Simons-Morton B G, Taylor W C, Snider S A, Huang I W, Fulton J E
National Institute of Child Health and Development, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Prev Med. 1994 Jul;23(4):437-41. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1994.1059.
The benefits of childhood physical activity include fitness, weight control, and exercise habits that may carry over into adulthood. School physical education is the primary program responsible for training the nation's youth to be physically active and national objectives call for students to be engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity at least 50% of class time. The purpose of this study was to determine through systematic observation in a regional sample of elementary and middle schools the amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity students obtain during physical education classes.
Twenty elementary schools and 7 middle schools were randomly sampled from the 355 elementary schools and 117 middle schools in the 20 school districts in Harris County, Texas. In addition, 9 elementary and 6 middle schools that were identified as having excellent physical education programs were sampled purposively to provide a comparison. Seven systematic observations of student's physical activity were conducted during physical education in each school.
The average moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in the randomly selected elementary schools was 8.6%, significantly less (P < 0.05) than for the randomly selected middle schools (16.1%) or for the comparison elementary schools (20.6%) and middle schools (24.0%).
The average amount of physical activity observed in this regional sample of schools was less than the estimated national average of 27% and far less than the national recommendation calling for a minimum of 50%.
儿童体育活动的益处包括健康、体重控制以及可能延续至成年期的运动习惯。学校体育教育是负责培养美国青少年积极参与体育活动的主要项目，国家目标要求学生在至少50%的课堂时间内参与中等至剧烈强度的体育活动。本研究的目的是通过对一个地区的中小学样本进行系统观察，确定学生在体育课上获得的中等至剧烈强度体育活动量。
从得克萨斯州哈里斯县20个学区的355所小学和117所中学中随机抽取20所小学和7所中学。此外，有目的地抽取了9所小学和6所中学，这些学校被认为拥有优秀的体育教育项目，以作比较。在每所学校的体育课期间对学生的体育活动进行了7次系统观察。
随机抽取的小学中，中等至剧烈强度体育活动的平均比例为8.6%，显著低于（P < 0.05）随机抽取的中学（16.1%）或作为比较的小学（20.6%）和中学（24.0%）。
在这个地区学校样本中观察到的体育活动平均量低于估计的全国平均水平27%，且远低于要求至少达到50%的国家建议水平。
