Muindi, D.Gitau, Ndichu.Wangui, Ngumo Ruth2012-06-052012-06-052012-06-05http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4875The GV 439 .N48Physical education is a compulsory subject in the 8:4:4 system of education. However, the secondary schools' physical education programme is not taught effectively due to problems like inadequate facilities and equipment. This study evaluated the effect of a proposed small area games programme on the fitness levels of secondary school students. The study compared the fitness levels of students who participated in the regular physical education programme and those who did not participate in any physical education programme with those who participated in the small area games programme. The students were from a rural and an urban Kenyan school-Ngiriambu girls high school and Moi Girls Nairobi respectively. The research design involved pre-tests, treatment and post-tests on one hundred students, fifty from each school. The fifty students in each school were randomly assigned to either control or experimental group, each consisting of twenty-five students. Before and after the treatment, the students were tested on the selected health-related fitness components; cardio respiratory endurance, sum of skin fold, arm and shoulder girdle strength, abdominal muscular endurance and lower back and hamstring flexion. To test these variables a test battery was constructed consisting of 2400m distances run, sum of skinfold, flexed-arm hang, 60 seconds sit-ups and sit-and-reach test. The results of this study revealed that there was no significant difference in the pre-test and post-test results of students who participated in the regular physical education programme and those who participated in the small area games programme. There was also no significant difference in the pretest and post-test results of students who participated in the small area games programme and those who did not participate in any physical education programme for the cardio respiratory endurance, sum of skinfold, arm and shoulder girdle strength, and lower back and hamstring flexion variables. However, there was a significant difference for the abdominal muscular endurance variable at .20 and .10 level of significance. The findings of this study imply that physical activity enhances physical fitness. Physical education teachers should be encouraged to modify games to suit their needs thus creating an opportunity for the youth to participate in physical activities.enPhysical education for women--Kenya//Physical fitness for women--Kenya//Physical fitnessThesis