Effects of a group contingency strategy on middle school physical education students’ heart rates

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a dependent group contingency on eighthgrade students' heart rates. Participants were 18 male and female students. A multielement research design was used to examine the intervention effects. The intervention consisted of: (a) teacher explanation about effort; (b) students' suggestions to increase effort; (c) a chart posting the target heart rate zones goals; and (d) teacher prompts to remind students about their effort. Participants' heart rates were monitored during physical education lessons. The target rate was set between 70 and 85% of the participant's estimated maximum heart rate. The results show that participants increased their time in and above target heart rate zone from 42.1% in baseline to 62.9% during intervention. Therefore, we can conclude that the intervention was successful to increase the exercise intensity during physical education lessons.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels in secondary school physical education lessons

“…SES NRUpper mid-western USATo quantify the recommended minimum level (i.e., 50% of the class time) of MVPA within high school PE via pedometry/min, and to explore the influence of lesson duration (i.e., traditional v’s block schedules) on quantifying MVPA via steps/minGroup A = all PE lessons (no intervention)Recruitment: within the schools (<18 year old students provided parental consent, >18 year old students provided personal consent)Response rate: NRSteps/min, % time engaged in MVPA, time engaged in MVPAPedometer10 certified physical educators27 PE classes (traditional class 45–50 min; block class 90 min), 40 PE lessons (30 traditional; 10 block). Traditional lesson 36.88 (4.07) min; block lesson 78.56 (5.08) minBlock lessons: dance, invasion game & fitness course themes.Traditional lessons: Fielding, invasion & net wall games, dance/gymnastics, fitness course, ropes/team building themesSurapiboonchai et al 2012 [43] Cross-sectional study (validation study)School: 6 schools, grades 3,5,6,7,8,9,10 (only grade 6–10 examined in this review)Students: 281 students total (all grades); HR = 36 (24 students from middle & high school); SAM = 281 (high & middle school students NR)Grade 6: 12.33 (1.16) years, 20.0 (5.66) kg/m 2 Grade 7: 12.00 (0.01) years, 34.67 (4.51) kg/m 2 Grade 8: 13.86 (0.90) years, 24.40 (4.04) kg/m 2 Grade 9: 14.13 (0.35) years, 35.17 (7.89) kg/m 2 Grade 10: 15.00 (0.01) years, 40.50 (3.25) kg/m 2 Whole student sample demographics - 50% male; 92% economically disadvantaged’ 89.5% Hispanic, 7.4% African American, 2.7% WhiteSan Antonio, Texas, USATo develop, validate & test the reliability of the Simple Activity Measurement (SAM) instrument for assessing student MVPA during school PE classes related to the potential for evaluating the achievement of ≥ 50% of PE class time spent in MVPAGroup A = all PE lessons (no intervention)Recruitment: parent or student consent not required as this area was required as a part of general PE curriculum.Response rate: NRMVPA in PE lessonsSAM Tool (observational tool)PE teacherslate fall 20096 PE classes observed with SAM tool; 45–50 min lessons (17–62 students per class)Variety of PE units including basketball, handball & fitness conditioningVidoni et al 2012 [31] Single subject multi-element studySchool:1 Kindergarten – year 12 public school, 8 th grade only assessed, 1 PE classStudents: 18 students13 -14 years old; 55.6% male; middle class SES. Ethnicity NRMidwestern, USATo investigate the effects of a group dependent contingency strategy called Fair Play Game on students’ heart rates in PE lessonsGroup A = Baseline results only (4 days of lessons)Recruitment: within school, parental, teacher & student consent obtainedResponse rate: NRMVPA in PE lessons, heart rate, social validityHR monitoringMale PE teacher, 20 years teaching experience, 14 years teaching & coaching basketball at study schoolEvery lesson for 15 days, 35 min lesson (5 min warm-up, 15 min practice drills, 12 min game, 3 min closure)Only baseline (4 days of lessons) results includedBasketballWang et al 2005 [22] Cross-sectional studySchool: 1 school, 7 th grade, co-ed...…”

“…Almost 50% of the studies were of cross-sectional design ( n = 12), followed by RCT’s ( n = 4), non-RCT’s ( n = 3), pre-post studies ( n = 2), quasi-experimental RCT ( n = 1), cluster RCT ( n = 1), single subject multi-element study ( n = 1) and a group randomised serial cross-sectional study ( n = 1). Of the 12 studies that were not of cross-sectional nature, six studies contributed baseline intervention and/or control group data to the systematic review [ 19 , 20 , 26 – 31 ] and the remaining six studies contributed only control group data at follow-up [ 21 , 23 , 32 – 35 ].…”

“…Six of the seven middle school studies reported data on both male and female students and did not separate results by sex [ 27 , 32 , 34 , 36 – 38 ] and one study reported a female only sample [ 29 ]. Six of the 18 high school studies [ 26 , 30 , 31 , 39 – 43 ] reported data on both male and female students and did not separate results by sex. Of the remaining 12 high school studies, two were conducted with a female only sample [ 19 , 20 , 35 ], two with a male only sample [ 25 , 44 ], and eight examined both male and female students and reported results separately for each sex [ 21 – 24 , 33 , 45 – 47 ].…”

Effects of “Fair Play Game” Strategy on Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Physical Education

“…Effect of group contingency strategy on physical education 3 More recently, two studies showed positive effects of the implementation of 'Fair Play Game' (Vidoni, Azevedo & Eberline, 2012;Vidoni, Lee & Azevedo, 2014) on middle school students' active behaviors in PE lessons, measured by heart rate monitors and pedometers, respectively. However, despite the 'Fair Play Game' strategy showing positive results in American middle to high socio-economic class students, there is still a need to examine its effectiveness in a more undeserved community, where lower levels of physical activity are evident (Brodersen et ., 2007;Stalsberg & Pedersen, 2010).…”

Fair Play Game: a group contingency strategy to increase students' active behaviours in physical education

“…sportsmanship) and reduction of negative social interactions during softball lessons. Subsequent physical education studies assessed the effects of group contingencies on students' fair play (Patrick, Ward, & Crouch, 1998;Vidoni & Ward, 2006) and physical-activity behaviours (Vidoni, Azevedo, & Eberline, 2012;Ward & Dunway, 1995).…”