Abstract
Physical education starting at the elementary school level has the responsibility of giving our children a positive, motivational, and educational experience to foster their physical, emotional, and mental development (Grahm et al., 2007; Tharnett et al., 2007; CDC, 2009;Carlisle, 2009; & Siedentop, 1998) . Research shows that positive experiences, habits, and behaviors learned in elementary physical education help students to carry on those healthy habits and behaviors into adulthood (CDC, 2009). One predominate activity used in physical education is running and there is little to no research in elementary children’s attitudes towards those running activities. The purpose of this study is to be a preliminary step in exploring the phenomenon of elementary children’s attitudes towards running activities in physical education. The study will include 6th grade students at three elementary schools in California’s central valley. The instrument that will be used to measure student attitudes is the Inventory for the Assessment of Children’s Attitudes Toward Physical Activity (CATPA). Scoring was tallied by counting each subdomain’s 5-point scale with five bipolar adjectives with the maximum score for each subdomain being 25 points. Descriptive statistics was calculated for each of the seven subdomains of the CATPA and mean values of scores on the subdomains will be ranked for each group. Separate mean values were calculated to see if there are any differences between girls and boys and between sport participants and non-sport participants. Across all groups, findings suggest that sixth grade participants understand the fitness and health value of running activities, yet do not find high levels of enjoyment in running activities. Social continuation and growth are highly appreciated throughout all sixth grade participating groups.