Body Mass Index: Factor Affecting the Physical Education Performance

Task of Northern Bukidnon Community College Students

Introduction

Physical fitness is important in performing everyday tasks. In order to

live up to one’s potential, an individual must be in optimum shape (physical

and mental) to meet the many demands of life. One indicator of physical fitness

is Body Mass Index or BMI. The general understanding is that a normal BMI

(indicatively healthy) means that a person is capable of performing activities.

An individual’s BMI highly determines his ability to effectively perform tasks.

Physical education is a subject that requires students to perform many

physical activities. It is deemed to be the subject on the school curriculum that

enables learners to develop foundational movement skills and builds the

knowledge and understanding needed to lead physically active lifestyles (). Its

general objective, as stated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution Republic Act 14

Section 19, is to “promote physical education and encourage sports programs,

league competitions, and amateur sports, including training for international

competitions, to foster teamwork and excellence for the development of a

healthy and alert citizenry.”

One of the tools used to gauge an individual’s ability to perform certain

tasks is the Body Mass Index or BMI. Although it is commonly used in a

health-setting to classify humans as underweight, normal weight, overweight,

and obese, its application on determining an individual’s ability to meet the

requirements of performance tasks has been an object of interest. In a study

conducted chiefly among young populations, BMI is associated with reduced

physical fitness. The study reveals that the groups with lower or normal BMI

perform better in physical fitness tests (PFT)—especially among the sports

population—the than overweight/obese (Chow et.al., 2011)). While the findings

of the study would be attributed to the association of BMI with fat mass, which

limits to a certain degree of physical abilities, one cannot expect the same

association between BMI and performance task.

The objective of the therefore is to examine the relationship between BMI

and performance tasks of students taking Physical Education. It will show how

students under BMI categories (underweight, normal, overweight, and obese)

score on assigned performance tasks. Specifically, it will test if individuals that

are categorically normal in terms of BMI fair better in performance tasks as

compared to other groups. It will offer better understanding of the role of BMI

in students’ success in performance tasks in Physical Education.

Theoretical Framework

The present study will be anchored on motor skill learning theories and

social learning theory. Motor skill learning theories are classified into two,

namely linear theories and non-linear theories.

Information Processing Theory

Information processing theory suggests that information enters through

the sensory system (e.g., visual, auditory, proprioceptive) and similar to a

computer, is encoded and stored in either short- or long-term memory,

depending upon the importance of the information (Schimdt et. al., 2018). The

central nervous system functions like the “hardware” whose function is to

“order, monitor, select, and organize information, which internalized

prescription of movement, coded as symbolic knowledge structures.” This

understanding suggests that movement is process first in the brain, which

builds up or strengthens over time through learning process, suggesting that

plan of action can occur before movement emerges. Learning therefore is

reflective of the maturation of a mental model and is gradual and linear.

Repetition of a skill enables learners to be skilled movers.

On the other hand, development of skill progresses through three observable

stages of learning: cognitive, associative, and autonomous. In the cognitive

stage, the learner becomes overwhelmed with information. The learner’s

attention is primarily directed towards the understanding of the goal-oriented

movement and the elaboration of a plan of action. Because of its high

attentional/cognitive load, a learner will often find difficulty in the execution

resulting to errors. In the associative stage, the learner understands the goal-

directed movement. Through repeated practice, there is a reduction of

attentional demands, resulting to reduction of variability in the movement—or

the reduction of the discrepancy between the intended and the actual

performance. In the autonomous stage, there is a significantly lower conscious

thought processes in skill execution so that the movements become more

accurate and coordinated.

 Nonlinear Pedagogy

Nonlinear pedagogy (NP) is an offshoot of the theory of Ecological

Dynamics. It emphasizes exploration and discovery. It claims that learning is

not linear, but instead it is “sudden and abrupt transitions in system

organization and is due to self-organizing behaviors that evolve through

dynamical interactions between system elements. The approach also suggests

that goal-directed movements result from the interaction between personal,

environmental, and task constraints. The key role of the teacher is to first

“appreciate and recognize the observable characteristics of self-organization of

movement behavior and then to strategically design environments and initiate

teaching moments.” The environment should challenge the learners to problem

solve functional and adaptive movement solutions. The interaction between the

specified environment and functional abilities of individual learners allows

learners to distinguish what is possible and what is not for movement

responses, “allowing the learner to self-discover and problem solve with a high

degree of autonomy. In essence, as the learners progress, they become more

accomplished problem solvers and more flexible in the way they adapt to

changes in environmental demands of the PE lesson (Chow et. al., 2011).

Conceptual Framework

The present research general focuses on the effect of Body Mass Index

(BMI) on the task performance of Northern Bukidnon Community College.

 The independent variable of the study is the Body Mass Index (BMI).

Students will be grouped as underweight, normal, overweight, and obese. The

study will determine the performance of each group in PE performance task.

The dependent variable of the study is the performance task of students

in PE. The performance task includes activities or tasks prescribed in the

course syllabus.
 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Physical Education
Student’s Body Mass Index
Performance Task

Fig. 1 Schematic presentation of the conceptual framework of the

study.
Statement of the Problem

The study aims to determine the effect of students’ Body Mass Index

(BMI) to their performance task in Physical Education (PE).

Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Age;

1.2 Gender;

1.3 Body Mass Index?

2. What is the proficiency level of the respondents in terms of Physical

Education Tasks performance?

3. Is there a significant relationship between students’ Body Mass Index

(BMI) and their Physical Education Performance Tasks?

H0: There is no significant relationship between the Body Mass Index (BMI)

and the performance task of the respondents.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study seeks to determine the effect of Body Mass Index (BMI) to the

performance task of students of Northern Bukidnon Community College

students for School Year 2019-2020. The researcher will compute the BMI of

the students and group them accordingly: underweight, normal, overweight,

obese. The relationship of their BMI to their scores in the performance task of

Physical Education will be analyzed, to determine if their BMI affects their

performance task scores.

 The study only considers the BMI and how it affects the performance

task. There are however many factors that can influence how students perform

tasks such as their emotional disposition, environment features, or their

natural abilities—for instance, some of them may be kinesthetically inclined

which may influence their performance.

Significance of the Study

The study aims to have a better understanding of the role the BMI plays

on the task performance of students. This study is considered important for its

reasons and interests as well as the profit of the following individuals:

Students. Knowing that their BMI or Body Mass Index may affect their

performance, the students will be more responsible in monitoring their weight

as a way to take care of their health which can greatly impact their ability to

accomplish tasks.

Parents. Through the result of this research, the parents will be

encouraged to ensure that their children are in their optimum conditions of

perfect health.

Teachers. The result of the study will remind the teachers to ensure that

their classroom promotes healthy choices—that they may remind their

students to maintain a healthy body in order for them to do well in their

performance tasks.

School Administrators. Understanding the role of BMI in task

performance and overall academic performance, they may create programs and
policies that will encourage students to be healthy and at the same time

provide them with the support necessary to ensure their health.

Future Researchers. The study hopes to encourage other researchers to

look into the role of BMI in the performance of tasks. This study will give them

data that will give better understanding on how BMI affects task performance.

Definition of Terms

The following are terms with their corresponding meaning to help the

readers understand the study better. These are defined operationally.

Body Mass Index (BMI). It is a measurement of a person’s weight with

respect to his or her height. It is more of an indicator than a direct

measurement of a person’s total body fat. More often than not, it correlates

with total body fat, which means that as the BMI score increases, so does a

person’s body fat.

Performance Task. A performance task is any learning activity or

assessment of either written or oral that is asked to the students to perform

and demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency. Performance

task yield a tangible product that serves as evidence of learning. In this study,

performance task and task performance may be used interchangeably.

Physical Education. Physical education is a course taught in school that

focuses on developing physical fitness and the ability to perform and enjoy day-

to-day physical activities with ease. It helps students develop physical skills

and confidence. It also develops physical fitness and fosters the desire for

lifelong participation in physical activity.

References

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Learning design for self-organizing neurobiological systems. New Ideas.

Psychol. 2011, 29, 189-200.

Nikolaidis, P.T. & Ingebrigtsen, J. (2013). “The relationship between body mass

index and physical fitness in adolescent and adult male handball

players.” Retrieved 15 Nov. 2019 from

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/2591452245

Schmidt, R.; Lee, T.; Winstein, Zelaznik, H. Motor Control and Learning: A

Behavioral Emphasis; Human kinetics: Champaign, IL, USA, 2018.