This page lists news, upcoming and recent events relating to physical activity, physical education, active living, recreation and dance and schools.

Physical Education has Benefits but not Weight Loss or Increased Activity (Cochrane Review, January 2009, Dobbins et al, McMaster University)
Plain language summary: This review included 26 studies that evaluated the impact of combinations of school- based interventions focused on increasing physical activity among children and adolescents. Participants were between the ages of 6 to18 living in Australia, South America, Europe and North America. There is good evidence that school-based physical activity interventions are effective in increasing duration of physical activity, reducing blood cholesterol and time spent watching television and increasing VO2 max. VO2 max, known as maximal oxygen uptake or aerobic capacity, reflects the physical fitness level of an individual and generally increases as fitness levels improve. These interventions are not effective in increasing the percentage of children and adolescents who are physically active during leisure time, or in reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, and pulse rate. At a minimum, a combination of printed educational materials and changes to the school curriculum that promote physical activity result in positive effects for four of the nine outcomes.

New research, published in the Jan 2009 Journal of School Health, looks at the relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement. The research found that "Results show statistically significant relationships between fitness and academic achievement, though the direction of causation is not known. While more research is required, promoting fitness by increasing opportunities for physical activity during PE, recess, and out of school time may support academic achievement." For the full article/abstract go to http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121580226/abstract.

Foundation Releases Groundbreaking Research
Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America
This study measures the nationwide participation rates of girls and boys in exercise and organized team sports. The central focus is on how the intersections among families, schools and communities are related to children's involvement and interest in athletics and physical activity. Key findings include:

· Interest in Sports and Exercise Among Girls and Boys Is About Opportunity and Encouragement, Not Biology
· Girls Now Take Part in a Wider Array of Sports and Exercise Activities than Boys
· Boys in Immigrant Families Are More Likely than Girls to Play Sports

School PE/PA Progams have no Effect on Body Weight: Research Review (Medscape-Free subscription required)
October 14, 2008 (Boston, Massachusetts) — School-based physical activity interventions to address obesity in children have no effect on body mass index (BMI) or other anthropometric measures of overweight or obesity, a systematic review of the literature concludes. Lead investigator Kevin C. Harris, MD, presented the results of a meta-analysis here at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2008 National Conference and Exhibition. Dr. Harris is a pediatrician at the BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. "School-based interventions are theoretically appealing because compliance with interventions can be improved. Consequently, many local governments have enacted or are considering policy mandating increasing physical activity in schools, although the efficacy of these interventions in improving body composition remains unproven," Dr. Harris said. "Therefore the objective of our study was to determine whether school-based physical activity interventions can improve body composition as measured by BMI in children." Dr. Harris and colleagues identified 398 studies initially; however, only 18 met all inclusion criteria, and 15 of those were amenable to meta-analysis. Ten of these were randomized controlled trials and 5 were nonrandomized controlled trials. Meta-analysis of the data revealed that the difference between intervention groups and the control groups in mean change in BMI was −0.05 kg/m2 (95% confidence interval, −0.19 to 0.10), indicating that BMI is not affected by school-based physical activity intervention. There was also no consistent improvement in any other measures of body composition, such as body fat percentage, skin-fold thickness, lean mass, waist circumference, and waist-hip ratio. Researchers also conducted sensitivity analyses to assess whether important study characteristics might have influenced the results. Sex, study duration, and trial quality had no effect on the results. Changes in BMI was found to be virtually identical between the intervention and control groups in the sensitivity analyses, and regression analysis showed that results were also remarkably consistent across studies, Dr. Harris told session attendees. "We're very concerned that the results of our study might be taken out of context," Dr. Harris told Medscape Pediatrics. "There are important beneficial health effects from school-based physical activity interventions, such as improved aerobic capacity, blood pressure, bone mineral density, and flexibility. We should be promoting physical activity in school and outside of school. But if we're really going to tackle the issue of obesity, then we need to have interventions that are proven to impact BMI and other anthropometric measures." Dr. Harris stressed that providing nutritious food in school and optimizing children's nutritional intake and restricting access to unhealthy foods should be a key component of any school-based intervention.

The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's recent report, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, tracks trends in obesity related rates and policies. According to the report, much progress has been made during the past five years to bring attention to the obesity problem, and many communities and states have taken action to provide programs which make physical activity and good nutrition more accessible. At the same time, the report concludes that until wide adoption of these programs occurs and steady funding is available, only limited progress will be made.


Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: A Position Statement from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (May 2008): see it at: http://iweb.aahperd.org/naspe/pdf_files/CSPAP_Online.pdf

From Action for Healthy Kids (US): Criteria for Evaluating School-Based Approaches to Increasing Good Nutrition and Physical Activity. See it at: http://www.actionforhealthykids.org/pdf/criteria_report.pdf

School-based obesity prevention programs: an evidence-based review. )Obesity (Silver Spring). 2008 May;16(5):1009-18. Epub 2008 Feb 28)
Qualitative analysis suggests programs grounded in social learning may be more appropriate for girls, while structural and environmental interventions enabling physical activity may be more effective for boys. High-quality evaluation protocols should be considered essential components of future programs.


The agenda for the April 22/08 Physical Activity and PE related Symposium is attached below while the following links take you to the various presentations (they are also posted at http://www.cash-aces.ca/conference_2008/index.asp?Page=Downloads).

Antony Card - School Health Coordinators in Newfoundland & Labrador: Initial Reflections

Active Schools Projects in Newfoundland

Charles Williamson - South Shore Regional School Board

Gordon Walters - Active Healthy Living Nova Scotia

Promoting Change: Outside In, Inside Out

Action Schools BC - Promoting Healthy Living

OPHEA - Learnings from the Living School Experience

Mandigo - Physical Literacy, Theory & Practice

Marg Schwartz - DPA or DPE for a Health Promoting School Model?







Canadian Youth Participation in Sports Declines (Statistics Canada June 3-08)
A smaller percentage of Canadian children participated regularly in organized sports activities in 2005 than in 1992, and the decline was larger for boys, according to a new study. The study found that participation in sports rose with household incomes and the education levels of parents. It also showed that sports participation rates among children were highest in smaller towns and cities, and that children in Canada's three largest cities were least likely to participate in organized sports on a regular basis.

New Issue of CDC's journal Preventing Chronic Disease
The July 2008 issue has several articles relating to physical activity and schools:

Peer-led (Multiplier) Health Education in Brazil
In São Paulo, Brazil, the Healthy Lifestyle Multiplier Students program is based on studies that train older students (“multipliers”) as peer educators for younger students. These students influence each others’ cultural development and psychosocial growth, encourage one another to diversify their social relationships, and transform teaching-learning experiences. This intervention focused on physical activity, healthy diet, and the health effects of cigarette and alcohol consumption. The Healthy Lifestyle Multiplier Students program prompted the community to discuss themes that were absent from the school’s formal curriculum. The proposed health education process was creative and motivational and encouraged the adolescents to learn about health while improving the quality of public education.
Zanetta RL, Nobre MRC, Lancarotte I. Bringing up students in the Healthy Lifestyle Multiplier Students program, São Paulo, Brazil. Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(3). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jul/07_0125.htm. Accessed June 18-08.

Local Ecological Monitoring System for Childhood Obesity
The authors develop, test and propose a prototype, the Child Health Ecological Surveillance System, for a regional health authority to monitor progress in addressing the growing obesity epidemic. This prototype could potentially be used in other jurisdictions to address other child health issues. We present 8 guiding principles for the development and implementation of a regional framework for action. The framework is based on an ecological approach that includes consideration of personal factors, interpersonal interactions with friends, family and others, institutional factors (including schools), community factors public policy and physical environment.
Reference: Plotnikoff RC, Lightfoot P, Barrett L, Spinola C, Predy G. A framework for addressing the global obesity epidemic locally: the Child Health Ecological Surveillance System (CHESS). Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(3). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jul/07_0007.htm. Accessed [June 18-08].

Opportunities & Barriers to Joint Use Agreements for Sports & Recreation
The Honolulu County Department of Parks and Recreation sought to implement a joint use agreement to use the facilities of one urban high school for a recreational program. The high school selected for the pilot project has a student population primarily from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds. Method: An assessment of the potential of 7 urban high schools to implement a joint use agreement was conducted to select the pilot site. The In-Motion developed and implemented a joint use agreement. PA preferences of students, staff, and community members were assessed to guide recreational program offerings. Various recreational classes were offered free to the school community. Consequences: Several barriers to implementing the joint use agreement and recreational program were encountered. However, participants were satisfied with the recreational classes they attended and said that the In-Motion program helped them to engage in more PA. Program awareness by high school students and staff was high.
Interpretation: In-Motion has successfully modeled a pilot joint use agreement and provided new opportunities for PA to the high school’s students, teachers, and staff, and to community residents.
Reference: Choy LB, McGurk MD, Tamashiro R, Nett B, Maddock JE. Increasing access to places for physical activity through a joint use agreement: a case study in urban Honolulu. Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(3). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jul/07_0117.htm. Accessed [June 18-2008].

Potential Benefits of Safe Routes To Schools (SRTS) in the US
The researchers used a geographic information system to generate estimates of the land area within 0.5 mile of public schools in large urban areas, small urban areas, metropolitan counties and nonmetropolitan counties. and then estimated population in these areas. They concludes that an estimated 65.5 million people in urban areas could benefit from SRTS projects. In nonurban areas, 1% or less of land is within 0.5 mile of a public school.
Watson M, Dannenberg AL. Investment in Safe Routes to School projects: public health benefits for the larger community. Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(3). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jul/07_0087.htm. Accessed June 18-2008.

Healthy Eating & Physical Activity Improve Learning
A small study from Ontario, Canada shows schools that push fitness and nutrition have watched their standardized scores rise by as much as 50 per cent over two years in Grade 3 reading and 39 per cent in Grade 3 math – outscoring other schools in similar neighbourhoods by about eight points across all three subjects.


Canada’s Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth for 2008 is the fourth annual overview of key indicators in relation to the physical activity levels of Canada’s young people. While the Report Card is again a comprehensive overview of issues, this year the focus is on screen time and physical activity. The overall grade of D on the Report Card has been consistent from 2005-2008 because definitive and measurable progress is not yet fully evident, demonstrating the need for sustained and increased efforts. The Report Card identifies work in progress and the level of evidence available for each indicator.
See the Full or Summary version of the Report Card at http://www.activehealthykids.ca.