Date Approved

5-31-2004

Embargo Period

4-26-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in Educational Administration

Department

Educational Services and Leadership

College

College of Education

Advisor

Capasso, Ronald

Subject(s)

Aerobic exercises--Study and teaching (Secondary)--Delaware; Learning disabled children--Education (Secondary)--Delaware; Problem children--Education (Secondary)--Delaware

Disciplines

Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to research the effect aerobic exercise on the behavior of problematic students. The time period of exercise in this study was between 15 and 18 minutes, two days per week. Two types of aerobic exercise were used, running and progressive resistive exercise, in the form of circuit training. The subjects of study were special education students who had been evaluated to have behavioral problems. These students were then classified as Intensive Learner Centered or ILC and placed in self-contained classrooms. Each student received behavior and academic evaluations in each subject area daily. Evaluations were made using a Student Behavior Modification Card, which was also use as the instrumentation for the study. The same card scores were tabulated prior to aerobic exercise in each class period and then again after exercise for every class for the remainder of the student's day. The study found that exercise improved student behavior by 7.2791 percent in all classes after aerobic exercise. It was also discovered that in a three-month period of time, students' behavior before participating in exercise also improved by 4 percent. Certainly these percentages of behavioral improvements will manifest in improved student learning.

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