title: Protocol for the 'Virtual Traveller' cluster-randomised controlled trial: a behaviour change intervention to increase physical activity in primary-school Maths and English lessons.
abstract: Physical activity (PA) has been shown to be an important factor for health and educational outcomes in children. However, a large proportion of children's school day is spent in sedentary lesson-time. There is emerging evidence about the effectiveness of physically active lessons: integrating physical movements and educational content in the classroom. 'Virtual Traveller' is a novel 6-week intervention of 10-min sessions performed 3 days per week, using classroom interactive whiteboards to integrate movement into primary-school Maths and English teaching. The primary aim of this project is to evaluate the effect of the Virtual Traveller intervention on children's PA, on-task behaviour and student engagement.
  
  
  
  This study will be a cluster-randomised controlled trial with a waiting-list control group. Ten year 4 (aged 8-9 years) classes across 10 primary schools will be randomised by class to either the 6-week Virtual Traveller intervention or the waiting-list control group. Data will be collected 5 times: at baseline, at weeks 2 and 4 of the intervention, and 1 week and 3 months postintervention. At baseline, anthropometric measures, 4-day objective PA monitoring (including 2 weekend days; Actigraph accelerometer), PA and on-task behaviour observations and student engagement questionnaires will be performed. All but anthropometric measures will be repeated at all other data collection points. Changes in overall PA levels and levels during different time-periods (eg, lesson-time) will be examined. Changes in on-task behaviour and student engagement between intervention groups will also be examined. Multilevel regression modelling will be used to analyse the data. Process evaluation will be carried out during the intervention period.
  
  
  
  The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-review publications and conference presentations. Ethical approval was obtained through the University College London Research Ethics Committee (reference number: 3500-004).
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dunsmuir
authors.affiliation: Department of Information Studies, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Duke-Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London, UK Charles Perkins Centre, Prevention Research Collaboration, School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stamatakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shelton
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010806:Physical Education and Training / Q000379:methods*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000592:standards; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012107:Research Design; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: intervention; physical activity; physically active lessons; schools