JOURNAL OF TEACHING IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION, 1994, 13,206-215

O 1994 HUMAN KINETICS PUBLISHERS, INC.

Assessing Children's Liking for Activity Units

in an Elementary School Physical
Education Curriculum

Thomas L. McKenzie, John E. Alcaraz, and James F. Sallis

San Diego State University
Few studies have examined students' liking for physical education activities
and factors that influence students' evaluations despite the importance these
have for continued engagement in physical activity. This study examined
16,032 ratings of "liking" of 648 physical education lessons reported by
students in eight coeducational fourth- and fifth-grade classes during an 8-
month period. Mean ratings on activity units ranged from 3.15 to 3.62 on a
4-point scale, indicating that the children liked the activities. However, they
liked some units more than others (p < .001), and they preferred skill-related
over health-related activities (p < .001). Day of week (p < .53), child's grade
(p < .69), and school (p < .56) were not associated with the children's liking
scores. Ratings of activities did not change significantly as students gained
more experience with a specific instructional unit. Future research is recom-
mended on how students' needs and preferences relate to developing positive
attitudes toward physical activities.
Physical education has the potential to contribute to public health, largely
through the provision of physical activity during the school day and the encourage-
ment of physical activity out of school (Sallis & McKenzie, 1991). It is speculated
that physical education would be effective at promoting physical activity if it is
enjoyed by students and if it teaches activities that they like (Sallis et al., 1992).
It has long been taught that effective education, in general, instills a feeling of
enjoyment for the subject matter. According to Mager (1968), "The sole intent
is to aid in sending students away from your instruction anxious to use what you
have taught them-and eager to learn more" (p. 3). The development of positive
attitudes toward physical activity has historically been a goal of physical education
programs (Siedentop, 1991).
Despite the theoretical importance of enjoyment of physical activity and
physical education, there have been few published studies that document students'
evaluation of physical education or the factors that influence their evaluations.
In a study of elementary school teacher education students, Figley (1985) used
a critical incident technique to determine positive and negative events that either

The authors are at San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182.T.L. McKenzie
is with the Department of Physical Education; John E. Alcaraz is with the School of
Public Health; and James F. Sallis is with the Department of Psychology.
CHILDREN'S LIKING FOR ACTIVITY 207

"turned students on or off" to school physical education. She found the greatest
percentage of critical incidents (35.6%) to be related to the physical education
curriculum, with teacher behavior being the second most frequent category
(33.3%). Specific activity content accounted for more than half (56.4%) of the
incidents related to the curriculum and was ranked first as a determinant of both
positive and negative attitudes toward physical education. This study suggests
that designers of physical education curricula who want to develop positive
attitudes toward physical education should consider student perceptions about
both the curriculum and the specific activities that are included in it.
It is difficult to find evidence that student perceptions are systematically
used in the design of physical education curricula. Instead, curriculum design,
including content selection and length of implementation, are theory driven,
rather than based on empirical data. Because there are adherents to many diverse
theories of physical education curriculum design (Steinhardt, 1992), there is little
consistency across curricula, and allegiance to a specific curriculum is likely to
be based on theory rather than data.
An alternative approach to curriculum design, often used in community
health promotion (Bracht, 1990; Green & Kreuter, 1991), may be applicable to
physical education. Though intervention design is based partly on theory, an
integral component is input from the target audience (Haglund, Weisbrod, &
Bracht, 1990). The intended audience provides information on the feasibility,
acceptability, and likelihood of success of one or more program options, and
these are then considered in the design of the intervention. Ideally, when the
program is implemented, participants provide feedback on the program that can
be used, along with other data, to refine and improve the program.
As part of a larger effort to develop and evaluate an elementary physical
education program, a study of the curriculum was conducted. The purpose of
this study was to systematically obtain feedback from students on opinions about
their physical education classes so that modifications could be made to an early
version of the curriculum. Fourth- and fifth-grade students were periodically
asked how they liked the activities within their physical education instructional
units over an 8-month period. "Liking" was the dimension which the children
used to rate the physical activities. It was intended to serve as an indication of
their overall satisfaction with, or enjoyment of, the lesson, and liking was found
to be a term that children easily understood. Analyses were conducted to determine
how activities, grouped into 18 units of instruction, differed on students' liking,
and whether liking was related to repetition within units, day of week, students'
grade level, or school.

Method
Setting and Subjects
The present study was conducted during the first year of Project SPARK,
a 5-year program funded by the National Institutes of Health to evaluate a
comprehensive approach to promoting physical activity among elementary school
students (McKenzie, Sallis, Faucette, Roby, & Kolody, 1993). Although SPARK
was a multifaceted program involving a physical education curriculum, a self-
management curriculum, a teacher training program, and extensive in- and out-
of-school process and product assessments, this study was limited to students'
208 MCKENZIE, ALCARAZ, AND SALLIS

assessment of their enjoyment of activity units during physical education classes.

During the first year, the SPARK physical education curriculum was implemented
in two elementary schools in a coastal suburb in San Diego County. Students in
four 4th- and four 5th-grade classes (N = 242) participated. The socioeconomic
status of families attending the two schools appeared to differ substantially. One
school was situated in an affluent area and was attended primarily by non-
Hispanic white children. The second school was in a less affluent neighborhood
and was attended by a more diverse population of Anglo-, Asian-, African-,
and Mexican-American children. Protection of human subjects procedures were
approved by all participating institutions, and students and parents provided
passive consent.
Physical education in each school was taught by a credentialed physical
education specialist who was hired, trained, and supervised by the investigators.
Both specialists were female and had master's degrees and a minimum of 4 years
experience teaching physical education. Equivalent space was available at each
site, and similar amounts and types of equipment were provided to implement
the curriculum at each school.
Physical Education Curriculum
Both teachers implemented the same curriculum, which was designed spe-
cifically to promote high levels of student engagement in physical activity and
skill practice. It included a detailed yearly plan that was divided into two different
types of activity units: those emphasizing health-related fitness and those empha-
sizing skill-related fitness. Health-related activities emphasized the development
of health-related fitness and included nine different activity units, such as aerobic
dance, jump rope, fitness circuits, and running programs. Progression was devel-
oped by modifying the intensity, duration, and complexity of the activities.
Although the main focus was on developing cardiovascular endurance, activities
to develop abdominal and upper body strength were also included.
Skill-related fitness activities focused on developing motor skills, particu-
larly as they relate to the development of body/limb/object coordination and
specialized sport skills (e.g., basketball, frisbee, soccer, softball). The curricu-
lum included nine sport skill-related units. These were selected for their poten-
tial to develop cardiovascular endurance and to teach movement skills that
would generalize to other activities and other settings, including the child's
community. Activities within these units differed from traditional sport activi-
ties in that they were modified to stimulate more student physical activity,
such as by playing small-sided games. As another example, "all-run softball"
involved all players on the batting team simultaneously circling the bases in
file while all fielding team members performed throwing and catching tasks
in order to score an "out."
Each lesson was designed to be 30 min in length and had two distinct
parts. The first 15 min consisted of a health-related fitness activity, which
included a warm-up with a transition to a cardiovascular-fitness activity. The
second 15 min consisted of a motor-skill-related fitness activity, with a transi-
tion to a cool-down and closure. Skill and activity progressions, instructional
cues, and managerial suggestions were provided for each unit. The yearly plan
called for classes to be taught 3 days per week throughout the entire school
year.
CHILDREN'S LIKING FOR ACTIVITY 209

Data Collection
Following the cool-down and during the closure of lessons, the teacher
provided each student with a pencil and a rating form. The form contained two
questions: "How did you like the fimess activities today?" and "How did you
like the sport activities today?" Four different "happylsad faces," matched with
the words excellent, good,fair, and poor, were printed below each question. The
teacher reviewed which health-related or skill-related activities the students had
just completed and then directed them to indicate how they felt about these
activities by anonymously circling the appropriate faces. After collecting the
forms, the teacher attached a cover sheet that indicated the date and specific
lesson content. The forms were later scored using assigned numerical values
(excellent = 4, good = 3, fair = 2, poor = 1) and entered into a computer for
analysis.
Throughout the year students were frequently told that their opinions about
their physical education activities were very important because they would be
used in the development of a curriculum that would be implemented in other
schools. Data were collected only during classes that were conducted outdoors
during fair weather conditions.

Data Analysis and Results

Over an 8-month period, students in the eight classrooms reported 16,032
liking scores for 648 different physical education lessons, averaging 24.7 re-
sponses per lesson. For each of the 18 activity units Table 1 displays the number
of lessons assessed, mean liking score from students' raw data, and the mean
liking score fitted by a repeated measures model to be described shortly. The
fitted mean liking score is perhaps a more appropriate score than the raw mean
for ranking the children's liking for the activity units because the repeated mea-
sures model accounts for correlations among the data.
Each classroom participated in up to 18 different activity units (treatments)
and students within a classroom assessed between 1 and 16 lessons for each unit.
The mean liking score for each lesson by an intact classroom was selected as
the unit of analysis. The raw means in Table 1 are means of these classroom
means. Multiple measurements were obtained for the eight different classrooms;
therefore, the data set was examined using a repeated measures analysis.
The repeated measures analysis, based on Abramson (1988) and his S-plus
repeated measures program, proceeded as follows. First, a covariance matrix was
constructed that assumed that (a) the variance of the error of measurement of
the liking score was the same across all 648 lessons, (b) the correlation (intraclass
correlation estimate; Snedecor & Cochran, 1989) between every pair of liking
lessons-that is, between the liking scores assigned to them-within the same
activity and classroom was .40, (c) the correlation between every pair of prefer-
ence scores from different activities but the same classroom was .30, and (d)
every other pair of preference scores (same activityldifferent classrooms, or
different activities and classrooms) had zero correlation. From this correlation
structure, a transformation matrix was computed to transform the data to indepen-
dent cases with measurement errors of equal variance. Thus, the hypothesis tests
210 MCKENZIE, ALCARAZ, AND SALLIS

Table 1 Students' Mean Liking Scores for Physical Activity Units

Repeated
No. Raw data measures model
Activity unit lessons M SD fitted M

Parachutea
Softballa
Obstacle courseb
Track & fielda
Gymnasticsa
Aerobic danceb
Basketballa
Volleyballa
Fitness circuitsb
Frisbeea
Run USAb
Field gamesa
Jump ropeb
Run Californiab
Soccer"
Teacher-led exercisesb
Walk/jog/runb
Astronaut drillsb
Total

aIdentifiesa motor-skill-related unit that emphasized skill drills and small-sided games.
bIdentifiesa health-fitness-related unit that emphasized cardiovascular endurance,
flexibility, and muscular strength and endurance.

of ordinary least squares regression-which are output by Abramson's (1988)

repeated measures program--could be used.
It was assumed that each classroom of students had its own level of liking
for activity in general and that a specific lesson activity altered that level by
some fixed amount. That is, the amount by which a certain activity shifts a
classroom's "baseline" liking score is the same across all classrooms, regardless
of differences in baselines for different classrooms. In the analyses performed,
it was assumed arbitrarily that each classroom's fitted liking score for the teacher-
led health-related fitness unit was the baseline and that the other 17 units shifted
the baseline by various amounts. Thus, a test for differences among the individual
activities is a test of the null hypothesis that all 17 shift constants are zero.
Similarly, it was assumed that as an activity is repeated several times (i.e.,
additional lessons are conducted within a unit), liking for the activity might wax
or wane and be reflected as an increase or decrease in a class's liking score. This
would appear in a plot of "liking score" versus "lesson number" as a nonzero
slope in a line fitted to the data. The slope associated with a certain activity was
CHILDREN'S LIKING FOR ACTIVITY 211

assumed to be the same across all classes. Thus, a test that liking for any activity
waxes or wanes over time was a test of the null hypothesis that all 18 slopes
were zero.
EfSects of Activity Unit Repetition
The first test performed on the data set examined for changes in activity
liking over time. The repeated measures model included classroom-specificbase-
lines and activity-specific shift constants and slopes. The test showed a slight
trend, but it was nonsignificant at the standard alpha level (p < .089). It appeared,
then, that students had a stable level of liking for an activity unit that did not
change appreciably as they gained more experience with the unit, rather than
having an initial level of liking for a newly introduced activity that changed over
time. The interpretation of this result is that students' liking of specific activity
units did not change over time and that the addition of more lessons to an activity
unit did not make the activity more boring or enjoyable. Because the test was
nonsignificant, none of the remaining models and tests included slope terms.
Differences Among Activity Units
A second test, to examine for differences in students' liking of different
activity units, was of the null hypothesis that all activity-specific shift constants
were zero. The model that was fitted included classroom-specific baselines and
activity-specific shift constants. The test was highly significant ( p < .001). The
interpretation of this result is that students liked some activity units more than
others. As part of the S-plus repeated measures routine, a test of the classroom-
specific baselines was performed, and this indicated no statistically significant
differences among the eight different classrooms(p < .63). Thus, Table 1 combines
liking scores by activity unit for all eight classrooms, with activities being sorted
by fitted mean (Column 3). The "parachute" and "softball" units received
the highest liking scores. "Astronaut drills," "walk/jog/run," and "teacher-led
exercise" units, all of which emphasized engagement in cardiovascular activities
at relatively high intensity, received the lowest rankings.
Differences by Day of the Week
A third test was performed to examine differences in activity liking by the
day of the week. Just as it was assumed that each activity shifted each classroom's
baseline liking level by a classroom-independent constant, here it was assumed
that the day of the week shifts the preferences by a classroom-independent,
activity-independent constant. The model that was fitted included classroom-
specific baselines, activity-specific shift constants, and four day-specific shift
constants (with Wednesday selected as the reference category). A test for differ-
ences among the weekdays was a test of the null hypothesis that the four day-
specific shift constants were zero. This test was nonsignificant 0) < .523), and
the interpretation is that the day on which a classroom participated in an activity
had no effect on students' liking for it.
Difference Between Activity Unit Types
A fourth test was conducted to examine for differences in student liking
scores by the type of activity, with activity units being categorized into two
212 MCKENZIE, ALCARAZ, AND SALLIS

Table 2 Students' Mean Liking Scores for Skill-Related

and Health-Related Fitness Activity Units

Repeated
No. Raw data measures model
Activity units lessons M SD fitted M

Skill-related fitness 366 3.40 0.30 3.41

Health-related fitness 282 3.30 0.32 3.31
Total 648

types, health-related fitness and skill-related fitness. The model that was fitted
included classroom-specific baselines and one shift constant representing the
difference in liking levels between the health-related fitness and the skill-related
fitness units. The test for a difference between the two types of activities, which
was a test of the null hypothesis that the shift constant was zero, proved statistically
significant (p < .001). The interpretation of this result is that the children preferred
the skill-fitness units to the health-related-fitness units. As part of the S-plus
repeated measures routine, a test of the classroom-specific baselines was per-
formed, and it indicated no statistically significant differences among them (p <
.656). Thus, Table 2 reports liking scores by unit type, combining all eight
classrooms.
Difference Between Schools and Teachers
A fifth test was conducted to examine for differences in activity liking by
students from the two schools that participated in the study. In this case, to fit
classroom-specific baselines would defeat the purpose of finding differences
between the schools. Thus the model that was fitted included an intercept term
for the activity liking level of School A, a shift constant for the difference in
levels between School A and School B, and activity-specific shift constants. A
test for a difference in scores between the two schools was a test of the null
hypothesis that the shift constant for schools was zero. This test was nonsignificant
( p < .555) and was interpreted to mean that students' liking scores for activity
units did not differ significantly by the school they attended or the teacher that
taught them.
Difference Between Grades
A sixth test was conducted to examine for differences in students' liking
for activity units by grade level. As in the previous test, the inclusion of classroom-
specific baselines would defeat the goal of finding such differences. The model
fitted included an intercept term for the activity liking level of the fourth-grade
classes, a shift constant for the difference in levels between the fourth and fifth
graders, and activity-specific shift constants. A test for a difference in scores
between the two grades was a test of the null hypothesis that the shift constant
for grades was zero. This test was nonsignificant ( p < .681). The interpretation
CHILDREN'S LIKING FOR ACTIVITY 213

is that there was no difference between the two grades in their liking for each
activity unit.

Discussion
The most general finding from this study is that elementary school students
can evaluate components of a physical education curriculum and that those
evaluations may be useful in the revision of the curriculum. Although students
could make discriminations among activities, they "liked" or enjoyed all of the
activities in the curriculum. The mean rating varied from 3.15 to 3.62 on a 4-
point scale, indicating the average student felt all activities were between good
and excellent. The interpretation of these data is that the children were positive
about this specific cumculum. This is gratifying, because one of the goals of the
program was to engender positive feeling in the students toward physical activity.
For example, attempts were made each day to provide positive teacher-student
interactions, high success rates, ample equipment, and limited small-groupcompe-
tition. Unfortunately, no data are available to allow the liking of this program
to be compared to student evaluations of other cumcula.
One of the unexpected findings is that the ratings of activities did not
change over time as the units progressed. It was hoped that improved skills and
frequent praise would lead to greater enjoyment, but this was not found. It may
be possible, however, that the rating instrument had too small of a range ( 1 4 )
of choices to be able to discriminate differences in changes of liking a specific
activity over a short time period. There was also no evidence that students became
bored with doing the same types of activities for a number of weeks. The data
suggest that children begin an activity unit with a predisposition toward that
activity and that their opinion about the activity is not substantially changed by
a few weeks of doing it in physical education class.
There was a clear preference for skill-related over health-related activities.
It is interesting to speculate on the reasons for the difference. Health-related
activitiesmay be more strenuous and continuous than many skill-related activities,
and it has been shown that children prefer less strenuous activities (Epstein,
Smith, Vara, & Rodefer, 1991). The more frequent use of equipment or the
competition in skill-related activities may contribute to the children's preference
for them. Children in late elementary school may be more familiar with sports
such as basketball, soccer, and softball than continuous running. Determinants of
this difference should be investigated, and the results may be useful in developing
methods both for making health-related fitness activities more appealing to chil-
dren and for designing skill-related activities to produce more health-related
outcomes.
Despite the highly significantdifference between the ratings of skill-related
and health-related activities, the difference between means was small. Only one
tenth of a point separated the means, which is a 3% difference. Thus, the primary
interpretation remains that children liked all of the activity units.
Table 1 contains a great deal of information that may be useful in designing
an elementary physical education program that will be enjoyed by the students.
For example, there is some evidence that novelty may be an important factor in
children's liking of physical activity. The most liked activity unit was parachute,
214 MCKENZIE, ALCARAZ, AND SALLIS

which the children were unlikely to have experienced outside of physical educa-
tion. Walk/jog/run was almost the least preferred unit, but when running contained
an element of novelty, such as in run USA and run California, it was liked better.
Novelty is obviously not the only factor, because the least liked unit, astronaut
drills, also contained novel events, but these were done at a moderately high
intensity level. Though health-related activities were generally less liked, several
of them were in the top half of Table 1. Those included aerobic dance and fitness
circuits, both of which involve a variety of activities.
The units with traditional competitive team sports names tended to be
ranked in the middle of Table 1. These sports-related units included instruction,
drills, and some small-sided competitive games. The games, however, were
substantially different than those typically found in youth sport environments
because they were structured to provide more opportunities for the students to
learn motor skills while minimizing competition. It would be interesting in future
studies to assess children's liking for an activity in relation to level of competition
involved.
Day of week, child's grade level, and school were not associated with
children's ratings of activity units in physical education. In fact, the only factor
found to be associated with the ratings was type of activity. Thus, the specific
activities need to be considered carefully when designing a physical education
curriculum. A number of possible other factors were not assessed in this study,
such as teacher behavior, strenuousness of the activity, time of day, and weather.
A limitation of this study is that the children were from one suburban city,
so the limits of generalizability of these data are not known. Also, this was the
first year that students in these schools were involved in this particular curriculum.
Continued exposure to a curriculum might produce different results. Also, classes
were coeducational and students completed their activity liking forms anony-
mously. Therefore, an analysis could not be done to determine the possibility of
differences in liking for activity units by cultural or ethnic representation or by
gender. However, because enrollment patterns in different youth sport and dance
activities differ by gender, it is possible that gender differences in liking for
physical education units also exist. Additionally, all physical education classes
were taught by two teachers, so the impact of teacher characteristics needs to be
explored further. The strengths of the study included the large number of activity
units and separate lessons that were rated by a diverse group of students. Students
rated activities for almost an entire school year, so the interpretations in this
paper are based on a substantial amount of data.
This study demonstrates that children's opinions about elementary physical
education classes can be systematically collected, and these evaluations may be
useful in the design of physical education curricula. By taking the stated needs
and preferences of the group most directly affected by the curriculum into account,
the acceptability and ultimate effectiveness of the program may be enhanced.
Using methods commonly employed in planning community health interventions
(Green & Kreuter, 1991; Haglund et al., 1990), physical education curriculum
designers are encouraged to gather data from the "consumers" of their programs.
There are many elements of a physical education program that could be evaluated
by children, including teacher behavior, student or teacher choice of activities,
and emphasis on competition, in addition to activity units. Future research is
needed to determine whether physical education programs that are viewed more
CHILDREN'S LIKING FOR ACTIVITY 215

positively by children lead to more positive attitudes about physical activity and
to higher activity levels.

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Acknowledgments
This work, part of Project SPARK, was supported by grant HL44467, National
Institutes of Health. The authors acknowledge the assistance of L. Rapp and B.J. Williston
and the support and cooperation of the students, teachers, and administrators of the
Encinitas School District.