Investigation of primary and secondary school students' physical fitness and their attitudes towards physical education lesson

This investigation was made to determine the physical fitness of the primary and secondary school students', to determine the students' attitudes towards physical education lesson and to determine the relation between the students physical fitness and their attitudes towards physical education lesson.The study group is formed from the randomly selected total of 960 students attending the primary schools (4-8th grades) and students of secondary schools (9-11th grades) from the city of Delice (Kırıkkale) during the spring term of 2006-07 Academic Year.In the investigation, questionnaire and measurements were used as data gathering tools. In the questionnaire applied, the first part was formed by questions to determine the students' personal information. The second part of the quetionnaire is Related to attitude scale concerning physical education and sports (BESTÖ) which was developed by Demirhan and Altay.In the investigation, measurements of physical fitness of the students were also performed. In the measurements, 'Physical Best Test' (AAHPERD) (USA, 1989) battery was used.In the evaluation of the data, t-Test and one-way/two way Variance Analysis (Anova), Tukey HSD test and correlation analysis (Pearson) tests were applied.The significance level was determined as 0.5.As the result of the investigation:1) A meaningful difference was found between the students' heights, weights and physical fitness values. According to gender; there were significant differences between the students? height, weight and all the physical fitness parameters appropriate to their development periods at the same grades. Meaningful differences were found between the students' heights, weights and physical fitness values (except 1 mile run/walk test) and some of their personal specifications.2) The attitudes of the students towards physical education lesson was found positive. A difference in a meaningful scale was found between the students' attitudes towards physical education lesson according to their grades, genders, ages and their school successes. A difference in a meaningful scale was not found between the students' attitudes towards physical education lesson according to their living environments, mother's and father's education and economical status.3) According to all grades, a positive relation in a meaningful scale was found between the students' attitudes towards physical education lesson and their sit and reach test results, sit-ups, endurance (1 mile run/walk distance); and a meaningful relation at a significant level was found between the students heights, weights and skinfold sums. A meaningful relation between the students' pull-ups in the barfix and their attitudes towards physical education lesson was not found.Keywords: Primary School, Secondary School, Physical Education Lesson, Physical Fitness, Attitude