Student activity levels, lesson context, and teacher behavior during middle school physical education

There is little research on students' engagement in physical activity in mi ddle school physical education (PE). We observed student activity, lesson c ontext, and teacher behavior in 430 PE lessons taught by 126 teachers in 24 schools. Variables were analyzed by mixed-model nested analyses of convari ance. Boys were more active than girls overall and during skill drills, gam e play, and free play. Student activity varied by lesson context, with fitn ess activities producing the most activity. daily PE contributed a weekly t otal of 25 min of vigorous activity and 83 min of moderate-to-vigorous acti vity-much less than national objectives. Results suggest that numerous oppo rtunities exist for increasing student physical activity during middle scho ol PE.