogical yet non-traditional teaching tool for business students – the incorporation of a fitness session at a university gymnasium as part of their negotiation curriculum. The teaching exercise under examination here incorporates an integrative instructional approach, using an experience-based, active platform for learning (Campbell, et al., 2006) to extend students’ understanding of both the importance of physical activity as well as cross-disciplinary connectivity utilizing literature drawn from the management sciences as well as the neurocognition and health sciences domains.Dr. George A. HrivnakPhysical activity is critical to the health of the human brain (Nussbaum, 2003).  Research indicates that people who are engaged in physical exercise outperform those who are sedentary in tests of long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, and fluid-intelligence tasks.  In other words, those individuals that are more physically active are able to reason more quickly, think abstractly, and improvise more effectively to solve a new problem (Medina, 2008).RESULTSOver the course of a four year period (2008-2011), 175 students have both participated in the exercise session and fully completed the pre-and post-surveys. All of the responding students were undergraduates enrolled in and advanced elective negotiation subject.  Sixty one percent of the responding undergraduate students were male (n=107) and 39% were female (n=68). In terms of patterns across the students’ pre-exercise session responses to background questions about their typical routines:• The average number of days that students reported exercising per week was 4 (mean=3.6; s.d.=2.1; min=0; max=7)• Prior to the session, students ranked exercise as important in the following ways: 66% of the students rated it as highly important (n=115), 22% of students rated it as moderately important (n=38), and 12% of students rated it as not important (n=22)• 91% (n=159) of the students reported that they had previously considered the link between exercise and their mental states. It is interesting to note that each of these students (the 91% who mentioned that they had thought about the link between exercise andmental state) reported working out at least two times per week (i.e., they weren’t the students who reported having no exercise routine). Following the exercise session, ninety nine percent of the students (n=173) reported thinking that exercise would help them as a negotiator) and 100% of the students from cohorts across all four years reported having fun in the session.THEMES DERIVED FROM QUALITATIVE RESPONSE DATA0%20%40%60%80%interacting with others reducing stress and centering oneselffeeling good and keeping fit43%28%77%Three themes derived from the question  “Why do you exercise?"0%20%40%60%80%behaviour changenew knowledgesocial support76%39%21%Three themes derived from the question"What did you learn?"Kenworthy, A. L. & Hrivnak, G. A. (2012).  Do sweat it: Using a fitness session as an introduction to research on the relationship between physical and mental states. Journal of Management Education, 36(2): 264-289.

Do Sweat It: Student Reactions to Research on the Relationship Between Physical and Mental States

https://pure.bond.edu.au/ws/files/27484829/Exercise_Poster_Kenworthy_Hrivnak.pdf

Do Sweat It: Student Reactions to Research on the Relationship Between Physical and Mental States

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