“After School Exercise”: A Program to Promote Students Physical Activity I. Theoretical Background and Program Development

Abstract

This manuscript presents the theoretical background and structure of an educational program aiming at promoting fifth and sixth graders’ participation in after school physical activities (PA). The reason for the development of this program was the reduced participation of children and adolescents in PA. This, combined with the limited time allocated to physical education (PE) in school makes students’ participation in after school PA more imperative than ever. According to the World Health Organization (2007), school is the ideal environment for promoting PA. Therefore, a program based on the theory of self-regulated learning was developed. The program integrated 15 ready-made sessions’ plans that are included in the teacher's textbook. Additionally, the teacher's textbook contains supplementary material related to the subjects' matters of the lessons. The student's workbook contains information on the subject matter and skills that will be taught during the 15 sessions. It also includes questionnaires and tables that students will be asked to complete during the lesson. Finally, tools for program evaluation were developed.