An Exploratory Study of Daily Physical
Activity and Nutrition Patterns in
Early Learning Settings
Institute for Child Success Research Symposium
October 17, 2014
Columbia, South Carolina
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Sedentary Routines in Early Learning Settings
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INVESTIGATORS
DOLORES STEGELIN, PH. D.
PROFESSOR
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
IN COLLABORATION WITH
JENNIFER WAGNER, ABD
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
SOUTHERN WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
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Audience Participation
What is your professional role?
 Have you considered your own level of
physical activity as a young child and in early
learning settings?
 What opportunities do you have to observe
young learners in various settings?
 Do you have a hypothesis or hunch about the
level of Physical Activity that most young
children engage in the typical U. S. settings?

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Overview of the
Research Project
College of Health, Education and Human
Development Research Seed Grant
Goals of Main Research Project
Listen to the voices of 4-7 year olds about their
nutrition and physical activity preferences and routines
Gather systematic data on early learning environments
related to nutrition and physical activity
Complete in-depth observations on a subsample of 4-7
year olds to document daily routines in early learning
settings related to nutrition and physical activity
routines.
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
Population
*4-7 year olds in Head Start, 4K, primary and
after
school classrooms
*Parents of the children
*Teachers and directors of the programs
*Focus on low-SES, Hispanic & African American
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Hypothesis

Children in typical early learning settings
(Head Start, after-school, public school)
will have healthy routines that engage
them in high levels of physical activity
both indoors and outdoors.
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Pilot study and types of data
gathered

Interviewed children and parents

Observed and gathered data on settings: health
and educational measures

Completed in-depth observations on subset of
children

This presentation focuses only on the
subset study: snapshots of physical activity
in varied learning settings
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Description of the
Observational Study

Checklist was developed and utilized to
look at:
◦ Outdoor and indoor contexts for large motor
physical activities
◦ Observed in 30-minute blocks of time for
approximately 6.5 hours
◦ Anecdotal notes recorded of behaviors observed
 At conclusion of each 30-minute block, behaviors
observed on qualitative measure were recorded
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Participants-Subset
 One Latino student (male age 5) in Head
Start
 Twp African American students (male age 6,
female age 7) in after-school settings
 One Latino male student age 8 in elementary
school setting
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Outdoor Contexts for
Large Motor Activities
◦ Most of the activities engaged in were initiated by
the child, not teacher directed
◦ Students in Head Start spent more time
outside than students in other settings
◦ Activities included, in an unstructured, game-free
environment:






Chasing
Climbing
Crawling
Hopping
Running
Sliding down the slide
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Indoor Contexts for
Motor Activities

The only activity that all four students experienced
was the inclusion of music (separate music class,
singing/dancing, exercising)

Other activities observed indoors included:
◦ Drawing (3 out of 4)
◦ Gross motor (i.e. shooting a basketball - after-school
program)
◦ Reading books (3 out of 4)
◦ Socio-dramatic play (Head Start, elementary school)
◦ Working with manipulatives (3 out of 4)
◦ Writing (3 out of 4)
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MethodQualitative Analysis
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Detailed notes based on observation of 4
children (running records with a rating
scale every 30 minutes)
Children were observed for the entire day
or length of the daily program.
3 researchers independently analyzed and
coded the data
Codes were compared for inter-rater
reliability
Overarching themes developed based on
agreed upon codes
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Two Overarching Themes
 I. Physical
Movement
Unstructured play
Structured play
Fidgeting
 II. Restriction
of Activity
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Restriction of Activity
Strict
schedule
Physical
activity not built into
educational requirements
Waiting
(for the next planned
activity)
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Results of the
Quantitative Analysis

Data suggest that the percentage of time
students in the 4K and after-school
program have to engage in teacher
initiated direct physical activities is
greater when compared to students in a
typical elementary school setting
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Results of the
Quantitative Analysis……..

Data further suggest that the percentage of
time students in an after-school program
have to engage in child initiated direct
physical activities is greater when compared to
students in more structured settings, like Head
Start 4K or elementary schools

The student observed in a traditional
elementary school was not observed
participating in any direct physical activity while
indoors
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Indoor Teacher Initiated Direct
Physical Activity
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Indoor Child Initiated Direct
Physical Activity
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Recommendations

Increased opportunity for PA at school and
Head Start
◦ Leads to increased cognitive
function/academic achievement (Davis et al.,
2011; Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri,
2008)

“Action Schools” (Naylor, Macdonald, Zebedee,
Reed, & Mackay, 2006)
 Create individualized plans for increasing physical
activity at schools
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Recommendations

“Action
Schools”
◦ Focus on 6 Action Zones (Naylor et al., 2006, p.
414)
 School environment
 Scheduled PE
 Classroom action
 Family and Community
 Extra-curricular
 School spirit
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Recommendations…..

Empirical support for efficacy of action
school program (Naylor et al., 2006; Reed,
Warburton, Macdonald, Naylor, & McKay,
2008)
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Recommendations
Build physical movement into lessons
◦ e.g., allow movement/dancing during music
class
 Examine amount of unintended downtime
◦ e.g., time waiting between activities
◦ Leverage this time to build in extra physical
activity opportunities

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Summary & Question
Answer Session
 Exploratory
Study
 Limitations
 Need
for large-scale studies of daily
routines
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Implications
 Professional
Development needed on
integration of physical activity
 School
leadership needs to recognize
the importance of PA in classrooms
and scheduling
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Specific Needs for Learning
Environments
Curriculum development needed that
embeds more PA for children of all ages
 More embedded recess, physical activity and
play
 Integrate nutrition and health concepts
throughout the curriculum
 Engage parents in the planning and
curriculum and encourage PA for families

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