Encouraging Activity to Stimulate Young Minds Program (E.A.S.Y Minds Program): Evaluation of a school-based program that integrates physical activity across the primary school curriculum

The E.A.S.Y. Minds Program involves the integration of PA in the Primary school curriculum. The Classroom Teacher will be primarily responsible for the delivery of the program during normal lessons. The program will run for 6 weeks.E.A.S.Y. Minds will involve the modification of a stage 3 unit of work that will be developed from the NSW Board of Studies k-6 syllabi to maximise and create opportunities to integrate physical activity and enhance learning. Teaching ideas and resources will be supplied by the research team. Following the randomisation of the participant schools all baseline assessments will be undertaken. Two professional development days will be carried out prior to the research project. All costs will be met by the University of Newcastle. These days will focus on the key principles of teaching of movement-based learning activities. Control schools will receive this workshop on the completion of the program. All schools will provided with all lesson plans and a physical activity equipment pack containing all teaching resources (balls, drill ladders, stop watches, tape measures.The project will use a group randomised control trial. Schools will be randomly allocated to intervention or comparison groups for the study duration. Students and teachers in the control group will be provided all program information and resources following the collection of post-test data. The following research methodologies will be used: Height and Weight: height will be measured using a portable stadiometer and weight will be measured using calibrated weight scales. Learning Styles: will be measured using the Barsch Learning Style Reference Form (Barsch, 1991).From this, an indication of students preferred perceptual modality will be determined. Student’s intelligence strengths will be assessed using a Multiple Intelligences Checklist for Upper Primary and Secondary (MICUPS) (Mcgrath and Noble, 2005) On task behaviour: will be observed using a momentary time sampling procedure adapted from Behaviour Observation of students in Schools and Applied Behaviour Analysis for Teachers (Alberyo and Troutman) Students will be chosen at random and will be observed in 15 second intervals over a 30 minute period pre, during and post intervention Physical activity (PA): Accelerometers will be used to provide an objective measure of both PA intensity and duration. Accelerometers are light instruments, small and robust that measure physical activity ( Freedson, Prober & Janz, 2005) Accelerometers will be worn throughout the school day. Academic performance: Academic performance in Mathematics will be measured using an ACER Progressive Achievement test in Mathematics delivered by the classroom teacher. Enjoyment of Maths Survey: Students enjoyment of maths will be evaluated using a validated mathematics attitude scale. Evaluation: All teachers and Students will be asked to complete an evaluation survey at the completion of the program.