Children spend a considerable amount of time in school, making it particularly important to understand the impact of the school environment on children's physical activity. The purpose of this study by Fjørtoft and colleagues was to investigate how children use their schoolyard during recess and what facilitate characteristics of the schoolyard environment tend to facilitate children's physical activity in those settings. The overall context for this study was to better understand conditions that promote children's physical activity since, as the authors state, “physical activity is the number one recommendation for a healthy lifestyle throughout the lifespan.”
A total of 70 6-year-old children at two different schoolyards in Southern Norway were the subjects of this study. The two schools differed in their location and schoolyard design: one schoolyard was located in a city and had an asphalt area and soccer field, while the other schoolyard was located in a rural area and had an asphalt area and small forest. Researchers used global positioning system technology to track children's movement in each schoolyard, heart rate monitors to measure children's physical activity, and geographic information systems to examine linkages between environmental characteristics and children's movement and physical activity.
In analyzing the data, Fjørtoft and colleagues found that children's physical activity levels were similar in both schoolyards, however, different areas of the schoolyards supported different types of physical activity and different uses were dependent on gender. For example, asphalt areas facilitated running and soccer play and were used more by boys than girls, while girls favored the forest area for physical activity. In addition, Fjørtoft and colleagues found that children at both schoolyards were physically active at moderate and vigorous levels for about 20 minutes of their 40 minute recess.
This study highlights the opportunity that exists to increase children's physical activity levels during school and the importance of investigating environmental factors that support boys' and girls' physical activity. Based on their findings, the authors recommend more attractive landscapes and other enhanced environmental attributes of schoolyards to encourage and facilitate children's increased physical activity.
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