Preschool students are generally sedentary at school, and few interventions have addressed whether teacher-led activities can increase physi-cal activity at preschools. The current study aimed to increase physical activity in preschool chil-dren enrolled in childcare centers by training childcare providers to deliver a physical activity curriculum. A within-group pre-test/post-test de-sign was used including 32 children at 4 pre-schools. A teacher-led physical activity curricu-lum, the Coordinated Approach to Child Health Early Childhood Education Curriculum (CEC) was implemented in each childcare center for six weeks. Activity levels of participants were monitored through the use of accelerometers and direct observation for approximately five hours pre-and post-intervention. Time spent in mod-erate/vigorous physical activity in preschoolers in three of the four preschools suggested a posi-tive trend increasing from 34.5% ± 13.2% base-line to 39.3% ± 15.4% at follow-up (p = 0.10). Teachers from all four centers reported spend-ing 24.6 ± 13.0 minutes per activity session with up to two activity sessions completed per day. These results justify larger trials to determine the impact of a teacher-led physical activity cur-riculum on the intensity and duration of pre-school students' physical activity at school.
CITATION STYLE
Dunn-Carver, M., Pope, L., Dana, G., Dorwaldt, A., Flynn, B., Bunn, J., & Harvey-Berino, J. (2013). Evaluation of a teacher-led physical activity curriculum to increase preschooler physical activity. Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 03(01), 141–147. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojpm.2013.31018
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