Table 5.
Themes and codes on the feasibility and impact of co-designing high-intensity interval training workouts in the curriculum
| Theme | Participant Quotes |
|---|---|
| Code | |
| FEASIBILITY | |
| Acceptability | |
| Appropriateness |
So based on time, it was everything that they could have had, and I think the testament to the whole thing is probably the actual results that we got. (School two, teacher) It all seemed logical and there wasn’t there wasn’t a point where the kids were confused about what to do. Your instructions are very clear. The scaffolded sheet with the example was really good. They always need that gradual release of responsibility and an example. (School three, teacher) |
| Satisfaction | |
| Autonomy and choice |
The autonomy that they got from designing their own episodes or sessions made them more engaged because they’re not being told what to do. They get to actually have some choice. (School three, teacher) Instead of being assigned, we get to decide what to do. (School three, student) |
| Inclusive |
We all had ideas individually then [we] could discuss and decide on the most effective way, so [we] found this successful. (School one, student) Everyone designed equally, but maybe let every group come up with their own heart rate (HR) threshold then see what they are able to get and then decide on actual threshold. (School two, student) |
| Enjoyable and engaging |
Theory had less writing and was very interactive; I liked it. (School one, student) Yeah, the heart rate monitors were excellent because I said to [the researcher involved in the co-design], because I taught most of them last year, there’s quite a few in that class who don’t like PE and running. It’s so good to see them sprinting across the court because they’re looking at their heart rate. (School three, teacher) |
| Working with peers |
More group work and collaboration time was fun and encourages you to engage more and exposes you to more ideas than you may think of individually. (School one, student) It was beneficial cause I couldn’t have thought about the answer by myself. (School three, student) |
| Implementation | |
| Processes |
I remember [the researcher] and I had a conversation, and [the researcher asked if I thought] we should put them in groups or let them choose their groups. And I think that was a big difference. I think if we’d placed them in groups, they may not have been receptive because not everyone friends and it may not have been as successful. (School three, teacher) Delivery by students was too difficult. Maybe [in future] they demonstrate, but [the workout] is led by the teacher. (School one, teacher) |
| Facilitators of Implementation |
The initial barriers and facilitators activity with the sticky notes was just a nice different way of doing the session. You could have just literally got them to write it down and it would have been a lot different but getting up and grouping it was engaging and I think that was kind of a hook to begin with, like this is how it’s going to go. If it was you just talking, it would have been very different, so that was good. (School three, teacher) My favourite things about this was the heart rate monitors. (School three, student) |
| Challenges |
Sometimes confusing because most have different ideas and want different things. We had to agree so picked something that we all wanted to do. (School three, student) What was harder for us I guess was we had the one with where we jammed a few things in and the main one of them evaluating each other HIITs, we had like 15 min less because of the house choir day. It would have been better if they were able to do a few more of each other’s, but I think they did embrace it, definitely. (School two, teacher) |
| Integration | |
| Perceived fit in the curriculum |
We’re across the middle school from Years 7 to 9 so there’s obviously so many different descriptors we hit. There’s a couple of those that have health benefits. (School two, teacher) I think it was a bit hard this term, like our girls were doing softball and then this, but they’ve done a health and fitness unit last year for year seven, so it’s really complementing that because we’ve done some different workouts and different things, whether they remember them or not. So, it really complements that, but it’s really helpful for them to use in lessons just for fitness because there is a lack of fitness. (School three, teacher) |
| Perceived sustainability |
I would use some or all of [the workouts] because they got my heart rate up and were beneficial. (School one, student) [I would continue to use] the barriers and facilitators, figuring out why young people don’t like to exercise or what motivates them to, because if we can get past that, then that’s a good starting point. (School three, teacher) |
| Future suggestions |
Maybe not 10 min, maybe 5 min and they repeat. Students struggled to find that many exercises for a theme and forget that they can repeat. (School one, teacher) Maybe more encouragement and use music during our HIIT workout to hype up students. (School three, student) |
| IMPACT | |
| Educative outcomes | |
| Health benefits of HIIT |
We learned what a HIIT workout was and the health benefits of HIIT. We learned about the factors that influence fitness and the types of fitness. (School one, student) I learnt that exercise is important for your health and don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. (School three, student) |
| HIIT specific knowledge |
I learnt how to reach a high intensity in a short amount of time; I learnt what HIIT is and what it is about. (School one, student) I mean before [Steph] did that theory lesson, they had no idea what high intensity was. Where you did that activity - stand here, here or here with the intensity – and that’s their curriculum correlation. They’ve never known that. (School two, teacher) |
| Student barriers and facilitators to exercise |
I learnt that you can push yourself further than you thought. You actually feel good after workout. (School three, student) My favourite part was the sticky notes. Seeing people didn’t work out for the same reasons. (School three, student) |
| Perceived changes to lessons | |
|
An activity like this or this kind of session allows them to have that autonomy; participation; they can learn from each other. It’s just different to what we’re typically used. (School three, teacher) [We] created our own instead of mindlessly going with what the teacher says. (School three, student) |
|
| Personal and social capabilities | |
|
[I was able to] expand my social skills when co-creating HIIT exercises. (School one, student) They learn a lot of like management skills and like how to cooperate with each other and that not every person’s opinion is going to be used. (School three, teacher) |
|
Themes and codes generated from semi-structured interviews with teachers, discussion groups with students, and student surveys, related to the co-design of HIIT workouts within the HPE curriculum. This table only includes two illustrative participant quotes per code, thereby providing a summary of the full dataset. School and participant information have been included in round brackets. When necessary, the subject of a sentence has been added in square brackets or tense corrected