How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Strathclyde] On: 02 December 2014, At: 02:19 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujrd20 How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities? Editor John Todorovich Published online: 26 Jan 2013. To cite this article: Editor John Todorovich (2012) How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83:7, 7-7, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2012.10598803 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2012.10598803 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Transcript of How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?

Page 1: How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?

This article was downloaded by: [University of Strathclyde]On: 02 December 2014, At: 02:19Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & DancePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujrd20

How Do High School Girls Feel About DifferentPhysical Activities?Editor John TodorovichPublished online: 26 Jan 2013.

To cite this article: Editor John Todorovich (2012) How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?,Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83:7, 7-7, DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2012.10598803

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2012.10598803

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose ofthe Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be reliedupon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shallnot be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and otherliabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?

Research W

orksEditor: John Todorovich

7JOPERD • Volume 83 No. 7 • September 2012

What Was the Question?Because it is widely reported that high school students are not very active and generally do not remain physically active outside school settings, Wilkinson and Bretzing (2011) tried to determine which physical activities would be more alluring for high school girls. Specifically, they asked girls in a school-based fitness course (1) whether they preferred fitness units or sports units, (2) what their reasons were for their preferenc-es, and (3) what their perceptions were of the benefits, if any, of fit-ness units.

What Was Done?Eighty-eight girls at a high school in the Intermountain West partici-pated in the study. These partici-pants were enrolled in three sec-tions of a 10th-grade Fitness for Life course, which met three times a week during one semester, with each class lasting 90 minutes. Throughout the semester, two-week fitness units were taught by

the physical education teacher, who also had experience instruct-ing aerobics classes. Collectively, these units encompassed all ma-jor fitness components, including cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition. The unit content included aerobics, step aerobics, kick boxing, core train-ing (using mats, balls, bands, and dumbbells), and fitness games. At the end of the semester, partici-pants were given a short question-naire that included the following open-ended questions: (1) Which do you prefer, sports units or fit-ness units? Give reasons for your choice; and (2) What benefits, if any, do you see from participating in these fitness units? Eighty-three (94%) of the students returned the questionnaire.

What Was Found?Wilkinson and Bretzing analyzed the students’ comments by using the constant-comparative method, which involves consistently look-ing at the data in the search for common themes from the partici-pants. The results revealed that 74% of the participants preferred fitness units, 18% preferred the sports units, and 8% liked the fit-ness and sports units equally well. The following themes (and the percentage of students who men-tioned each) emerged to explain why the fitness units were chosen over the sports units: health bene-fits (31%), fun/variety (15%), more physically active (14%), easier skills than sports (10%), lifetime activities (8%), easy to schedule outside of school (7%), increases other abilities (7%), and no com-petition (3%). Among the 18% of girls who preferred the sports unit, the themes related to the “fun” of participating in sports, the competitive nature of sports, and

improving skill and coordination in sports.

What Does the Study Mean?The majority of the study partici-pants clearly enjoyed participat-ing in fitness units. The themes identified as the basis for that en-joyment contributed to the partici-pants’ preference for fitness units over sports units. If these findings generalize to other settings, it appears that more high schools could incorporate a variety of fitness units within the curricu-lum to increase female students’ positive attitudes toward physi-cal education and their physical activity levels outside of school. If, indeed, it is a goal of physical education programs to increase the physical activity levels of all students, the findings from this study provide additional informa-tion that can be used for curricu-lum design and instruction.

ReferenceWilkinson, C., & Bretzing, R. (2011).

High school girls’ perceptions of selected fitness activities. Physical Educator, 68(2), 58-65.

—Abstracted by Shannon Boise, a student at The College of New Jer-sey, Ewing, NJ.

How Do High School Girls Feel About Different Physical Activities?

Submissions Welcome!Readers may send Research Works abstracts to John Todorovich at jtodorovich@ uwf.edu.

Submission Requirements• Abstractsmustbeofresearch

articles published in refereed HPERD journals within the past year.

• AbstractsshouldfollowtheResearch Works structure.

• Researchresultsshouldbe applicable to practitioners.

• Alsosendthefulltextofthesource paper.

• Lengthshouldbenomorethantwo double-spaced pages.

EditorialContinued from page 3

comparisons. Retrieved July 24, 2012, from http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/1360620.

—Kimberly J. Bodey ([email protected]) is an associate pro-fessor in the Department of Kine-siology, Recreation, and Sport at Indiana State University, in Terre Haute, IN 47809, and is chair of the JOPERD Editorial Board.

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