Impact of Personal Goal Setting and Fitness Tracking Tools on Students' Physical Activity Levels

High school students are generally not as physically active as they once were when they were children. As many students age through school, they become less active and value exercise and physical education less than they once did. The majority of students dread even the thought of running. Needless to say, physical educators must try to understand why this is the case, in order to design effective strategies to enhance students’ value of exercise and physical education and ultimately prevent sedentary lifestyles as they move toward adulthood.​

One reason students may lack the motivation to be active on their own time is the insufficient ability to keep track of their fitness data. Without the ability to track their progress, students will never experience intrinsic motivation via the feeling of improvement. When students do exercise outside of physical education class, it is normally impossible for them to accurately assess their progress, and therefore difficult for them to set measurable goals to improve. Measuring distance and pace without the use of technological fitness tracking tools is a challenge, making it difficult to set and achieve specific, measureable, and most importantly, personally appropriate and achievable goals. When physical education students believe an activity is significant for achieving their goals, they will be more likely to involve themselves out of personal desire rather than obligation.

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Running Apps in PE

In 2021, the majority of high school students in the United States already have access to fitness tracking tools which can assist them in setting personal goals and increase their physical activity levels. Any secondary student with a smartphone has access to some of the world’s best free fitness tracking tools.  With the implementation of running apps, such as Nike Run Club and Map My Run, students are able to set personal running goals and may therefore be more likely to find the motivation to run more outside of class. My research set out to discover: Will the implementation of personal goal setting and fitness tracking tools within a hybrid-model secondary physical education setting increase student physical activity levels and performance?