Public seminar - Physical Activity and Nutrition

This event was held on Thursday 3 December 2015

This public seminar hosted by the University of Newcastle Priority Research Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition presents Professor Jo Salmon from Deakin University, Australia.

How to increase children's physical activity and reduce their sitting for just 8c per child a day: the Transform-Us! program

Prof Jo Salmon

Professor Jo Salmon

Deakin University, Australia

With just 22% of boys and 20% of girls engaging in the recommended 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity every day, schools are becoming increasingly important as settings for promoting children's physical activity. Beyond physical education, time spent in class and recess and lunch time are key periods of the day during which children's activity levels could be increased. However, research by Professor Salmon has found that approximately 60% of the school day is spent sitting. This keynote will draw on the latest evidence to highlight the difference a whole school approach to reduce sitting and promote physical activity can make in the lives of primary school children. Prof Salmon will draw on results from a low cost 30-month randomised controlled trial testing the effectiveness of the Transform-Us! program in 20 primary schools in Melbourne. She will demonstrate how relatively minor changes to the environment and classroom pedagogy can positively impact children's sedentary behaviour, activity levels, concentration in class and other important health variables. How similar strategies can be applied in the secondary and tertiary education settings will also be considered.

Alfred Deakin Professor Jo Salmon's research focus is on promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour among children and youth. She has been a Chief Investigator on 24 nationally-funded studies worth >$11.6 million and 12 international studies worth US$6.7 million, and has been conducting research with schools and families for 15 years. Her studies have involved developing and testing strategies to reduce children's discretionary screen time at home (Switch-Play, 2008), and examining the efficacy of pedagogical and environmental changes in the school environment to reduce sitting time and increase physical activity during class time, recess and lunch breaks as well as after school hours (Transform-Us!, 2009-2013).. She also holds a National Health & Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellowship which supports her in a full-time research role, and is President Elect of the International Society for Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity which has more than 600 members.