The effects of an intervention strategy on children's heart rates and skill performance

Ignico, Arlene; Corson, Arleen; Vidoni, Carla; Early Child Development and Care, Vol 176(7), Oct 2006. pp. 753-761.

Target Group: Fifth-grade students

Program Name: Fitness Infusion Instructional Strategy (FI)

Location: United States

Study Rationale: The purpose of this project was to examine the effectiveness of a fitness infusion instructional strategy (FI) on children 's physical activity levels and skill performance scores.

Study Design: Quasi-experimental research design

Intervention or Program:
The FI strategy included aerobic activity within the skill practice tasks and game play. In other words, students performed short bouts of moderate to vigorous physical activity within the practice skills and game/application trials.

Participants were 86 fifth-grade students who participated in six activities over a 24-week period.

The six activities were tennis skills, gymnastics, volleyball skills, floor hockey skills, basketball skills, and softball skills.

Students wore heart rate monitors which were used to determine how much time within the physical education program was spent in or above their target zone (target heart rate zone was identified as 150-200 beats per minute)

The Traditional Skill Development (TSD) strategy was one of the four classes (the control group).

Sessions were as follows: students completed an instant activity at the start of the class and then the next 12-15 minutes were spent on specific skill development. Then children participated in modified games during the last 12-15 minutes.

The FI strategy was implemented in the other three classes.

Sessions were as follows: Started with the three minute instant activity with a demonstration/review. Practice tasks all included short periods of moderate to vigorous activity during practice trials.

An example of specific volleyball skill development – A partner task in volleyball for the forearm pass would include a tosser and a passer. The tosser would underhand pass the volleyball to their partner and the partner would catch the ball. After the pass the passer rapidly back-pedals 12 ft. to a line and touches the line and then runs back to the original position. After the tosser catches the ball, they also rapidly back-pedal 12 ft. to a line and also return to the same position. When both partners have passed 10 times, the task activity can be modified by sliding to the left or right to touch a line.

Another example was teams would change sides after each point.

All application activities and games were modified to include a moderate to vigorous component to the task or activity. Student completed short bouts of activity between game/application trials.

Skills test/performance activities varied with each sport and were measured on a scale from 0 to 4. They included:

• Tennis – serve
• Gymnastics – lunge/forward roll
• Volleyball – overhead serve
• Floor hockey – a pass
• Basketball – lay-up
• Softball - batting

Impact on Physical Activity:
Results indicated that both the control group and the FI group showed significant gains in skill performance scores from pre to post test.

The primary finding, however, was that the FI group exhibited heart rates that more than doubled those of the control group.

These results suggest that infusing aerobic fitness into the skill practice and game play does not have a negative impact on skill development.

In light of the alarming increase in obesity rates among children and adolescents, these preliminary findings may provide a practical strategy to increase the intensity of physical activity levels and improve motor skills during physical education class.

Implications for Practitioners:
PE Teacher with 28 years experience taught, no mention of any special training

Including additional methods of keeping children active instead of waiting between skills may provide a unique method of “infusing” more physical activity into physical education classes.

Author's Email: Arlene Ignico: aignico@bsu.edu