Learning Activities

Chapter 12

In Class

Working on your own or in a small group do the following task:

Describe your own journey to work/college. Estimate how many minutes are spent in active and inactive stages of that journey. Being as creative and as realistic as possible consider how that journey could be made more active. How many more minutes per week of activity could be achieved this way? Would this have an important impact on health and well being?

Out of Class

One obvious intervention setting for physical activity is the school. In the USA, a successful programme of research has been developed in school named SPARK: ‘Sports, Play & Active Recreation for Kids’. On the SPARK website http://www.sparkpe.org/ — they say “SPARK is a research-based organization dedicated to creating, implementing, and evaluating programs that promote lifelong wellness. SPARK strives to improve the health of children and adolescents by disseminating evidence-based physical activity and nutrition programs that provide curriculum, staff development, follow-up support, and equipment to teachers of Pre-K through 12th grade students. SPARK strives to achieve outstanding customer satisfaction through timely delivery and exceptional service.”

Your task is to:

1. look at the text provided on the website concerning ‘A Solution to Childhood Obesity’
2. Find a partner outside of class (friend, family member etc), and present a 5 minute case on both the pros (for) and cons (against) the view that school physical education is ‘a solution to childhood obesity’.