Date Approved

9-15-2015

Date Posted

6-24-2016

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department or School

Health Promotion and Human Performance

Committee Member

Roberta Faust, Ph.D., Chair

Committee Member

Julie Jahn, M.A.

Committee Member

Geffrey Colon, Ph.D.

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to assess how the use of instant activities as a physical education classroom warm-up impacts student behavior during the elementary physical education class period. The study examined whether or not the use of instant activities reduces the number of off-task student behaviors during a physical education class period. The research study focused on two fourth grade elementary classes that came to the physical education classroom twice a week for two months as part of this study. One class performed an instant activity every day before the start of the instructional period. The other class came right in and began the instructional period with no warm-up. The off-task behaviors that were observed included talking out of turn, not following the directions, and not facing the teacher during instructional time. What seems to be clear from previous research is that there is a positive correlation between physical activity and student behavior (Mahar et al., 2006). What has not yet been looked at is the relationship between instant activities and student behavior. Based on the results of this study the use of instant activities does not reduce the number of off-task student behaviors during a class period. The main take away from this research study was that classroom instruction has to be individualized for every class and within that class for every student. The next step of this research is to examine teacher decision making for ways to begin class in order to more effectively meet the needs of the class, and thus hopefully improve student behavior and academic learning time.

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