The Efficacy of the TEACH e-Learning Course at Improving Early Childhood Education Students’ Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Related Self-Efficacy, Knowledge, Intentions, and Perceived Behavioural Control
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Promoting high levels of physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour in early childhood is essential for children’s health and wellbeing. However, despite existing recommendations, pre-service early childhood educators do not receive adequate training to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour among young children in childcare settings. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the TEACH e-Learning course in enhancing physical activity and sedentary behaviour-related self-efficacy, knowledge, and behavioural intentions among a sample of pre-service early childhood educators (ECEs) across Canada. For this study, a quasi-experimental design was used, with participants (175 intervention, 117 comparison) recruited from 19 English-speaking Canadian colleges and universities offering pre-service ECE programs. The intervention group completed a 4-module e-Learning course on physical activity and sedentary behaviour, including subtopics on risky play and screen time. Data were collected at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up using validated questionnaires. Changes in outcomes (e.g., self-efficacy, knowledge, behaviour intentions and control) were examined using linear mixed-effects models. Significant improvements were observed in the intervention group’s task self-efficacy (d = 0.54), knowledge of physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines (d = 0.66), and intentions to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour (0.38 ≤ d ≤ 0.44) post-intervention compared to the comparison group. However, these gains were not sustained at the 3-month follow-up. Perceived behavioural control showed limited improvement, and the intervention did not significantly impact intentions to avoid screen time. The TEACH e-Learning course improved short-term self-efficacy, knowledge, and behavioural intentions related to physical activity and sedentary behaviour among pre-service ECEs. However, the results of this study have shown that there are factors affecting desired outcomes that can not be adequately resolved through short-term training. Integrating such courses into pre-service training programs could enhance ECEs’ competencies in promoting physical activity, benefiting children’s long-term health. Further research should explore more long-term strategies to promote retention of increases in self-efficacy, knowledge and behavioural intentions related to physical activity and sedentary behaviour among ECEs.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.003 | 0.006 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".