Three summaries

Summaries

Chomitz, Virginia R., Robert J. McGowan, Suzanne E. Mitchell, and Glen F. Dawson. "Is There a Relationship Between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement? Positive Results From Public School Children in the Northeastern United States."Www.ebscohost.com. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. < http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=9&sid=66b5c92f-9465-49ba-9736-a21d0482e214%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=rzh&AN=2010139237 >.

The focus of this study was directed towards Native American culture, and the aspect of how physical education affected them, but the research still had more informative information. While students generally perform better as they get older, they had little understand of physical activity. Students generally had difficulty understanding some of the physical activity and healthy behavior concepts. It is known that schools are good intervention sites, but the question of how we solve this problem remains. In a study of eight and night graders, it is noted that more than half did not recognize that the mile run was a test for aerobic fitness; knowledge of physical activity is important to develop healthy and active routines.

The author had very few biases, but nonetheless he did. One in particular related to the level of physical fitness in Northeastern states. The authors mentioned that states in the Northeast had higher levels and a higher degree of physical education in schools compared to the south and other sectors of the United States but they didn't have anything to support this claim. Also, the authors had no form of official verification This is particularly interesting to observe because he can base some of the information from facts and other known aspects, while the subjective nature strays the information slightly, but does not negatively or positively contribute to the credibility of the article. I was able to use this because, disregarding the location, the data was very credible.

Hardman, Ken. "SCHOOLS: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE." Www.hrcak.scre.hr. 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:lJf6lA4l7bwJ:scholar.google.com/+physical+education+in+schools&hl=en&as_sdt=1,41&as_ylo=2008>.

This article shows how that in a majority of countries PE is taught in schools as a legal requirement, and in those where it is not for legal reasons, it is educated as general practice. A child’s youngest years are fundamental in understanding physical concepts. If a child is taught at a young age to be physically active, it is more likely that in his adulthood he will be more physically active.

This particular article was free from bias as far as I could find. Because of the aspect of the topic of the article, I was not able to notice any bias. The evidence is based off of global information acquired from reliable databases from the United States, UK, Europe, and other places. The author left out specific information from more direct regions of each country, most likely due to the fact that it was a broad approach to the topic, and not specific. This can be used in my project to directly compare the United States physical education system to the rest of the worlds’ physical education system, if one is even established.

Gao, Zan, Amelia M. Lee, Ping Xiang, and Maria Kosma. "Effect of Learning Activity on Students' Motivation, Physical Activity Levels and Effort/Persistence."Www.eric.gov. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ936017.pdf>.

Children are not participating in enough physical activity because of changes in their environment. This, inevitably, leads to an increase in overweightness and obesity among younger populations. This article proceeds to explain how self-efficacy can determine whether or not a student continues doing an activity. It is described as the motivation of a person considering how well an individual thinks that they can do. Coupled with individual outcome expectancy, this could lead to a reason of why someone puts forth, or doesn’t put forth, effort and how well they actually do. Another important factor that this article states is that students scored best in team activities such as soccer or volleyball.

This article focused on the individual’s mindset on physical fitness. It had a primary focus on self-efficacy and how students viewed themselves. The article is very biased and I found many biased views in the pages I viewed. The authors claimed that the individuals mindset on how well they can do affects how well they actually do, but, although they tried to find sufficient data, the information given had major gaps such as data problems that could not fully support the information. The direction of the article allows for many biased views, as long as the data supports it, to not affect the credibility of it. I specifically noticed this when re-reading it, but thought that the bias helped support the authors claims and the cited work proves it. The author usefully shows data from specific individuals, which is what I needed to help balance out the point of views in the articles I used.
  

Research Memo and Survey for Physical Education

Research Memo

Hypothesis: Although many may disagree that physical education is a needed part of the curriculum in schools it is useful. This is the motivation of why I ask, "Should physical education be taken out of schools?" I believe that it will be equal in the amount of respondents who favor P.E. in schools, and those who do not. Those who understand the cost of physical education in a school environment will understand that it may be too much, while others fear the continued unhealthy habits of many high school students will increase the ever-growing childhood obesity rating.

Context: When searching for my target audience, I searched for teenagers in high school between the ages of 14 and 17. I believe that this information would be the most valid because it is more common for physical education to be removed from high school rather than elementary or middle school is for students who are older, and need less guidance and direction. One issue I encountered is that I forgot to put demographics on my survey sheets and had to ask each individual respondent to put their age at the bottom of the paper. My data is partially biased because I did not use a myriad of age groups, but I believe that the data I get will be more reliable and precise information for answering my research question because the data would come directly from the source I am trying to observe.

Question (number)
(1) Do you agree or disagree that schools should include Physical Education in their curriculums?	Agree: 17  Disagree: 8
(2)  On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being very important, and 1 being very unimportant, how imperative is Physical Education to our education system?	1:   2 3:   3 5:   3 7:   6 8:   4 9:   5 10: 2 *2,4, and 6 were not circled.*
(3) What is responsible for the obesity ratings in people under 18? Circle all that apply. (List on survey)	(1): 21                                     (4): 18                                                    (2): 20                                     (5): 1 (3): 8                                       (6): 9
(4) What is the most important fact to a child in school? List in order of most to least importance. Place a number beside each one. -Eating a healthy Lunch -Socializing with friends -Finishing school work -Participating in extracurricular activities.	Rating(s) 1 2 3 4 Eating a healthy lunch 4 2 3 16 Socializing with friends 15 3 4 3 Finishing school work 5 12 7 2 Participating in extra curricular activities 2 8 11 4
(5) True or False: The loss of physical education in certain schools has increased the number of obese children and teens in America greatly.	True: 16 False: 9
(6) What is the percentage of obese children?	A : 1  B : 6  C : 6  D : 12
(7) Is the physical education system in schools important? Why or why not? Explain.	*Open ended question*
(8) How many deaths are caused by obesity each year?	(A):5 (B):7 (C):7 (D):6
(9) What is the number of obese children in America?	A:8 B:8 C:6 D:3
(10) What is the obesity percentage for South Carolina as it relates to childhood obesity?	A:3 B:6 C:11 D:5

Data analysis:

Eighty percent of the people think that lack of exercise is a reason why the childhood obesity ratings are extremely high. This information shows that teenagers know that they aren't getting enough exercise. One way to improve those ratings would be to increase the amount of physical education in schools, so that all schools have physical education as part of their curriculums. Another important fact that was found in this survey is that out of the respondents, sixty four percent felt that certain schools cutting physical education from their curriculums has caused an increase in childhood obesity. The sixty four stated that physical education had a direct effect on the childhood obesity ratings.

When I asked whether or not P.E. was important, the results I received proved that many teenagers think it is. Out of the twenty-five that I surveyed, fifteen reported that they had thought P.E. was important. The information proves that a majority of the students believe that P.E. is a core class and is a vital course. Out of the ten that said that P.E. was not important, seventy percent believed that students should work out on their own time. The respondents failed to consider if P.E. could be used in addition to a regular exercise routine. Two more students failed to explain their reasoning why and one believed it shouldn't be counted because he felt it didn't need to be a class.

There was a general consensus among the respondents of this activity regarding question four. When surveyed, 64% stated that healthy eating during a school day was their last priority. Another important fact regarding this question was the number who thought socializing was the most important part of their school day. Sixty percent of the people who took this survey thought that socializing were their most important priorities. This was followed by finishing school work and participating in an extracurricular activity. Only sixteen percent believed that focusing on maintaining a healthy eating habit while I school was their most important priority. There could be a myriad of factors affecting my data, but I think habits and social and financial background are the two most prominent. I believe that previous habits influence how most people eat. Furthermore, eating healthy is more expensive than buying unhealthy food

Conclusion:

My original hypothesis was incorrect. I previously stated that the number of individuals who favored P.E. and the number of individuals who did not would be equal, but they were not equal. Sixty eight percent of the respondents believed physical education were important while just thirty two percent believed it was unimportant. I can conclude that physical education is an important, influential part of curriculum and can be utilized to decrease childhood obesity ratings while increasing an individual’s strength, confidence, self-esteem, receptiveness relating to sport diversity, and grades.

Follow up:

When creating my second research memo, I will research the relation between physical education and grades. While reviewing the data, I will search for a pattern that may be present in the findings. Physical education is known not also to improve your body physically but mentally as well. It is shown to increase brain activity and energize students. If a clear correlation is found between the two, schools may fully understand the importance of physical education on a student’s learning abilities.