Assessing moderate to vigorous physical activity in rural West Virginia elementary school physical education classes.
BACKGROUND
Physical education (PE) provides a natural opportunity for students to be physically active during the school day; however, the amount and intensity of this activity varies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that students engage in MVPA for at least 50% of their PE class period. The purpose of the present study was to quantify the amount of MVPA that occurs during elementary school PE.


METHODS
Accelerometer data were collected from 203 students (100 2nd grade; 103 5th grade) in 10 West Virginia elementary schools. At each school, PE teachers identified three 2nd grade classes and three 5th grade classes in which to collect the physical activity data. For each selected class, the teachers identified the first 4 students on their alphabetic roll to wear the accelerometers. PE teachers recorded the date and time of the class and the gender of the students wearing the accelerometers.


RESULTS
Using 5-second epochs and Puyau's cut-offs, results indicated that, on average, students engaged in MVPA for 27% of their PE class. No significant differences were observed in MVPA between 2nd and 5th grade students or between males and females. Male and female students spent equal amounts of PE class in MVPA.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings support policy to increase the required minimum amount of MVPA during each PE class.
West Virginia University Health Research Center, PO Box 9190, Morgantown, WV 25608, USA. mmatthewsewald@gmail.com
Molly R
MR
Matthews-Ewald
Lucas C
LC
Moore
Carole V
CV
Harris
Andrew S
AS
Bradlyn
Stephanie S
SS
Frost
D061725:Accelerometry; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D012424:Rural Population; D012574:Schools; D014903:West Virginia