Physical activity level of physical education teachers during lessons taught in primary education first and second grades

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to analyze the steps taken by physical education (PE) teachers during lessons they taught in the first and second grade of primary education, taking into account students’ age, time of the day at which the class was taught, methodology used, and contents taught. In this study, teachers’ number of steps taken per session was analyzed during 28 PE classes. The analysis focused on students from first (1st grade, n = 14 sessions) and second grade (2nd grade, n = 14 sessions) of primary education, at 2 different times of the schedule (morning, T1, n = 18 sessions; and afternoon, T2, n = 10 sessions), in sessions with analytical (n = 3 sessions) and global methodology (n = 25 sessions), and with different work contents (balance, n = 11 sessions; body expression, n = 8 sessions; and hand-eye coordination, n = 9 sessions). No significant differences were observed in teachers’ number of steps during the sessions by students’ age (p > 0.05, % Dif. = -1.97%, TE = -0.1, trivial) or by day time (p > 0.05, % Dif. = -13.38%, TE = 0.4 low). On the contrary, significant differences were found analyzing by methodology used in the sessions (p < 0.05, % Dif. = -23.42%, TE = -0.7, moderate) and by type of activity performed (balance, body expression, or hand-eye coordination) (p < 0.01, % Dif. = -2.38 to 72.60%, TE = 0.4 to -2.4, low to high). Analytical methodology and hand-eye coordination contents induce PE teachers to perform greater physical activity during the sessions taught.