Suchergebnisse

Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to explore elementary faculty perceptions of adding more recess during the school day. Secondarily, authors compared perceptions by teacher type and years of experience. Participants were 25 teachers (representing all grade levels and areas) from one elementary school in the southeastern region of the United States. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions toward recess before/after implementing an additional recess period. No significant differences appeared when analyzing data from all participants. However, when examining data by teacher type and experience, a negative statistical significance was found. A school policy of two recess periods per day was perceived less positively by elementary faculty after implementation, and teachers with more experience viewed it more negatively than teachers with less experience. Grade-level teachers were less enthusiastic toward the inclusion of more recess time than administrators, aides, and special area teachers. As school personnel make shifts in school policy related to recess offerings, professional development on the positive outcomes can be geared toward more experienced and grade-level teachers.

The COVID-19 pandemic bifurcated and disrupted the 2019 and 2020 academic years. Moving forward it seems clear that we will delineate our time in terms of "before the pandemic" and "after the pandemic." This distinction resonates with faculty and alumni of the University of Iowa's (UI) Liberal Arts Beyond Bars (LABB) college in prison program for reasons beyond the COVID-19 virus. On March 9, 2020, the Iowa Department of Corrections suspended all in-person volunteer activity and family visits for people incarcerated in the state of Iowa. Additionally, in May of 2020 new leadership was installed at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center (IMCC) prison. Under the prior warden the UI LABB program had access to a computer lab where students could log on to the browser-based University of Iowa Learning Management System (called ICON — Iowa Classes On-Line) and interact with their coursework, faculty, and LABB staff. This system of communication kept us connected, even when we could not be in the same physical space. This personal narrative exchange arises from themes mined from that specific correspondence between the authors from March 10, 2020, the first day after all visitors and volunteers were locked out due to COVID protocols, and August 18, 2020, when the college program's computer lab was dismantled, and communication severed. Themes within this correspondence speak to the difficulties of communicating from a prison, especially during a global pandemic, as well as to the ways racism manifests in higher education in prison programs. Additional discussions about the challenges of maintaining mental health under the care of prison health providers and during the exacerbation of isolation and tension unique to quarantine are also presented [TRIGGER WARNING – this article contains references to suicide, trauma, and other issues of mental health and wellness.]

Objective. The purpose of this paper was to explore the effect of recess interventions on children's physical activity (PA) levels and to examine which specific interventions/characteristics have more influence on children's PA Data Source. Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, ERIC, MEDLINE, ProQuest, SPORT Discus Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. Papers published between 1986 and 2012, published in the English language, and evaluating any recess intervention with PA as an outcome Data Extraction. Study outcomes were distilled into seven domains related to PA: age, gender, intervention type, intervention duration, duration of PA per intervention session, outcome measures, and study region Data Synthesis. Effect sizes were pooled within and across studies for each domain separately. Moderator analyses were performed using gender, age, and total length of intervention. Twenty-three independent samples were provided from 13 studies. Results. The estimated overall effect size for time in PA was 56 (SE .07), suggesting a positive and significant mean difference between pretest and posttest PA time after implementing a recess intervention. Differences in PA levels were moderated by age, duration and type of intervention, and type of outcome measures. Conclusion. The limited evidence suggests recess interventions can improve youth PA levels. Implications reinforce the importance of schools in advocating for recess during the school day. Strategies shown to increase student PA during recess should be implemented.

Purpose: This study examined parents' perceived importance of, and engagement in, school-based physical activity (PA) promotion. Design: A cross-sectional, quantitative survey design was employed. Setting: The survey was conducted in the United States. Subjects: Using a probability-based panel (AmeriSpeak®), a national sample of 3599 parents was randomly recruited to participate in the survey and 1015 participants (28.2%) completed it. Parents or legal guardians of children enrolled in K-12 during the 2017-2018 school year were eligible to participate. Measures: The survey was developed and distributed by a national collaborative for active schools with the support of a national research center. Analysis: Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and path analysis. Results: The data supported a 6-factor solution encompassing perceived importance of PA before, during, and after school, communication with administrators, and volunteering and participating in school-based PA (CFI = .974, RMSEA = .034, SRMR = .056). Path coefficients from perceived importance of PA before/after school to current (β = .43; 95%CI[.25, .61]) and future communication with administrators (β = .40; 95%CI[.23, .55]) were statistically significant, as were coefficients from perceived importance of PA before/after school to past (β = .60; 95%CI[.35, .83]) and current volunteering/participating in school-based PA (β = .63; 95%CI[.42, .85]). Conclusion: Parents' perceived importance of school-based PA opportunities before and after school warrants emphasis in future research and advocacy.