The effects of a health-related fitness education intervention on Taiwanese high school students' fitness knowledge, physical activity time, and satisfaction of physical education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an intervention using health-related fitness education lessons on high school students' fitness knowledge, physical activity time (PAT), and satisfaction of Physical Education in Taiwan. In addition, this study investigated the relationships between the concepts of achievement motivation and perception of the Physical Education learning environment on the variables of PAT, fitness knowledge, and satisfaction in Physical Education.; Eighty-nine 12th grade high school students and their Physical Education instructors participated in this study in Taiwan. One school received the health-related fitness lessons as the treatment group (n = 50). The other school conducted their typical program and was used as the control group (n = 39). Information was collected during the first two weeks for the treatment group and the control group without any interventions. In the 3 rd and the 4th week, the Physical Education instructor in the treatment group was trained how to teach fitness concepts to the high school students. From the 5th week to the 10th week, the Physical Education instructor in the treatment group was required to teach the fitness lessons, and have students complete all task assignments for each lesson. The students of both groups completed the four instruments and a fitness knowledge test before and after the intervention. The instruments included the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, the Physical Education Learning Environment Scale, and Student Satisfaction in Physical Education survey. The treatment group and control group classes were videotaped throughout the study to use for verifying student and teacher behavior. The implications of this research for physical education curriculum and instruction in Taiwan are discussed.; PAT, fitness knowledge, and feelings of enjoyment for the treatment group not only had more significant improvement than the control group in the post-test, but also had a significant increase from the pre-test to the post-test. The students in the treatment group had significantly higher task orientation and perceived more challenge in the Physical Education learning environment than the students in the control group after the intervention and had significant improvement from the pre-test to the post-test. There was no significant difference in ego orientation between both groups.