The Development of Physical Education Programs to Enhance the Executive Functions of Primary School Students

Abstract

Problem Statement: To develop students’ potential to become the main force of a country's future development, it is important to encourage their growth in every aspect: physical, mental, social, emotional, and intellectual. The purposes of this study were the development of a physical education program to enhance executive function in primary school students and to study the efficiency of physical education programs to enhance the executive function of primary school students.

Approach: The subjects of this study were 30 students aged 7-9 years, who were selected using a multi-stage random sampling method. The research instruments consisted of a structured interview form (physical education program), a computer-based cognitive ability test using the Trail Making test, the Eriksen flanker task, and an assessment form for the executive function behavior of primary school students. The physical education program was applied to the experimental group for 8 weeks, with 3 sessions per week at 60 minutes each. They were tested before the trial, after, and after a follow-up period of four weeks. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance and paired sample t-tests were used to compare executive function at pre-test, post-trial, and the follow-up periods, resulting in 95% confidence interval.

Results: The results found that physical education programs have an Index of Item Objective Congruence of .92 and the executive function of the experimental group after the trial and the follow-up period were better compared to before the trial—statistically significant at .05. However, there was no difference on comparing the post-trial with the follow-up period.

Conclusions: The physical education program encourages movement in every part of the body and stimulates executive function of primary school students when performed regularly.