Go Play Initiative | Jeremy Bell and Danielle Cox

RUTGE
RS
CAMDE

GO PLAY! NEW
JERSEY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER

PAGE

INRODUCTION .................................................................................................2
TARGET AUDIENCE, TOPIC .............................................................................3
OVERALL PROGRAM GOALS ............................................................................3
TIMEFRAME, MATERIALS AND METHODS .........................................................4
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES (S.M.A.R.T.) ......................................................5-6
APPLIED MEDIA (DISPLAY BOARD PHOTOS)..................................................7-8
APPLIED MEDIA (BROCHURE HANDOUTS, QUESTIONAIRE EXAMPLES).......9-12
ISSUES AND CONCERNS ...............................................................................13
APPENDIX A (CDC RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES).............................................14
REFERENCES ................................................................................................15
PRINTABLE BROCHURE TEMPLATES ........................................................16-17
POWERPOINT PRESENATTION ..................................................................18-35

INTRODUCTION
This suggested program would be introduced by the physical education
instructors as part of the Carusi Middle School curriculum. Through
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interviews and discussion with our school nurse, and in combination with an
increased public awareness of the rising BMIs found in New Jersey adults,
our focus was to outline and implement a simple program that would allow
middle school age children the opportunity to achieve the suggested 60
minutes of CDC recommended play each day. Currently, only 21.3% of
children in New Jersey ages 10-17, are achieving 420 minutes of play each
week (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2012). This data, along with simple
qualitative observations provided by the physical education staff and school
nurse, has revealed and highlighted a noticeable decrease in student
resiliency and stamina with regard to physical activity. Our program is twofold and acts as a preemptive initiative to support middle school age
students health through 1) educating, promoting and empowering the
students regarding physical activity, and 2) to begin tracking students
anonymously as a means to quantify their group progress, and for potential
longitudinal evaluation of their respective cohort. Although New Jersey is one
of 29 states that do not compile student BMI data, the American Academy of
Pediatrics recommends that BMI should be calculated and plotted annually
for all youth (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation [RWJF], 2014). To be clear,
we are not proposing the tracking of BMI data; however, The Go Play
Initiative will provide immediate and long-term assistance in tackling what
has become a growing concern for our country as a whole, an individual lack
of physical activity and conditioning. According to the CDC (2013) and RWJF
(2014), New Jersey has shown a downward trend in childhood obesity over
the past ten years; however, adult obesity has doubled since 1980. So, we
have to ask ourselves; what kind of preventative measures can we
implement now; is this problem based on poor-habits?
The over-reaching goal of this program would be to gain a better
knowledge of the current state of middle school age childrens health habits,
and to promote a better understanding of the benefits of exercise. This will in
turn prevent long-term complications and co-morbidities associated with
rising BMI statistics. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) set a national goal to reduce the adult obesity rate by ten
percent over the next ten years; this would be a reduction from 33.9 percent
to 30.5 percent by 2020. Healthy People 2020 also set a goal of increasing
the percentage of people at a healthy weight from 30.8 percent up to 33.9
percent by 2020; as of 2012, 26 states fell short of that goal (CDC, 2011).
Our Go Play Initiative seeks to combat rising BMI trends, and work towards
making a healthier New Jersey through positive habit forming with our middle
school-age population.

Target audience
During the first year of this program, our target cohort is all physically
capable 6th grade students Male and Female, at Carusi Middle School; being
physically capable as defined by having no known pre-existing medical
limitations, and being of sound mind with regard to decision-making. Any
students falling outside the scope of participation will be investigated and
modified on a case by case basis as necessary. As of this writing there are
302 sixth grade students that would be participating.

Topic
We seek to advocate and implement a plan for increased physical activity
amongst middle school-age children. This will be a means to promote
positive student growth, both physically and cognitively, as well as instill
long-term exercise habits. Currently at Carusi students only receive a
maximum of 120 minutes per week of physical activity in school (this breaks
down into three-40 minute periods currently held on Monday, Wednesday,
and Friday); this is 300 minutes below the suggested CDC national standard
of 420 minutes per week. How can we encourage students to make up for
those additional 5 hours per week?

Basic Program Goals

(These will be further defined in our Objectives section.)
1. Physical education instructors will spend one class period each quarter
educating students on physical activity benefits, administering questionnaire
and providing feedback.
2. Program will successfully track 6th grade student for one year, using each
quarter as a marker for evaluation. Students progress will be tracked as an
anonymous working ID #, and will be entered onto a confidential
spreadsheet, to be viewed only by each respective instructor.
3. Working towards getting each capable student to play an average of 420
minutes per week by the beginning of their 7th grade year. (This is based on
the CDC suggested 60mins per day (x 7 days = 420 minutes).

Timeframe
Introductory education goal (Immediate)
The initial health education component is to be done first, at the start of the
program. This would entail a 15 minute presentation done during physical
education class time. In our case, this would be the first week of class for 6th
grade students. Specific requirements are outlined in the Objectives section.
Each class of students will be given a similar presentation based on the
discretion of the physical education instructors, and asked to complete the
same anonymous questionnaires.

Short term goal (+9 weeks to the end of school year)

Goal is based on 9-week quarters to be completed, each respectively, as the
school year progresses. Our goal is to achieve an improvement of
approximately 25% in average physical activity each quarter of the 6th grade
year (120 minutes to begin with based on current allotted school time for
physical activityincrease to approximately 2.5 hours by end of 1st
quarterthen to approx. 3hours at end of 2nd quarterthen to approx. 4
hours by the end of 3rd andincrease to approx. 5.5 hours by end of school
year.

Long term goal (+1-3 years)

This would be achieved by a result of the original cohort, now 7th grade
students, being able to achieve an average of 420 minutes, or 7 hours of
play, per week on average when they return to school, one year from the
start of the program.

Materials and Methods

Educational materials including benefits of exercise and prevention of
obesity, questionnaires, display poster board, brochure, print-outs, scissors,
glue, class room materials such as smart board, paper, pens, pencils,
PowerPoint presentation, Excel spreadsheet for tracking, SPSS statistical
analysis software for determining overall trends and evaluation of
effectiveness by year 3.

Overall Objectives for Initiative

1. Each respective physical education instructor at Carusi will spend
approximately 15 minutes at the start of the school year, explaining and
describing 5 basic health benefits of increased physical activity as
recommended by the CDC. Each instructor will then hand out a brochure to
all participating students. Instructor will then administer the 1st quarter
questionnaire and each subsequent applicable questionnaire for each
quarter. (These questionnaires are under Applied Media section of this
packet.)
2. Each respective physical education instructor will make 5 suggestions of
activities (see Appendix A) to increase physical exercise during their first
introduction at the start of school year. (i.e. This can be any activities or
exercises the physical instructors choose to highlight.) Each instructor will
then reinforce these suggested activities each quarter.
3. Students will complete quarterly questionnaires, answering all questions
and submitting the questionnaire to their respective instructors by the end of
each class period, each quarter, for a total of 4 questionnaires submitted by
years end.

Educational Objectives (S.M.A.R.T. format):

1. All participating students will be able to demonstrate a cognitive
understanding of new material by writing 2 health benefits achieved by
increased physical activity. All participating students will complete this task
activity by the end of respective class period, and will then participate in an
informal discussion about these benefits; each student will contribute one
comment or idea to class discussion.
2. All participating students will be able to distinguish and select two
different physical activities that they can implement in their daily lives, or
that they simply enjoy and would like to do. These two selected activities will
be physically demonstrated under the supervision of their respective
instructor during the subsequent physical education class. This will be done
with each new quarter.
3. All participating students will complete an appropriate quarterly
questionnaire during their respective class period (4 times a year, at the
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start of each new quarter), and will be able to list one way in which they feel
better about themselves as a result of increased physical activity by the end
of that specific class period. These will then be submitted to their
instructors, and data will be entered by instructors, within 24 hours of
questionnaire completion.

Evaluation of Educational Objectives (S.M.A.R.T format):

1. Writing 2 health benefits achieved by increased physical activity, and
having an informal discussion about them as a class.
2. The selected activities will be physically demonstrated under the
supervision of their respective instructor during the subsequent physical
education class with activity.
3. Completion of the appropriate quarterly questionnaire.

*Note to Reader
The first year of this program, the 6th graders would be assigned participant
# by their respective physical education instructors; the student will fill out a
questionnaire quarterly, and have their progress monitored as an overall
result. This is to prevent the singling out of specific students for any reason.
Each cohorts activity levels will be tracked from the 6th grade year, up until
the end of the 8th grade year for complete analysis. Any data acquired as a
result of the questions will be entered promptly, with 24 hours of each
quarterly questionnaire. This data will be entered by the respective physical
education instructors in private, onto a simple Excel spreadsheet tracking
system. Self-reporting would be necessary and students would be
encouraged to answer honestly as there are no wrong answers. Trends and
impact will be evaluated after the first year. It is important to note that this is
primarily an educational and motivational initiative; the physical evaluations
are of less important, than the attempt at cognitive-restructuring for health
prevention on a primary level.

Applied Media
An informational pack, such as this Initiative packet, brochure, and the
attached questionnaires (see below) will be implemented to assist the
physical education instructors in their own education and preparation.
Instructors will be restricted to using evidence-based resources for any and
all suggestions for benefits and activities. However, instructors are
encouraged to implement their own strategies and activity plans. The
brochure provided will be distributed to each student and instructor on the
first day introduction to the Go Play! Initiative.
Supplementary display posters will be provided for all students to pass in
school hallways as a reminder (see below); constant exposure to the
initiative will help to keep the students cognizant of physical activity
expectations as established by the CDC.

Display Poster

(Display Poster from Carusi Middle School, 2015)

(Display Poster, Left Panel)

(Display Poster, Right Panel)

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Brochure Handout Pdf (outer)

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Brochure Handout Pdf (inner)

Go Play! Initiative New Jersey

Student 1st Quarterly Questionnaire

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Students assigned ID #: ______________________

__________

Date:

Quarter (circle) 1st

1. What are 2 health benefits that can be gained from increased physical
exercise?

2. What are 2 daily activities or exercises that you can do for 60 minutes
total, each day? This could be one exercise or a combination of activities and
exercises.

3. Is there anything in your daily life that might prevent you from being able
to play 60 minutes each day?

Thank you for your participation. All participants will be represented by a

random ID #, as assigned by your respective instructor. Any personal data
contained here will be kept confidential. Data will only be used for qualitative
data collection, and longitudinal calculation of overall cohort averages and
trends.

Go Play! Initiative New Jersey

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Student 2nd, 3rd, 4th Quarterly

Questionnaire

Students assigned ID #: ______________________

__________
Quarter (circle) 2nd

3rd

Date:

4th

1. What are 2 health benefits that can be gained from increased physical
exercise?

2. What are 2 daily activities or exercises that you have been doing this
quarter, for a total of 60 minutes each day?

3. Now that you have begun to increase your activity level outside of school,
can you please list any noticeably positive effects you have noticed, such as
increased stamina or weight loss? Have you noticed any positive changes
with your mood or your well-being, such as you feel happier or you just feel
better about yourself?

Thank you for your participation. All participants will be represented by a

random ID #, as assigned by your respective instructor. Any personal data

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contained here will be kept confidential. Data will only be used for
longitudinal calculation of overall cohort averages and trends.
Issues and Concerns
There are currently no physical activity requirements in New Jersey, only
physical education requirements (RWJF, 2014). 22 states currently have
minimum physical activity requirements. This creates an unfortunate
hindrance for students that might not have access to outdoor space after the
school day ends. Furthermore, New Jersey schools do not a shared-play
agreement with their local municipalities within which the school is located
(RWJF, 2014). This means that school grounds are technically off-limits to
local children and students after the school day has officially ended; at Carusi
this is at 5pm. It would be beneficial to investigate these laws and
technicalities, and to try and implement a shared-user agreement so that
more children would access to school grounds after their school day ends,
and more importantly access to the ball fields and tracks that are designed
specifically for play.
Self-reporting of students could present a few issues, as this can be difficult
to establish accurate longitudinal data, but this concern is secondary to the
overall importance and promotion of increased physical activity. Simply
having the conversation and having the students pro-actively track their own
progress, is the most important focus of this initiative during the first stages.
Our hope in tracking general long-term data is that our initiative might
capture a return of student stamina and resiliency as noticed by their
instructors and nurses. It would be suggested that more research and
planning is necessary to facilitate a proper longitudinal tracking study. Part of
our goal with this initiative was to put in place a backbone which can be used
as an instrument for such studies.

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Appendix A

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References

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. (2011) Strategies to Prevent Obesity and Other Chronic
Diseases: The CDC Guide to Strategies to Increase Physical Activity in the
Community. Retrieved from web: http://stacks.cdc.gov /view/cdc/11994
(Accessed online March 1st, 2015)

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2013). One in Five Adults
Meet Overall Physical Activity Guidelines. [Press Release]. Retrieved from
web: http://www.cdc.gov/ media/releases/2013/p0502-physicalactivity.html
(Accessed March 1st, 2015)

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2014),"State of Obesity in New Jersey."

[Data File] Retrieved from web: http://stateofobesity.org/states/nj/ (Accessed
March 2nd, 2015)

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012), Prevalence and
Trends Data, Overweight and Obesity (BMI). [Data File] Retrieved from web:
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss /list.asp?
cat=OB&yr=012&qkey=8261&state=All (Accessed March 1st, 2015).

Gavin, M. (2014) "Why Exercise Is Cool." Retrieved from web:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/ stay_healthy/fit/work_it_out.html?
tracking=K_RelatedArticle# (Accessed March 1st, 2015)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (2015) "What is physical activity?" Retrieved
from web: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/physicalactivity/what.html (Accessed March 2nd, 2015)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1999) General Physical
Activities Defined by Level of Intensity [Data File] Retrieved from web:
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/physical/pdf/PA_Intensity_ table_2_1.pdf
(Accessed March 3rd, 2015)

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U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) "Physical Activity"
Retrieved from web:
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/physicalactivity/facts.htm (Accessed March
1st, 2015)

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