Abstract
This article is aimed at determining the advantages of conducting physical education lessons in secondary school using modern pedagogical methods. The aim is also to identify the differences between gamification and modern digital fitness technologies, to compare them with each other, and to compare these innovative approaches with the traditional teaching method. The presented study was conducted among 9th-grade students of a general secondary school. During the study, three groups were selected: an experimental group in which gamification resources were used; an experimental group in which modern digital fitness technologies were implemented; and a control group taught using the traditional method. During the testing process, pre-test and post-test tasks were prepared, and data such as the number of students’ steps, active movement time, heart rate, participation activity in the lesson, and task completion percentage were obtained and analyzed. Over six weeks, the students’ average number of steps, active movement time, heart rate at rest and during physical activity, lesson attendance, and task completion percentage were recorded. A comparison of the pre-test and post-test results showed that the gamification group demonstrated more noticeable growth in all indicators. The digital fitness group also improved its physical activity indicators; however, the dynamics of lesson attendance and task completion were lower compared with the gamification group. Changes in the control group remained at an insignificant level. The obtained results showed that the purposeful use of gamification and digital fitness technologies in physical education lessons makes it possible to increase students’ activity.