Norris E, Dunsmuir S, Duke-Williams O, Stamatakis E, Shelton N
Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
BMJ Open. 2016 Jun 27;6(6):e011982. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011982.
Physical activity (PA) has been shown to be an important factor for health and educational outcomes in children. However, a large proportion of children's school day is spent in sedentary lesson-time. There is emerging evidence about the effectiveness of physically active lessons: integrating physical movements and educational content in the classroom. 'Virtual Traveller' is a novel 6-week intervention of 10-min sessions performed 3 days per week, using classroom interactive whiteboards to integrate movement into primary-school Maths and English teaching. The primary aim of this project is to evaluate the effect of the Virtual Traveller intervention on children's PA, on-task behaviour and student engagement.
This study will be a cluster-randomised controlled trial with a waiting-list control group. Ten year 4 (aged 8-9 years) classes across 10 primary schools will be randomised by class to either the 6-week Virtual Traveller intervention or the waiting-list control group. Data will be collected 5 times: at baseline, at weeks 2 and 4 of the intervention, and 1 week and 3 months postintervention. At baseline, anthropometric measures, 4-day objective PA monitoring (including 2 weekend days; Actigraph accelerometer), PA and on-task behaviour observations and student engagement questionnaires will be performed. All but anthropometric measures will be repeated at all other data collection points. Changes in overall PA levels and levels during different time-periods (eg, lesson-time) will be examined. Changes in on-task behaviour and student engagement between intervention groups will also be examined. Multilevel regression modelling will be used to analyse the data. Process evaluation will be carried out during the intervention period.
The results of this study will be disseminated through peer-review publications and conference presentations. Ethical approval was obtained through the University College London Research Ethics Committee (reference number: 3500-004).
体育活动已被证明是影响儿童健康和教育成果的重要因素。然而，儿童在学校的大部分时间都花在了久坐的课堂学习上。越来越多的证据表明了体育活动课的有效性：即在课堂上将身体运动与教育内容相结合。“虚拟旅行者”是一项为期6周的新颖干预措施，每周进行3天，每次10分钟，利用课堂交互式白板将运动融入小学的数学和英语教学中。本项目的主要目的是评估“虚拟旅行者”干预措施对儿童体育活动、任务行为和学生参与度的影响。
本研究将是一项整群随机对照试验，设有等待名单对照组。10所小学的10个四年级（8 - 9岁）班级将按班级随机分为6周的“虚拟旅行者”干预组或等待名单对照组。数据将收集5次：在基线、干预的第2周和第4周、干预后1周和3个月。在基线时，将进行人体测量、4天的客观体育活动监测（包括2个周末；Actigraph加速度计）、体育活动和任务行为观察以及学生参与度问卷调查。除人体测量外，所有其他数据收集点都将重复进行这些测量。将检查总体体育活动水平以及不同时间段（如课堂时间）的体育活动水平变化。还将检查干预组之间任务行为和学生参与度的变化。将使用多水平回归模型分析数据。在干预期内将进行过程评估。
本研究结果将通过同行评审出版物和会议报告进行传播。已获得伦敦大学学院研究伦理委员会的伦理批准（参考编号：3500 - 004）。
