Effects of 10-week modified badminton curriculum on physical fitness and sustained attention in elementary school children

School Physical Education (PE) serves as an effective platform for promoting physical activity among elementary school students, playing a crucial role in enhancing their physical fitness and sustained attention through organized and disciplined PE curricula. However, traditional PE often emphasizes single skill training and physical exercises, which presents certain limitations in fostering both physical fitness and sustained attention. To address these limitations, this study aims to design a modified badminton curriculum tailored to the unique characteristics of the sport. An intervention experiment was conducted with 106 fifth-grade students over a 10-week period. The experimental group participated in the modified badminton curriculum, while the control group followed the traditional badminton curriculum. Both groups received the intervention three times per week, with each session lasting 40 minutes. Among them, the experimental group consisted of 53 participants, and the control group also included 53 participants. As a result, the final analytic sample comprised 86 participants, including 45 in the experimental group (mean age = 11.24 years, SD = 0.44) and 41 in the control group (mean age = 11.32 years, SD =0.47). Results from repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that the experimental group exhibited greater improvements in speed fitness, endurance, and Reaction Time Variability (RTV), outperforming the control group (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found in flexibility, coordination, strength, No-go accuracy, Go average reaction time, or response accuracy. Therefore, future PE should adopt scientifically grounded designs and diverse arrangements to effectively stimulate students' participation interest and psychological motivation, thereby promoting the coordinated development of physical fitness and sustained attention.