“After School Exercise”: A Program to Promote Students Physical Activity ΙΙI. Students’ Knowledge Development

Abstract

The study aimed at examining students' knowledge of (a) setting goals and making plans for participating in physical activity (PA), (b) the benefits of exercise in health, and (c) activities that can be described as physical. Participants were 223 students who completed the relevant content of the student’s workbook. Descriptive analyses were performed to analyze the data. Results showed that 49.1% and 44.9% of students set correct performance goals for strengthening abdominal and dorsal muscles respectively. Students’ majority (61.2%, 58.4%, and 59.9%) effectively set a plan for achieving the goals in three times period when implementing the program. Finally, the results revealed that the majority of students have effectively learned the benefits of exercise for the
human body as well as identifying the activities described as physical. Arguably, it can be stressed that the program was effective. However, since learning is a slow and long process it would be useful for programs such as “After School Exercise” to be incorporated into the curriculum of the physical education (PE) in elementary school in order to make them even more effective.