Smartphone applications for physical activity promotion from physical education

Abstract

Smartphone applications (apps) are thought to be an adequate instructional strategy not only to improve the quality of the teaching in physical education (PE), but also to effectively promote leisure-time physical activity (PA) of adolescent students in this context. Although the use of smartphone apps has been generalized in PE, little is known about the curricular approach of smartphone apps to be implemented by teacher to teach specific curricular contents in PE lessons. Therefore, the aim of this research was threefold: a) to conduct a systematic search for smartphone apps focused on PA and sport; b) to assess the features, content and quality of every included smartphone app; and c) to analyze the relationships between every selected app and the secondary PE curriculum. Systematic searches were completed on Google Play Store from January 2021 to March 2021. Apps were included when they met: main goal focused on PA and sport; permitted use by underage; they are free; user scores of at least 4. The app selection process was carried out by several reviewers and concordance measures were estimated. Additionally, an app quality assessment was independently conducted by three reviewers. A total of 18 apps focused on PA were included. Particularly, eight apps were suitable for fitness, health and quality of life curricular content; two for sports content; four for body expression content; and four apps for outdoor PA content. The mean quality score was 4.00. Apps could be helpful for teachers to implement the secondary PE curriculum and effectively promote PA among adolescent students.

Integrated physical education and medicine in general physical education at universities in the age of educational technologies

“…Furthermore, these technologies possess the capacity to provide additional information such as feedback, lesson plans, and assessments while also enabling personalized adjustments by the unique needs and abilities of individual students. This facilitates the development of customized training programs [ 27 ]. A sample of first-grade children showed the effectiveness of the integrative teaching method for mathematics.…”

La Escuela Reggio Emilia aplicada a las clases de natación en Educación Física con niños y niñas de hasta dos años de edad (The Reggio Emilia Approach applied to swimming classes in Physical Education with boys and girls up to two years old)

“…Un obstáculo a tener en cuenta es la formación docente. La Reggio Emilia es una metodología alternativa que no todo el profesorado conoce, y la aplicación de una metodología basada en el juego y el descubrimiento durante las clases de Educación Física y de natación requiere de un profesorado con formación específica al respecto (Gil-Espinosa, Romance, Nielsen, 2018).…”

Investigando el Proyecto Educativo Strava

“…El PES es una propuesta innovadora dentro de la EF. La integración y uso de metodologías activas, es decir aquellas centradas en la participación e implicación del alumnado, así como los enfoques relacionados con AF y tecnología, hacen del proyecto una propuesta atractiva para implementar en los centros educativos (Gil-Espinosa et al, 2022;Monguillot et al, 2018). En ese sentido, el PES se caracteriza por:…”