The Jig Experiment: Development and Evaluation of a Cultural Dance Active Video Game for Promoting Youth Fitness

ABSTRACT

School physical education teachers promote fitness by offering children a variety of aerobic activities. Our interdisciplinary team developed a cultural dance active video game (AVG) and tested whether the AVG was equivalent to traditional face-to-face instructor lessons or hybrid instruction at dance mastery, increasing heart rates, and student satisfaction. The study participants (N = 404) were elementary children, Grades 1 to 5, at a Midwestern suburban school. We employed a quasi-experimental design to compare outcomes across groups of children exposed to different teaching approaches. Group 1 received AVG instruction. Group 2 received face-to-face lessons by a certified Irish dance teacher. Group 3 received AVG and face-to-face lessons. Group assignment was stratified by age, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. During daily physical education class, students received five days of intervention exposure. AVG students achieved comparable levels of mastery, significantly elevated heart rates, and high levels of satisfaction.

KEYWORDS:

• Active video games
• childhood obesity
• learning
• quasi-experimental
• virtual reality

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Hawthorn Community Consolidated School District students; Dr. Lisa Leali and Katie Waggoner; Katie Hughes T.C.R.G and the Hughes-Farrelly School of Irish Dance; Purdue University Northwest's Dr. Chenn Zhou, John Moreland Lucas Phillips, Jerry Dekker, and Dr. Martin Battle.