A sedentary lifestyle has become the greatest danger of modern society which evidently lowers the quality of life of the individual. The key in dealing with the dangers of sedentary behaviours is not only the promotion and increase of physical exercise, but also to explore the alternatives of sedentary behaviours that accompany us in everyday life. In educational institutions this would include the creation of physical environment that encourages the individual to move and enables him to have as much movement as possible.
In master thesis we determined how equipments that stimulate the movement affect the reduction of a sedentary lifestyle amongst students UL Faculty of Education and the amount and intensity of physical activity. Furthermore, we also examined the effects of equipments that promote movement on the ability to engage in physical activity outside of distance lectures, on concentration, general well-being, and on a positive attitude towards oneself and one’s health. In theoretical part, we identified the concept of physical activity, reviewed the recommendations for the amount and intensity of physical activity of the World Health Organisation, described the impact of physical activity and highlighted its importance through different periods of life. In the following part, we also defined the sedentary lifestyle and its dangers. We also described the current state of the sedentary lifestyle among children and adolescents. Moreover, we exposed the factors that significantly influence the phenomenon of physical activity or sedentary lifestyle. We also highlighted the school as the important physical environment movement promoter, and presented some interventions already implemented in preventing sedentary lifestyle at school. Finally, we described the kinesthetic classroom and kinesthetic equipments.
The empirical part of master thesis contained a quasi-experimental study in which 67 students participated from Primary School Teaching at the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana, who attended the third year in the academic year 2020/21. We used the following statistical methods: arithmetic mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum. In IBM Statistical Product Solutions, we used the Kullbackov 2Î test, Wilcoxon test of predicted ranks, the t-test for pairwise comparison, the Freidman test ANOVA and the one-way analysis of ANOVA variance for repeated measurements. We checked the normality of the data using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. We divided the study sample in to two groups, the experimental and control group. The control group had remote lectures with inclusion of movement but without the use of movement-enhancing equipments. On the other hand, the experimental group followed the lectures incorporating movement and using movement-enhancing equipments. We researched how the implementation of movement affects the reduction of sedentary lifestyle amongst students and the amount and intensity of physical activity.
Concurrently, we checked whether there were differences in the amount and intensity of physical activity between the experimental and control group. We also used the research to find out how the use of movement-enhancing equipments during distance lectures affects the ability to engage in physical activity outside of distance lectures, concentration, general well-being and a positive attitude towards oneself and one’s health. In the interpretation, we also connect the findings with the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it significantly influenced the course and result of the research.
The findings showed that the students of the experimental group felt worse on the final measurement than on the introductory measurement. At the final measurement, in comparison to the students in the control group, the students of experimental group more often expressed that they were sitting because they were not bothered to do anything else. The students of experimental group expressed that they choose sedentary behaviour mainly because of the habit and because it is easier to work or study. On the other hand, they expressed that they choose physical activities because these enable them a higher quality of life, and in addition they represent a source of better well-being and health. During the measurements, the students of the experimental group reduced the amount of time spent in a sedentary position during and outside of the pedagogical process and also reduced the time of passive sitting. On the contrary, they increased the time of lying down, using a mobile phone or computer and watching TV. The amount of physical activity in the experimental group increased during the study, at which we saw the decrease in high and medium intensity and an increase in low intensity of physical activity. The improvement in the experimental group is mainly reflected in the higher frequency of outdoor activities (hiking, running, and walking). Among the students of the experimental group, the level of high concentration improved, however the level of attitudes towards themselves and their health deteriorated. There were no changes in general well-being. The main two factors that impacted on the concentration, the general well-being and the attitude towards oneself and one’s health, were the content of the lecture of that week and movement. Most of the students in the experimental group encountered the equipments infrequently or never, which took them some time to get used to the equipments. They evaluated that the use of equipments should become a regular practice in the pedagogical process, whereby younger or older students would have a free choice of using the equipments.
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