Background: Movement is key in physical education, but the educational value of moving is sometimes obscure. In Sweden, recent school reforms have endeavoured to introduce social constructionist concepts of knowledge and learning into physical education, where the movement capabilities of students are in focus. However, this means introducing a…

Through an examination of the experiences of young people in one disadvantaged area, this paper adds to an emerging body of knowledge focused on what place physical activity occupies in the lives of young people in areas of disadvantage. A total of 40 young people (21 males, 19 females) participated in focus group interviews. The research question…

International concern about "alarming" levels of childhood obesity has seen a proliferation of interventions filtering into school physical education programmes that are designed to influence children's health practices and attitudes. This article addresses one such obesity-prevention intervention, the Global Children's Challenge™, a…

The Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) study is a unique multi-centre/discipline study undertaken by three Irish institutions, Dublin City University, University of Limerick and University College Cork. The study sought to assess participation in physical activity, physical education and sport (PAPES) among 10-18 year…

Longitudinal studies on adolescents' enjoyment in physical education (PE) are lacking. This study examined students' self-reported enjoyment and predictors of enjoyment in PE in school among students from age 14 to 19, using questionnaires and interviews. From the results, enjoyment in PE increases among girls during high school, while students…

Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an "ideal"…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a physical education supportive curriculum and technological devices, heart rate monitor (HRM) and pedometer (PED), on physical activity. A single-subject ABAB research design was used to examine amount and level of participation in physical activity among 106 suburban fourth and fifth…

The importance of daily physical activity (DPA) for children and youth is highlighted in Canada's Active Healthy Kids annual report on fitness. Since 2005, this report has revealed that elementary-aged students are spending most of their waking hours stationary, in front of screens (phones, televisions, computers). To counteract this trend, the…

Background: School policies can change practices on a relatively permanent basis. This study investigated adoption and implementation of state-level policies specifying minutes (or percent) of physical activity in physical education (PE) or during school. Methods: Policies were identi?ed from existing databases and rated as having weak, moderate,…

This paper reports on the results of the first cycle of an action research project. The objective of this action research was to examine the implementation of a school-based active transportation education program (Making Tracks). A two-cycle action research design was employed in which elementary school students' (ages 7-9), middle school…

This article analyses negative experiences in physical education and sport reported during qualitative interviews of a group of inactive adolescent Spanish boys and girls. The purpose of this analysis is twofold. First and most important, it seeks to give voice to these young people reporting negative experiences and connect them to contexts of…

P.E. classes are often the only opportunity for inner-city youth to engage in physical activity, but budget cuts and pressure to perform well on standardized tests has made P.E. an afterthought for many school administrators. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a new P.E. curriculum in five Los Angeles inner-city schools. Interviews were…

Background: Young people's health status and level of physical activity participation are pressing issues in many Western countries, yet social, economic, and educational inequalities in local spaces remain under-theorized. In the USA and the UK, ethnic-minority girls have been identified as the least physically active and as having the worst…

Despite the many proven benefits of exercise, obesity rates on college campuses continue to rise. At the same time, physical activity (PA) courses are being reduced or cut at various educational institutions. The loss of PA courses creates a problem because college students do not receive the necessary education they need in relation to the…

This study assessed the feasibility and impact of introducing a programme of an additional 30 minutes per day of moderate physical activity within curriculum time on learning and readiness to learn in a large elementary school in south-east Queensland, Australia. The programme, Active Kids Active Minds (AKAM), involved Year 5 students (n = 107),…