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Special Issue "Physical Education and Exercise Promotion and Intervention in Children and Adolescents for Health and Wellbeing"

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Dr. Francesca D’Elia

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Department of Humanities, Philosophy and Education, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy
Interests: physical education; primary school; PE teacher training; faculty development; movement assessment; teaching methods of PE; adapted physical activity; sport education
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to contribute your work to this Special Issue on “Physical Education and Exercise Promotion and Intervention in Children and Adolescents for Health and Wellbeing”.

Maintaining appropriate levels of physical activity (PA) and physical fitness is essential in developing healthy lifestyles in children and adolescents. The evidence that activity and fitness are directly related to health outcomes in younger people is becoming increasingly persuasive. To promote health, wellness and fitness in young people, researchers must develop appropriate strategies that are consistent with individual needs, interests and skills. The increase in rates of overweight and obesity is the result of multifaceted determinants and their complex interactions over time. Schools, via the curriculum, school ethos and community, are an ideal context for educating young people about the importance of PA and the value of achieving and/or maintaining health-related fitness standards and for building the necessary skills for long-term behaviour change and healthy lifestyles.

Many school-based intervention studies and education programmes promoting PA and a healthy lifestyle have been performed over the last two decades, so the scope of the SI is to collect the most recent studies and projects aimed at increasing knowledge and research experiences carried out in socio-educational context (i.e., school and sports associations) and based on physical activity and sports programs addressed to children and adolescents’ physical education for prevention of risks and promotion of health and wellbeing.

Dr. Francesca D'Elia
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

young physical fitness
prevention
overweight
obesity
movement assessment
performance tests
body image
wellness
motor learning

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 748 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficiency of an Alternative Physical Education Program for the Lower Grades of Elementary School Children

and

Children 2023, 10(10), 1657; https://doi.org/10.3390/children10101657 - 06 Oct 2023

Viewed by 765

Abstract

(1) Introduction: This research was conducted with the aim of assessing whether an alternative physical education (PE) program could effectively substitute for the traditional PE curriculum and aid in accomplishing the essential goals and objectives of PE among younger elementary school children. (2) Materials and Methods: This longitudinal 6-month study included third-grade elementary school children of both genders, who were healthy, lived in urban areas, and were involved in an alternative PE program, as well as the regular PE classes. The sample of participants comprised 214 students, with 105 participants in the experimental group and 109 participants in the control group, who underwent pre- and post-intervention measurements. For the purposes of this study, 11 variables were applied to assess the parameters of growth and development, motor abilities, and physical and health education. MANCOVA and ANCOVA methods were used to determine the effects resulting from the alternative and regular PE programs, and differences between the groups, respectively. The data are reported as the mean and standard deviations, and were analyzed using the statistical package SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Armonk, NY, USA). (3) Results: Based on the research results obtained for motor abilities and physical and health education, it was concluded that both the alternative and regular PE programs had positive effects in achieving the goals and objectives of PE, but without statistical significance at the multivariate and univariate levels. The differences between the two groups were found to be negligible (effect size, ES < 0.2). (4) Discussion: Sports and PE have distinct objectives and approaches. While sports emphasize competition and winning, PE aims to impart fundamental skills and knowledge, prioritizing inclusivity among younger students. Success in PE is measured by the number of students meeting these goals, potentially affecting both talented and struggling learners. (5) Conclusions: The results obtained from the conducted research indicate that both the alternative PE program and the regular PE program influence changes in motor abilities and physical and health education to a limited extent. The alternative PE program proposed in this study, with its modifications to the structure of existing, regular PE program, can fully replace the latter in schools that do not meet the required spatial and material standards. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Physical Education and Exercise Promotion and Intervention in Children and Adolescents for Health and Wellbeing)

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Special Issue "Physical Education and Exercise Promotion and Intervention in Children and Adolescents for Health and Wellbeing"

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