Browsing by Subject "fysisk aktivitet"
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(2023)Aims This study aims to explore teachers in Aland Islands,' perspectives on the relationship between students' physical activity and mental health, aiming to understand teachers' efforts to promote both aspects and raise awareness of their significance. In today's society, students tend to be increasingly sedentary, coinciding with a rise in mental health issues among them. Particularly in Aland Island,, alarming statistics have emerged in the past year, indicating higher rates of mental health challenges compared to the rest of Finland. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how teachers in Åland perceive this relationship and what measures they take to promote both physical activity and mental health among their students.To gain insights into this connection, the following research questions were formulated: What importance do teachers in Åland attribute to physical activity for students' mental health? What importance do teachers in Åland attribute to students' mental health for their physical activity? How do teachers work to increase students' physical activity and promote their mental health? How do teachers describe the relationship between students' physical activity and mental health? Methods This dissertation employed a qualitative research method with a narrative analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three active teachers in Åland for data collection. The collected material then generated three unique narratives serving as responses to the central research questions in the dissertation. Results Teachers emphasized the positive effects of physical activity on students' mental health, citing increased energy, joy, improved social interaction, concentration, and stress management. At the same time, the teachers said that students' mental health can influence their conditions, endurance, and motivation to engage in physical activity.Students facing mental health challenges might struggle to find motivation and energy to engage in physical activity. To promote both physical activity and mental health, schools in Åland participated in various events and break-time activities. Ultimately, the study participants were convinced that there was a connection between students' physical activity and their mental health, even though the extent of this connection could vary. This thesis raised awareness of the link between physical activity and mental health, providing insights into how teachers in Åland worked to support students' well-being. It also emphasized the need for additional resources and support, especially in the field of school psychology, to effectively address these challenges and promote students' health and well-being.
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(2023)The aim of the current study was to broaden the understanding for the relationship between physical activity and working memory among primary school students. In addition, I aimed to investigate the level of physical activity among the students. Prior research implies that students who are more active and are in better condition, also tend to have better memory. The current study is a quantitative survey study. The survey was developed to measure students’ physical activity and was filled out by 54 sixth graders during their school day. The survey consisted of questions concerning how they go to school, school break activities, spare time activities, and hobbies. First, students filled out the questionnaire, and after that, they participated in a working memory test. The working memory test consisted of a digit span test forward and a digit span test backward. The results from the current survey study indicate that boys who are more physically active seem to have a larger working memory capacity than those less active. The differences were most noticeable in the forward digit span test. Similar differences were not observed among girls. However, the level of physical activity among the tested girls was clearly under the national average, hence, no strong conclusions can be drawn.
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(2020)Purpose: Studies show that Finnish children and youth are insufficiently physically active. The program Liikkuva koulu (author’s free translation from Finnish: ”A school in motion”) began as a pilot project in 2010, but has since grown to be a nationwide program. The aim of the program is to provide students with physically more active and pleasant schooldays, to support their learning and increase their well-being. The activity itself for Liikkuva koulu can in many ways be seen to require a student-focused approach to teaching. Thus the theoretical background for this study came to comprise of ”Approaches to Teaching” by Prosser & Trigwell (1999). The aim of this study is to examine teachers’ experiences of physical activity as a part of their teaching. Furthermore an objective for this study is to explore in what way a teacher’s approach to teaching may relate to those experiences and execution of physically active lessons. Methods: The research was conducted as a quantitative study. A survey was sent to five Swedish-speaking elementary schools within the Helsinki region. The survey included 30 multiple-choice questions/statements along with 4 open-ended questions. A total of N = 27 teachers participated in the study by responding to the survey. The data was mainly analyzed quantitatively (qualitative data analysis was applied to the open-ended questions). Results and conclusions: The teachers mainly implemented physically active lessons and their experiences of Liikkuva koulu were as well mainly positive. For many of these positive experiences, they correlated with each other. The teachers reported mainly a student-focused approach to teaching. The study found a correlation between higher teacher-focused approach to teaching and a stronger experience of Liikkuva koulu being experienced as an additional burden within teaching. There was also a dim correlation between the teacher’s (increased) age and less experience of Liikkuva koulu providing for increased students’ participation.
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(2019)According to research, physical activity improves cognitive functioning and is associated with academic achievement. College students sit on average more than other adults and there seems to be a lack of functional learning methods, especially at university level. The purpose of this study is to examine how students experience learning while cycling on a stationary bike during a course in neuroscience. The aim is to examine the students’ experiences, both positive and negative. Their experiences are further examined through an age-related perspective. Learning is explored through the following pre-chosen themes: memory, motivation, attention, concentration and arousal with included theories. Classroom environments can also have an impact on learning. Therefore, environmental factors in the classroom, and how students perceived these factors as having an influence on their learning, are outlined. The study was conducted as a qualitative case study. The data was collected during the fall of 2018 and the sample consisted of nine university students. The participants were interviewed with a semi-structured interview design. The participants were divided into three age groups: group 1 (21, 23 & 25- year olds), group 2 (31, 33 & 37-year olds) and group 3 (51, 52 & 56-year olds). The data was analysed using a theory-based content analysis. The results demonstrate an overall successful and positive learning experience. Motivation, attention, concentration, memory and arousal were experienced a bit differently by the participants. The best learning was experienced by group three while there was more variation in groups one and two. Cycling was experienced as improving learning for most students. Surprisingly, one student lacked motivation regarding the course material, but experienced an improvement in learning during cycling, while another student perceived the course material as interesting, but had trouble concentrating in class. The results in this study supplement previous research and show that learning is mostly experienced as successful during in-class cycling. The results could be used to reduce students’ sedentary time and for academic achievement.
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