Evaluating the Effects of Exergaming on Physical Activity Among Inactive Children in a Physical Education Classroom

Childhood obesity is a serious concern that requires the attention of the behavioral community. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2007) recommends that children engage in physical activity for 60 minutes per day. Children spend the majority of their day in school, making school an ideal environment to increase the opportunity for physical activity. Simple, straightforward interventions that can be applied in the school setting, which take into consideration the environment and focus on maintenance by making the process of engaging in physical activity reinforcing, are greatly needed. Video games have been noted in the literature as a contributor to childhood obesity; however, newer video gaming technology, called exergaming, has been designed to capitalize on the reinforcing effects of video games to increase physical activity in children. This study evaluated the effects of exergaming on physical activity among four inactive children in a physical education classroom. Results showed that the exergaming condition produced substantially more minutes of physical activity than the PE condition. In addition, the exergaming condition was socially acceptable to both the students and the PE teacher. Exergaming appears to hold promise as a method for increasing physical activity among inactive children and might be a possible intervention for childhood obesity