Walk to school - does it make a difference in children's physical activity levels?

Abstract

School and community based physical activity programs aim to increase the involvement of children through providing more comprehensive and extended access to opportunities to be active. This research project was initially devised to compare physical activity levels and practices of children at an 'Active Australia' school and at a school utilizing a school based Health and Physical Education program. The framework involved primary school children in grades 4-7 (girls, n=259; boys, n=232) wearing a pedometer and completing a physical activity survey each day for four days. The results of a One-way ANOVA indicated the daily step means of two schools differed significantly [F(1,489(=7.36, p=.007]. Irrespective of school, boys' means were significantly higher than girls [F (1,489)=53.04, p