Using Behaviour Mapping and Tracking to Assess the Influence of Design on Preschool Physical Activity
Nilda Cosco, Cecilia Boldemann, Nilda Cosco, Robin C. Moore, Brad Bieber, Margareta Blennow, Peter Pagels, Anders Raustorp, Ulf Söderström, Fredrika Mårtensson · 2008
A methodological approach driven by theoretical constructs (concepts of behaviour setting, motivation, and affordance) offered the framework to interpret the results of a study on physical activity in preschool play areas. Methods included the characterization of preschool play areas using behaviour mapping, and videotracking of individual children. Transfer of the methodology to other contexts (parks, outdoor museum settings, etc) and its advantages and analytical challenges will be discussed. Theoretical framework: Behaviour setting. The concept of behaviour setting (Barker, 1976) is closely related to the concept of affordance. Behaviour settings are ecological units where the physical environment and the behaviour are indissolubly connected. Motivation. Kinaesthetic stimulation, produced by spatial attributes, can be a powerful source of motivation to support children’s physical activity. Affordance. A child learns both about the functional properties of the environment and about herself by “picking up” information. Learned environmental affordances guide the child’s future behavioural responses in a particular environment (Gibson and Pick, 2000). Methodology: Behaviour mapping processed with GIS software. Behaviour mapping is an unobtrusive, observational method for measuring actual space use. Behaviour mapping, processed using GIS software (ESRI) generated illustrative maps and a relational database that was employed to analyze the environmental attributes of each setting such as size, layout, and category of setting. Video-tracking of individual children. Video taped sequences of outdoor play activities performed by individual children were used to reveal links between different levels of children’s physical activity and environmental components and qualities of the place where the activity was performed. The software The Observer (Noldus) was used to analyse individual behaviour sequences and results were downloaded into a statistical package for further analyses.