Physical education classes with distance learning as a catalyst for adaptation potential increase of students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Physical education classes at all Russian universities are mandatory and held during the first, second and third years of studying for a bachelor's degree. In connection with switching to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the investigated students of Kazan Federal University were engaged in both online physical education classes and self-study physical education classes with the obligatory keeping of a self-monitoring diary, which allowed tracking the dynamics of changes in psycho-emotional, functional states as well as physical fitness. As part of the educational process, teachers and students contacted through the Microsoft Teams platform, where classes and consultations were held;information and control materials were exchanged. A control group and an experimental group were formed with 90 students in each of the groups totalling 180 students. Each of the groups included 30 students of the main subgroup (healthy), 30 students of the preparatory subgroup (with minor deviations in health), and 30 students of the special medical subgroup with confirmed diseases of various nosology. In the control group, the students were engaged in physical education classes, fulfilling the general requirements: they filled out a self-monitoring diary, carried out the recommended tests to assess functional and physical fitness. Calculation of "working pulse rate" according to Karvonen's formula gave students the opportunity to determine and select the amount and intensity of physical activity in the process of self-study. According to the self-monitoring diaries, the students showed positive dynamics in the psycho-emotional state. Students also noted the interdependence of their mood, well-being, desire to learn and be active on the quantity and quality of physical education classes. Exercises of sufficient intensity improved mood, relieved feelings of anxiety, and increased the positivity of perception of the surrounding environment. For ten weeks of distance learning, the students of the experimental group, whose physical activity was regulated individually, and the intensity of the load was selected with account of peculiarities of the work of their functional systems, showed a value of adaptation potential higher than that of students of the control group.