Background/Purpose: Before school exercise programs (BSEPs) give students time for breakfast and add time to their daily physical activity. However, the effects of BSEP on physical fitness and academic achievement in the classroom remain unclear. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of BSEP on cardiorespiratory fitness and academic…

Background: Limited research has examined health and fitness indicators among individuals with different categories of intellectual disabilities (ID). The purpose of this brief report was to examine differences in health and physical fitness indicators among individuals with different levels of ID. Method: Individuals (n = 203) with mild,…

Introduction: Youths with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision), as well as those who are visually impaired and have autism spectrum disorder (hereafter, autism), tend to be physically inactive and have low health-related fitness. However, little is known about individuals with dual disabilities, such as those with…

Objective: Health-related fitness knowledge holds the potential for physical activity and behavioural changes. The purpose of this retrospective longitudinal study with retrospective data was (a) to examine high-school students' health-related fitness knowledge growth through the 9th, 10th and 11th grades under one curriculum condition and (b) to…

Stretching before activity has been a customary part of most physical education classes (PE), with static stretching typically the preferred method due to its ease of implementation. Historical and implicit support for its continued use is due in part to the sit-and-reach test and flexibility as one of the components of health-related fitness.…

This study examined adolescents' interest in aerobic fitness testing and its relation to the test performances. Adolescents (N = 356) from three middle schools participated in the study. The participants took two aerobic fitness tests: the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) and One-Mile Run (1MR) with a two-day interval, and…

Achievement in a domain is normally defined by the experts within the curricula. This exploratory study reported student conception of achievement in physical education, attempting to address two questions: (1) what do students expect to achieve and (2) how do students view the achievement in physical education. Students (N = 48) purposefully…

Motivation to learn is a disposition developed through exposure to learning opportunities. Guided by the expectancy-value theory of Eccles and Wigfield (1995), this study examined the extent to which expectancy belief and task value influenced elementary school students' physical activity and knowledge learning in physical education (PE).…

Purpose: A primary goal of physical education is to develop physically literate individuals with the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary for a physically active lifestyle. Guided by the expectancy-value and interest motivation theories, the purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between students' motivation and…

This study examined the relation between adolescent expectancy-value motivation, achievements, and after-school physical activity participation. Adolescents (N = 854) from 12 middle schools completed an expectancy-value motivation questionnaire, pre and posttests in psychomotor skill and health-related fitness knowledge tests, and a three-day…

This study reports adolescent expectancy-value motivation, and its relation to fitness knowledge and psychomotor skill learning in physical education. Students (N = 854) from 12 middle schools provided data on expectancy-value motivation, fitness knowledge and psychomotor skill learning. Results from dependent t-test and MANOVA indicated that 8th…