Visit the National Academies Press online and register for

Educating the Student Body
TAbLE 2-1 Estimated Current and Potential Minutes of Vigorous- 
or Moderate-Intensity Physical Activity on School Days for Physical 
Education, Classroom Physical Activity, Recess, Total School Hours, 
Active Transport, and After-School Sports and Activity Programs for 
Elementary, Middle, and High School Students
Physical Education
Estimated Current 
Minutes
If Daily Physical 
Education (min)
If Enhanced Daily Physical 
Education (min)
Elementary
4
11
15
Middle
4
16
23
High
4
16
23
Classroom 
Physical Activity
Estimated Current 
Minutes
If Enhanced Classroom 
Activity (min)
Elementary
?
≥
19
Middle
?
≥
19
High
?
≥
19
Recess
Estimated Current 
Minutes
If Enhanced Recess (min)
Elementary
9
14
Middle
9 
14
High
Not applicable
Not applicable
Total School 
Hours
Estimated Current 
Minutes
If Daily Physical 
Education (min)
If Enhanced Daily Physical 
Education, Classroom 
Activity, and Recess (min)
Elementary
≥
15
≥
21
≥
49
Middle
≥
15
≥
26
≥
57
High
≥ 
5
≥
21
≥
42
Active Transport 
(walking/biking)
Estimated Current 
Minutes
If Proportion of Students 
using Active Transport 
Doubled (min)
Elementary
2
4
Middle
2
4
High
1
3
After-School 
Activity Programs
Estimated Current 
Minutes
If All Students Participated 
(min)
Elementary
?
≥
10
Middle
?
≥
10
High
?
≥
10
SOURCES: Simons-Morton et al., 1993, 1994; McKenzie et al., 1996, 2006; Sallis et al., 
1997; Belsky et al., 2003; Ridgers et al., 2005; Delva et al., 2006; Tudor-Locke et al., 2006; 
Lee et al., 2007; Fairclough et al., 2012; Gauthier et al., 2012; Rush et al., 2012; Bassett et 
al., 2013.

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Status and Trends of Physical Activity Behaviors and Related School Policies
 
61
education were increased to 50 percent through the use of standardized 
high-quality physical education programs, the average time per day would 
increase to 15 minutes and 23 minutes for elementary and middle school 
students, respectively. High school students also average 2 days per week 
of physical education classes (Delva et al., 2006). If the proportion of 
time they spent in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity during 
physical education were assumed to be similar to that for primary school 
students, they would average 4 minutes per day currently, 16 minutes per 
day if they attended the classes daily, and 23 minutes per day if the classes 
were both daily and of high quality (see Table 2-1). These estimates are a 
bit lower than those in a recent analysis (Bassett et al., 2013).
Classroom Physical Activity
Information is insufficient with which to estimate the amount of 
vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity in which an average stu-
dent engages during usual instructional classroom time. As noted earlier, it 
is estimated that classroom physical activity could add 19 minutes of such 
activity to every school day (Bassett et al., 2013), perhaps at the primary 
and secondary school levels (see Table 2-1).
Recess
An estimated 97 percent of primary schools have regularly scheduled 
recess for about 30 minutes per day (Lee et al., 2007), and children spend 
roughly 30 percent of their time at recess doing vigorous- or moderate-
intensity physical activity (Ridgers et al., 2005), for an estimated average 
time per day in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity during 
recess of 9 minutes. As noted, enhanced-quality recess (e.g., providing age-
appropriate equipment, blacktop games, adult encouragement and supervi-
sion) could add an estimated 5 minutes (Bassett et al., 2013), for a total of 
14 minutes per day (see Table 2-1).
Total During School Hours
The committee found few estimates of total vigorous- or moderate-
intensity physical activity or step counts during school hours. The estimates 
it did find are from a limited number of schools and only one in the United 
States (Tudor-Locke et al., 2006; Fairclough et al., 2012; Gauthier et al., 
2012; Rush et al., 2012). Together, these estimates suggest that about 
40 percent of the usual volume of physical activity takes place during 
school hours, but no estimate of the total energy expenditure or time in 
vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity was available. The esti-
mates in Table 2-1 suggest that primary school students currently spend at 

---

Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
62