Running Head: FINAL FOUR EVENT

PPE 310: Health Literacy for Schools

Final Four Event
Signature Assignment
Brianna Nuez and Ashley McMillian
Course #79588

FINAL FOUR EVENT

Introduction
The Final Four is known as the last four teams to be in the NCAA basketball playoff
tournament. The first Final Four to ever happen took place in 1939. In 2017 the Final Four will
be taken place in Phoenix, Arizona. The Final Four is taken place from March31st- April 3rd at
University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.
During this Final Four weekend, there will be an event taken place for children in
elementary school. For this event a mini-festival will be taken place that promotes physical
activity and healthy habits for kids. At the mini-festival there will be a total of eight activities for
children to partake in. The activities will include, A Day in The Life of a Basketball Player, Crab
Walk Basketball, Rhythm With Basketball, Dribble Battle, Rethink Your Drink, Grocery Store
Scavenger Hunt, My Plate Craft Station, and Nutrition Poster. For more information on the event
please visit http://finalfourasu.weebly.com/.
Literature Review
Being a Fit Kid: Nutrition and Physical Activity for the Fourth Grade analyze the
program Be a Fit Kid. The content of this article describes the fitness-emphasized physical
activity and heart-healthy program for elementary school students. The purpose of this article is
promote the following; healthy choices for children, prevention of diseases, and school based
nutrition and physical education. The results from the Be a Fit Kid program that were discussed
in the article suggest there should be physical activity and nutrition programs in the school
curriculum.
The next article is Effects of a Brief Physical Activity Program on Young Students
Physical Fitness. The purpose was to test if a brief physical activity performed daily could
increase the childrens fitness and compare forms of intervention delivery. During research there

FINAL FOUR EVENT

were two groups of children who had to increase their physical activity by six minutes a day. The
principal of the school was in charge of one group and the classroom teachers were in charge of
the second group. Studies show that a six minute increase in a childs physical activity can
produce improvement in their fitness level.
Physical Activity Before and After School discusses the importance of before school and
after school programs for students to participate in. The article states that before and after school
programs (BASPs) offer a great opportunity for children to gather information on health
enhancing physical activities. There is a wide variety of before and after school programs for
children. Research has shown that before and after school programs for kids enhance their
physical activity and their knowledge on health and nutrition.
The next article is The Effects of a 2-Year Physical Education Program (SPARK) on
Physical Activity and Fitness in Elementary School Students. This article explains the evaluation
of a program for fourth and fifth graders designed to increase the students physical activity
during P.E. class and outside school. In this program students spent more minutes per week being
active. Results showed a physical education program along with the curriculum can provide
students with more physical activity during P.E. class. The concluding results from research
showed improvement in P.E. class can benefit 97% of students in an elementary school.
Get Kids Moving in the Classroom discusses how classroom physical activities has health
benefits for student and also learning benefits. Based off research, it has been proven that
integrating physical activity into an academic content can be valuable to both the students and
the teacher. The purpose of the research done is to show how students can improve in their
physical fitness and their academics by adding physical movement or activities into the

FINAL FOUR EVENT

classroom. This article also discussed ideas educators can use in the classroom to add movement
and physical activity into their everyday teaching.
Literature Synthesis
The five articles included in the literature review all shared a common theme. Each
article stated the importance of physical activity among children in elementary school. Two of
the five articles discussed how adding more physical activity in a childs life can be beneficial to
their health and their fitness. Two of the other articles explained how it is important for children
to learn more about physical activity and health at school. The last article emphasized on how
educators should be integrating physical activity with other content areas by adding movement to
their teaching.
The overall conclusion gained from the articles emphasizes on how there should be more
physical activity in elementary school. Children of the elementary age can benefit from more
physical fitness in school. The research and the data collected supports the overall goal of the
Final Four event of promoting physical activity, health, and nutrition among elementary aged
children.
Practical Implications
The first practical implication for this event is student engagement. To get students
involved in this mini-festival a committee will go around to different elementary schools and
promote the Final Four and mini-festival through an assembly. In this assembly, the committee
will interact with the students in crab walk competitions. It will be a competition between
students and teachers. The assembly committee members will pick student volunteers to
participate in the front of the assembly. Other students will choose teams to cheer for. This will
be an interactive way to get the students excited for the mini-festival.

FINAL FOUR EVENT

There will be two different timelines for the event. Both timelines will consist of the
layout of the event day. The first timeline is if the students will be completing the activities and
then viewing the practice. The second timeline is if the students will be viewing the practice and
then completing the activities. The total time of the mini-festival will be an hour long. During
that hour, students will go to four of the activities or booths where they will complete health and
physical activities, the activities will be ten minutes long. There will be a rotation between each
booth and activity, the rotation will be approximately two minutes long. After the students have
completed the activities, they will be going to watch the basketball team's practices for the Final
Four. Half of the students at the mini-festival will first watch the team practice and then come to
the mini-festival.
Timeline of Event
1st Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
2nd Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
3rd Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
4th Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
Basketball Team Practice: 1 hour

Timeline of Event
Basketball Team Practice: 1 hour

FINAL FOUR EVENT

5
1st Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
2nd Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
3rd Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes
4th Activity: 10 minutes
Rotation: 2 minutes

Another implication is family and community involvement. To get family and community
involved, volunteers will be needed on the committee to help run the festival. Communities and
local businesses will be contacted to help sponsor the event. Sponsors will also help provide
materials and prizes for the booths during the mini-festival. Some family members volunteer
options include: set-up, take-down, clerks, and monitors for each booth.
An important practical implication is marketing. To promote the final four event, the plan
is to use the assemblies at the school and also create flyers. The committee for the event will be
hosting the assemblies at the different schools. The event will also be promoted by creating a
website people can go to that explains the details of the event.
The committee will be made up of volunteers from the community. Committee members
will reach out to the community by promoting our event and asking for help through flyers. The
committee will consist of parents and teachers from the schools that are involved, students from
ASU, and owners and employees from the businesses involved.
To help fund the event, the committee will ask for; donations, sponsors, funding from the
ASU athletic department and the final four teams. Dawn Rogers at ASU will be the main person
in charge of funding.
Conclusion

FINAL FOUR EVENT

The Final Four is an exciting event that is going to be held in Phoenix, Arizona in 2017.
Students who love basketball wont want to miss it, and students who like interacting with other
students and moving around will have a blast, too. With obesity rates raising, and the less amount
of physical activity happening in the schools, this is the perfect opportunity to get children
educated on physical activity and nutrition. It is important for children to be exposed to this
lifestyle, and the mini-festival being held during the Final Four weekend will do exactly that.

References
azcentral,. (2015). Metro Phoenix lands 2017 NCAA Final Four. Retrieved 4 December 2015,
from http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/college/asu/2014/11/14/ncaa-final-four-asuphoenix-pac12/19038437/

FINAL FOUR EVENT

Hayes, R., Thompson, L., Gress, T., Cottrell, L., Pino, I., Gilkerson, C., & Flesher, S. (2015).
Effects of a Brief Physical Activity Program on Young Students' Physical Fitness. Clinical
Pediatrics,54(12), 1145-1152. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0009922815569204
Konukman, F., Erwin, H., Beighle, A., & Docheff, D. (2010). Get Kids Moving in the
Classroom.Journal Of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 81(9), 15-17.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2010.10598539
Sallis, J., McKenzie, T., Alcaraz, J., Kolody, B., Faucette, N., & Hovell, M. (1997). The effects
of a 2-year physical education program (SPARK) on physical activity and fitness in
elementary school students. Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids. Am J Public
Health, 87(8), 1328-1334. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.87.8.1328
School-Based Health Promotion and Physical Activity During and After School Hours.
(2014).PEDIATRICS, 133(2), X26-X26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2383d
Slawta, J., & DeNeui, D. (2009). Be a Fit Kid: Nutrition and Physical Activity for the Fourth
Grade.Health Promotion Practice, 11(4), 522-529.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1524839908328992