An analysis of the influence of physical activity break on primary school student fitness

Abstract

To avoid issues with primary school pupils' sedentary lifestyle and fitness, it is important to evaluate how long they sit while studying in class. This study aims to ascertain 1) the impact of physical activity breaks on elementary school students' physical fitness, and 2) the variation in the improvement in physical fitness of elementary school students between the group with physical activity break intervention and the group without intervention. This is a quasi-experimental study with a Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. The study's subjects were Yogyakarta Syuhada Mosque School elementary school children aged 7 to 9. The cluster random sampling method was employed to choose the research sample, with 40 students serving as the experimental group and 40 serving as the control group. A physical fitness test was used to collect data for this research. The paired T test was employed in the first analysis to examine the effect of physical activity break treatments on students' fitness. The Mann-Whitney Test was employed in the following data analysis to determine the difference in the outcomes of the rise between the experimental group and the control group. The results of the paired T test concluded that physical activity breaks had an influence on the dimensions of physical fitness which included the dimensions of speed with a value of sig 0.0, Agility sig 0.001, Arm Power sig 0.0, Leg Power sig 0.0, and flexibility sig 0.003. Based on the improvement results of each group, there were differences between the experimental group and the control group based on the Mann-Whitney Test sig value. Increase in speed sig 0.0, agility sig 0.032, arm power sig 0.0, and leg power sig 0.02. There is no difference in the flexibility dimension between the experimental group and the control group with a sig value of 0.908. Effect size with Cohen's formulation and criteria for the experimental group in the dimensions of speed 1.16 (high), agility 0.59 (moderate), flexibility -0.51 (very low), arm power 1.55 (high), leg power 0.87 (moderate). Because of the good impact on the dimensions of physical fitness, physical activity breaks can be incorporated in primary schools. In this day and age, physical activity breaks could be a solution to students' low fitness and sedentary lifestyle issues. Key words: physical activity break, primary school, student fitness