Research+Design+&+Procedures


 * Research Design & Procedures **

A variation of the Nonequivalent Control Group Design will be used. The Gates-MacGinitie reading test will be given at the beginning of the school year to all incoming sixth grade students assigned to regular education reading/language arts classes of three Tulsa Public Middle Schools (estimated population 120 students per school). The reading/language arts teachers at two of the three schools will be randomly assigned to use either movement to enhance learning within the confines of the classroom or to spend twenty minutes of each ninety minute class period with students involved in aerobic activity. One teacher will be assigned to the control group and teach in a more traditional teaching style. Permission from the review board at Oklahoma State University, as well as from the Tulsa Public Schools School Board will be obtained. Inclusion criteria for students will include attending any one of three Tulsa Public Middle Schools involved in the study as a sixth grader in regular education language arts/reading classes. Inclusion criteria for teachers will include a willingness to participate in the study, a willingness of two of the teachers to dedicate part of each class period to movement. Selection will also be based upon having a reputation of being an effective classroom teacher. Inclusion criteria for the schools will include block scheduling (90 minute class periods) as well as having a teacher in the building willing to participate in the study.