Teaching outdoor and adventure activities: an investigation of a primary school physical education professional development p

Physical Best Day.
The children participated in a ‘Physical Best Day’, where 
physical health data of height, weight, aerobic fitness, muscular strength, flexibility and 
endurance were taken. The purpose of this study was to quantify the health related 
components of physical fitness of the children from the study school to understand more 
fully the case. The assessment protocol was designed specifically for primary aged 
children by the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research (CIAR) and endorsed by the 

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American Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. These data 
were presented at the PE-PAYS research forum in 2007 in a paper entitled 
‘A study of 
selected components of health related physical fitness in Irish primary school children’
(Appendix B). A summary of the work pertinent to this research study is presented 
below. 
Background:
Research has suggested that the levels of health related physical fitness in 
children is decreasing rapidly each year (Dollman, Olds & Norton, 1998; Heeboll-
Nielsen, 1982; Johnson, Figueroa, Herd, Fields, Sun & Hunter, 2006). The purpose of 
this study was to quantify the health related components of physical fitness of the 
children from the study school to understand more fully the case.
Methods:
Four 
hundred and ninety three pupils from the school participated in the study. Each 
participant completed tests of aerobic fitness, muscular strength, flexibility and 
endurance. The tests included a 20m shuttle run, sit and reach test, curl up and trunk lift 
which have been approved and validated for use with children (Tomkinson et al., 2003).
Anthropometric data including height, weight and BMI were measured using standard 
methods (Cole et al., 2000)
.
Results were stratified according to age and gender and 
compared to previously established normative values (Tritschler, 2000). (Protocols for 
all tests are available in Appendix Lii).
Results:
It was found that 73% of participants 
were classified as normal weight, 23% overweight and 4% obese. A significant 
difference in BMI (x
2
=58.47, p=0.000), shuttle run (x
2
=162.9, p=0.000), curl up 
(x
2
=188.7, p=0.000), truck lift (x
2
=80.18, p=0.000) and sit and reach (x
2
=27.172, 
p=0.000) scores was found across age. BMI was found to be negatively correlated with 
shuttle run (rs=-0.040, p=0.486). When results were compared to previously established 
normative values for age and gender 65% of girls and 68% of boys were classified as 
good or above for curl up score, for the truck lift 98% of girls and 97% of boys, for the 
sit and reach test, 82% of girls and 68% of boys were classified as good.
Conclusion:
These results indicate that a large proportion of the participating children were classified 
as having a good outcome for one or more test of physical fitness when compared to 
international normative values. For the purposes of this study, it confirmed that the 
children in the case study school were reflective of normative values of fitness. Thus 
any professional development programme (PDP) should consider the physical ability of 
the children to be taught by the teachers prior to developing a unit of work for the PDP.
If the children are below normative values of fitness aspects of a designed programme 
may eliminate some children from participation, breaching the principles of the 

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curriculum (Government of Ireland, 1999b) Conducting health related fitness 
assessments for primary school aged children needs to be handled with care. Effective 
and sensitive reporting of these results to either parents or children also needs to be 
investigated. In planning for physical education teachers should be made aware of the 
recommended guidelines for physical activity and aim for at least 50% of their physical 
education lessons to include moderate to vigorous physical activity (McKenzie & 
Kahan, 2008).