Exploring the impact of kindergarten scheduling on children's physical activity and classroom behaviour.

Abstract

The Ontario Ministry of Education implemented the new Early Learning Kindergarten (ELK) program province-wide in September 2014. The ELK program advocates for inquiry- and play-based learning, and the use of the outdoors. Some school boards have implemented a 60-minute outdoor exploration block replacing outdoor recess breaks. These changes have not been evaluated for their potential impact on both the physical activity levels and classroom behaviour of children while at school. This thesis investigated physical activity levels and classroom behaviour of children in the new ELK schedule, and in the Balanced School Day (BSD) schedule. The results suggest that children following the ELK program exhibit reduced physical activity levels, but greater academic engagement and less disruptive behaviour. Thus, results suggest that the ELK program provides benefits for students, but modifications are needed to ensure that adequate physical activity is introduced in early-year programming therefore providing a strong foundation for both education and physical activity.