Ways to Improve Your Child's Grades (3 of 10): Make Sure Your Child Participates in Aerobic Exercise Daily

Students Who Regularly Exercise Make Better Grades

Evelyn Smith

M.S. in Library Science, University of North Texas (2012)

Putting P. E. in Context &

Movement into Every Classroom

Addendum

Last updated January 4, 2016

Exercise and academic performance. (2013, May 24). New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/opinion/exercise-and-academic-performance.html?_r=0

A report issued by the Institute of Medicine has determined that exercise “can significantly improve children's cognitive abilities and their academic performance, as well as their health” (Exercise, 2013, May 24, para. 1).

Physically-active students display more focused attention spans, swifter response times when performing simple tasks, better working memories and problem-solving skills, and higher grades on standardized tests (Exercise, 2013, May 24, para. 2).

Although parental involvement (or lack thereof) and socioeconomic status do influence academic performance, physically-active children turn in stronger performances in reading and math (Exercise, 2013, May 24, para 3).

The report recommends that all students get at least 60 minutes of vigorous or moderate physical activity daily (Exercise, 2013, May 24, para. 4). Attending a P. E. class doesn't necessarily equate with 55 minutes of vigorous or even moderate physical activity.

Dell'Antonia, K. J. (2015, Janaury 15). Students eat more healthy foods when recess is held before lunch.  New York Times. http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/14/students-eat-more-healthy-foods-when-recess-is-held-before-lunch/?_r=0

A study of seven elementary schools in Utah has discovered that scheduling recess before lunch significantly increases the percentage of children who actually eat their federally-mandated fruits and vegetables: School cafeterias serving lunches that require a serving of either fruits or vegetables increase their consumption of these items 54 percent,and the percentage of children actually eating at least one serving of fruits or vegetables increases 45 percent when schools schedule recess before lunch (Dell'Antonia, 2015, January 15, para. 3). Even so, currently only 4.6 percent of all United States schools schedule recess before lunch (Dell'Antonia, 2015, January 15, para. 4). Since children often need an afternoon break, perhaps recess can be divided into two shorter segments?

Rindlesbach, Mary.  (2015, August 18).  These kids can’t sit still.  And that’s exactly the point of this new reading classroom.  Upworthy.  Retrieved from http://www.upworthy.com/these-kids-cant-sit-still-and-thats-exactly-the-point-of-this-new-reading-classroom

Starting out with a single stationary exercise bike in the corner of a classroom, a Winston-Salem, North Carolina, elementary school counselor outfitted an empty classroom with stationary bikes whereupon teachers scheduled their classes for 15 to 20 minutes of riding and reading time.  The school did better on state reading tests, and this idea spread from North Carolina to 30 states (Rindlesbach, 2015, August 18, para. 1-6).  

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Research abundantly proves that students perform better academically when they get enough exercise.  Unfortunately, however, from elementary school through university, contemporary students very seldom get enough exercise.  What's more, this is particularly true for teens and young adults.  

• A survey of scientific research published between 1990 and 2012  has established a positive link between academic success and physical activity that increases blood-flow to the brain, creating new neurons in the hippocampus that enhance attention span, memory, and creative-thinking skills.  
  

• An extensive, longitudinal review published in 2013 by British researchers that followed a large number of British children from in the womb to their mid-20s has confirmed that vigorous exercise does positively impact academic performance while studies of lab rats have linked voluntary exercise with long-term improvement in cognitive functioning. Even so, daily vigorous exercise needs to be coupled with other healthy lifestyle habits else parents and educators put  children and teens' academic futures at risk.

Boys, in particular, benefit from combining exercise and learning, for without getting enough exercise, they are more likely to zone out than their female counterparts.  Teachers and parents should also understand that males often need to move to process information simply because their brains work differently than girls.  That means teachers at the elementary and middle school level should incorporate movement into their lesson plans; for example, perhaps coming up with a fraction rap song or simply having the class stand up for words in a sentence that need to be capitalized and sit down for those that need to be lower cased.   Attention spans in both boys and girls might also benefit if the school scheduled  a few 10-minute vigorous exercise breaks during the day.  How about training for a Flash Mob Video for Earth Day or for a football game?

Exercise may boost school performance’. (2012, January 3).  NHS Choices.  Retrieved from http://www.nhs.uk/news/2012/01January/Pages/active-children-better-school-grades.aspx

 BBC News has reported a “strong evidence of a link between exercise and academic performance”, which it postulates could be caused by an increased flow of oxygen-rich flood to the brain.  This broadcast bases its claims on  a Dutch article from the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research and Vrije University that that appeared in the January 2012 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent  Medicine and systematically weighed 14 studies “ (Exercise, 2012, January, para. 1 & 5). 

Admittedly, correlation isn't necessarily causation: “Physical Activity and Performance at School: A Systematic Review of the Literature Including a Methodological Quality Assessment” also stresses that it could classify only two of the 14 longitudinal studies were of the “highest quality” since the researchers didn’t publish any statistics to back up their findings.  Even so, the reviewers discovered enough positive correlations between regular vigorous research and exercise to solicit additional studies (Exercise, 2012, January, para. 2-8).

The Dutch searched four medical and sports science databases for articles published between 1990 and 2010 that assessed possible links between physical activity and academic achievement in adolescents and children, including prospective studies that described at least one physical activity that the could positively link with academic achievement (Exercise, 2012, January, para. 9-10).

Along the way, they graded the quality of these 14 articles—eight of which asked the children themselves to self-report their participation in physical activity while other relied on reports of teachers, parents, and school administrators—all of which most probably showed preferential bias in reporting a favorable outcome: Four studies subjectively reviewed the academic impact of a school exercise program without disclosing how much physical activity performed while four reports determined “academic achievement” by self-reported school grades.  Only seven relied on cognitive test scores, and only three of these used a combination of standardized tests and academic grades (Exercise, 2012, January, para.11-12).

Nine studies that compared athletes with non-athletes didn’t consistently prove a relationship between regular participation in sports and academic performance (Exercise, 2012, para. 14). Three studies assessed time spent participating in exercise, however, and did successfully associate physical activity with improved academic performance, and three of the four studies that studied exercise programs in school did find that students who took part in vigorous exercise did achieve more academically that a non-exercising control group (Exercise 2012, para. 15-16).

Although relatively few of the studies that confirmed to standards of “high methodological quality” actually explored the link between physical activity and academic performance, reviewers did nevertheless find evidence that positively linked physical activity with improved cognitive functioning in school-age children (Exercise, 2012, para. 17).

The Dutch research didn’t consider other variables such as socioeconomic status and upbringing.  But a limited number of studies that control for biased reporting do suggest that exercise does improve academic performance (Exercise, 2012, para. 23-24). A link to the abstract for the original Dutch review of previous studies on physical exercise and scholastic achievement appears below:

The AHA's recommendations for physical activity in children. (2014, January 17). AHA Scientific Position.  American Heart Association.  Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Physical-Activity-and-Children_UCM_304053_Article.jsp

Physical inactivity puts children at risk for developing future cardiovascular disease, increases the risking of stroke, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.  Accordingly, the American Heart Association recommends that children and adolescents need to participate in at least an hour of moderate or vigorous physical activity daily (AHA, 2014, January 17, para. 1).

Exercise, on the other hand, not only increases life expectancy by decreasing the risk of coronary artery disease, but it also  helps to control weight, reduce blood pressure, raise HDL, or “good”, cholesterol, reduce the risk of diabetes and some types of cancer—not to mention boosting self-confidence and high self-esteem (AHA, 2014, January 17, para. 2).  Parents and teachers can increase physical activity by reducing sedentary time spent watching TV, playing video games, or texting, providing children with increased opportunities to engage in recreation and sports, and by adopting an active life style so as to serve as appropriate role models (AHA, 2014, January 17, para. 3-7). 

The AHA also stresses that “all children, even less-coordinated ones, need to be physical active” as well as suggesting that physical exercise might particularly physically and psychological benefit  “children with a weight problem” (AHA, 2014, January 17, para. 8).  Accordingly, the AHA recommends that “All children age two and older should participate in at least 60 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity physical activities every day that are developmentally appropriate and varied”.  Furthermore, the AHA suggests that if necessary vigorous physical activity may be split into two 30-minute periods or four 15-minute sessions (AHA, 2014, January 17, para. 9-10).

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Research Links Exercise & Increased Learning Ability

Aguiar, A. S., Jr, Castro, A. A., & Moreira, E. L., et al. (2011, November-December).  Short bouts of mild-intensity physical exercise improve spatial learning and memory in aging rats: Involvement of hippocampal plasticity via AKT, CREB and BDNF signaling.  Mechanisms of Ageing & Development, 132 (11-12), 560-567.  doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2011.09.005. [Abstract only]. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21983475

In the present study, we investigated whether mild-intensity physical exercise represents a successful strategy to enhance spatial learning and memory and hippocampal plasticity in aging rats, as previously described for long-term exposure to running wheel or treadmill exercise. Aging Wistar rats were submitted to short bouts (4-6 min) of exercise treadmill during five consecutive weeks. This mild-intensity exercise program increased muscle oxygen consumption by soleus and heart in aging rats and reversed age-related long-term spatial learning and memory impairments evaluated in the water maze and step-down inhibitory avoidance tasks.

 Remarkably, observed cognitive-enhancing properties of short bouts of exercise accompanied the activation of  protein levels on the hippocampus of aging rats. Altogether, these results indicate that short bouts of exercise represent a viable behavioral strategy to improve cognition and synaptic plasticity in aging rats which should be taken into account in further studies addressing the effects of physical exercise in aging subjects.

Creera, David J. Romberg, Carola, & Saksid, Lisa M, et al.  (2010, January 19).  Running enhances spatial pattern separation in mice.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS).  doi: 10.1073/pnas.0911725107 [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/01/11/0911725107.abstract?tab=author-info

Voluntary running improved the ability of adult (three-month-old) mice to distinguish between the locations of two adjacent identical stimuli.  Hence, researchers theorize that adult mice that willingly run on a treadmill are better able to discern three-dimensional patterns since their hippocampus regenerates new neurons. By way of contrast, aged (22-month-old) mice suffered from impaired spatial discrimination and low basal cell genesis that was unaffected by running. 

Krystyna, R., Isaacs, Brenda J., & Anderson, Adriana A., et al.  (1992). Exercise and the brain: Angiogenesis in the adult rat cerebellum after vigorous physical activity and motor skill learning. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 12, 110–119. doi:10.1038/jcbfm.1992.14 [Abstract only].   Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/jcbfm/journal/v12/n1/abs/jcbfm199214a.html

Krystyna and colleagues studied changes in the structure of the cerebellar cortex in adult female rats after a one-month exposure to varying amounts of repetitive exercise and motor learning. The researchers ran the rats on a treadmill, or housed the rats with access to a running wheel for shorter periods of time, or put them in a control group without access to any exercise. Rats taught complex motor skills substantially increased their synaptic neurons as well as the number of blood vessels in their cerebral cortex.  The results, however, didn't discover any new blood vessels forming from old blood vessels or a surge in metabolic demands found in the exercising rats.   The experiment appears to parallel the previously reported findings associated with an increase in synapses associated with a rise in nueropil volume.

Lee, M. C., Okamoto, M., & Liu, Y. F., et al. (2012, October 15). Voluntary resistance running with short distance enhances spatial memory related to hippocampal BDNF signaling. Journal of Applied Physiology, 113(8),1260-6. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00869.2012. [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22936723

Researchers tested to see if voluntary resistance wheel running with a load that allows for increased work levels in rats produced the same results in hippocampal cognitive functions as wheel running without a load does in ten-week-old male Wistar rats randomly assigned to a sedentary group, a group of rats who ran without a load, and those rats carrying a maximum load amounting to 30 percent of their body weight for a four week period.   Rats carrying a load increased their work levels (or RWR rats), but their running levels decreased by half.  Both those rats running without a load and with a load improved spatial learning and memory as will as gene expression of hippo- campal BDNF signal molecules.   Those rats running with a load also increased their levels of hippocampal BDNF, tyrosine-related kinase B (TrkB), and cAMP response element-binding proteins, but those running without weights only increased their BDNF protein levels.  These findings suggested that strenuous exercise is more beneficial to hippocampus–related cognitive functions than moderate exercise. 

Statistics show that inactive teens make poorer grades.

Lee, Tatia, M. C., Wonga, Mark Lawrence,  & Wui-Man Laue, Benson et al.  (2014, January).  Aerobic exercise interacts with neurotrophic factors to predict cognitive functioning in adolescents. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 39,  214–224.  [Full text]. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.09.019.  Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453013003387

This most recent report confirms the cognitive benefit of aerobic exercise on the human brain as well as examining the relationship between exercise and serum levels of neurtrophic factors in a test group of 91 healthy teens.   The 45 regular exercisers’ brains performed “significantly better” than their 46-matched controls when researchers measured their frontal and temporal functioning parameters.  Nevertheless, this increase in functioning was specific to the frontal lobe, responsible for short-term memory, and the temporal lobe, in control of sensor input and language development, for the researchers observed no positive growth in task-tapping occipital, or visual, functioning.  Thus, the researchers have released preliminary evidence of the beneficial effects of regular aerobic exercise on region-specific cognitive functioning.

Van Praag, Shubert, Henriette  & Chunmei, Tiffany Zhao, et al.  (2005, September 21). Exercise enhances learning and hippocampal neurogenesis in aged mice. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25(38), 8680-8685. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1731-05.2005.  [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/38/8680.short

While aging of the hippocampus leads to cognitive decline in older adults, exercise in younger animals increases the creations of neurons and improves learning.  When researchers, however, divided 19-month-old mice that had been sedentary into populations with and without a running wheel, a month later when researchers injected them with bromodeoxyuridine or retrovirus to identify newborn cells, the older mice that had exercised performed better in a Morris water maze, showing faster acquisition and retention rates than aged controls.  Additionally, the hippocampus of the older mice increased its rate of neurogenesis at the same rate as the younger runners.  Thus, the experiment proved that “voluntary exercise ameliorates some of the morphological and behavioral consequences of aging.”

Parents Who Don't Go to College Put Their Kids’ Minds at Risk

Whether or not a parent has a university degree  seems to determine life style.

Fernández-Alvira, J.M., De Bourdeaudhuij, I, & Singh, A. S.  (2013, January 15).  Clustering of energy balance-related behaviors and parental education in European children: the ENERGY-project.  The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 10 (5). doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-5. [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23320538

A cross-sectional study among 5,284 European children from seven different countries examined sugary drink intake, physical activity, screen time, and sleep duration to determine if a link exists between these “energy balance-related behaviors” and the parents’ level of education.  Researchers found that the most physically active children were those with the most highly-educated parents while the children with the most sedentary children were most likely to have parents with little formal education. 

Does this mean that schools in working- and lower-class neighborhoods should make sure that all their students get enough vigorous exercise throughout the year?  Also, if Mom or Dad doesn't have a college degree, scholarships and grants now make it possible to go back to school.  Seeing a working parent taking time to study makes for a great role model.

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Daily Exercise Raises Test Scores, But Students Need at Least 60 Minutes of Moderate Exercise

Only moderate or vigorous exercise of at least an hour's duration, possibly space throughout the day, raises test scores. 

Borreli, Lizette. (2013, October 23). Exercise boosts teens' grades: How many minutes of physical activity will help children get an A?  Home > Healthy Living. Medical Daily.  Retrieved from http://www.medicaldaily.com/exercise-boosts-teens-grades-how-many-minutes-physical-activity-will-help-children-get-260697

Even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children take part in 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous exercise daily at least three days per week as well as participating in strength-training exercises three days a week, adolescents who get at least 15 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity each day boost their grades by a fourth, according to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a long-term health research project that tracked British children born in Bristol, England, between 1991 and 1992 (Borreli, 2013, October 23, para. 1-2).

The ALSPAC study, or rather an excerpt from it, “Associations Between Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Academic Attainment in Adolescents from a UK Cohort”, in the October 2013 issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, assessed the children’s performance in English, math, and science at  age 11, 13, and 15/16.  United Kingdom students take compulsory national tests and receive their General Certificate of Secondary Education on these days.  Researchers also tracked the duration and intensity of their exercise using an accelerometer  for periods of between three to seven days starting at age 11(Borrelli, 2013, October 23, para. 2-3).

At age 11, boys averaged 29 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily while girls average 18 minutes of physical activity, far below the recommended daily hour or exercise.  However, exercising for an hour daily helped them perform better in English, math, and science.  For example, the girls’ science grades particularly benefitted from increased physical activity.  Moreover, investigators found a link between the amount of exercise the students engaged in at age 11 and their grades at age 13 (Borrelli, 2013, October 23, para. 3).

By the time the UK students left school, the results of their GCSE exam also showed a strong link existed between  the amount of moderate to vigorous  they participated in daily and  their academic success:  Boys’ grades improved for every extra 17 minutes exercised while girls’ grades improved for every extra 12 minutes exercised (Borrelli, 2013, October 23, para. 4). 

Researchers therefore suggest that because physical activity grows new brain cells, students who participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily can improve their academic performance by a full letter grade (Borrelli, 2013, October 23, para. 5 & 7).  

Similarly, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in January 2010, “Running Enhances Spatial Pattern Separation in Mice”, linked aerobic exercise in mice with the growth of new brain cells and their enhanced ability to learn (Borrelli, 2013, October 23, para. 8). Finally, Borrelli refers readers to the http://www.letsmove.gov/get-active Website (2013, October 23, para. 9). Thus, research proves that even an extra 20 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily boosts academic performance.

Find out ways to get teens to exercise:

http://blog.itriagehealth.com/7-ways-to-encourage-your-teen-to-exercise/

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Annotated References

Booth, J. N., Leary, S. D., Joinson, C. et al. (2013, October 22).  Associations between objectively measured physical activity and academic attainment in adolescents from a UK cohort. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48, 265-270, doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092334.  [Open access full-text].  Retrieved from http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/48/3/265.full

Researchers analyzed physical activity and academic achievement from 4,755 adolescents at age 11, 45 percent of whom were males from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC).  An accelerometer measured the volume and intensity of this physical activity while nationally-administered tests in English math and sciences were administered at ages 11, 13, and 16 (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 1).

The amount of time spent in moderate to vigorous physical exercise predicted than increased performance on standardized exams on English in both genders, the tests taking into account confounding variables.  At age 16, the percentage of time spent participating in moderate to vigorous physical exercise predicted an increased performance for males and females.  While the percentage of time spent in moderate to vigorous activity in exercise at age 11 predicted an increased performance in science for females. The study’s findings thus suggested that moderate to vigorous physical activity exerted a long-term positive impact on academic attainment in adolescence (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 2-3).

Few school-age children or adolescents meet the minimum daily requirement of one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily and such activity is low or in decline by mid-childhood, resulting in excessive gains of body fat . . . . However, evidence that increased physical activity increases academic attainment should provide those with a stake in the educational system with an incentive to increase physical activity (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 4).  An emerging body of evidence, however, indicates that moderate to vigorous physical activity in childhood and adolescent improves academic success while low physical activity damages brain structure and function.  Evidence also exists for a “dose-response”,  even though studies that link physical exercise and academic attainment in children and adolescents are limited with small sample sizes, and their reliability imperiled by subjectivity,  imprecision, and bias (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 5).

Britain's Avon longitudinal study links those children who achieved the highest levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity at age 11 with subsequent, higher academic attainment in all academic subjects (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 13).  Similarly, the more sedentary students were the least likely to score high on standardized tests.  Moreover, achieving a high score in English at age 11 predicted a similar result at age 13, although higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity improved academic attainment independent of previous levels (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 14).  Moreover, both boys and girls who originally scored high in English continued to make high marks on the English exams while girls who originally score high in science also continued to do so (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 17).

Unfortunately, however, British students don't exercise any more than their American counterparts. Levels of habitual moderate to vigorous physical activity were low and well below the recommended guideline of 60 minutes per day.  Also, public activity measured over a minimum of three days didn’t fully capture habitual physical activity . . .  However, those males who had exercised the most  throughout their childhood and youth were most successful  at age 21.5.  A similar pattern occurred in girls, even though the most active female students got in only 37 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical exercise daily (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 18).

Researchers speculated that increase moderate to vigorous physical exercise might improve the students’ success in school in several ways, such as increase time on task in class and reduced problem behavior, even though they argue that more research will be necessary to extrapolate the effects of fitness and moderate to vigorous physical activity (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 19).

The British study's strengths included a large sample size that was socioeconomically representative, objective measurement of physical activity, and longitudinal design.  However, the research restricted the range of habitual physical activity, and while the sample size was large, it represented less than half those invited to attend the research clinic at age 11. . . Additionally, while the accelerometer also documented sedentary behavior, that wasn’t the focus of the study (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 20).

Even so, evidence suggests that  physical education benefits health and well-being, but it is not detrimental to academic achievement (Booth, 2013, October 22, para. 23).

Moreover, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity has a long-term positive impact on academic achievement in adolescence (Booth, 2014, October 22, para. 24)

Could something as simple as PE really improve grades or test scores?!  (2013).  Sonoma Family Life Magazine.  Retrieved from http://www.sonomafamilylife.com/can-exercise-improve-grades-cms-33

Working on the principle that exercise increases brain function and improves concentration, teachers at Edison Elementary School in Missouri allow boys who can’t sit still  to move around in the back of the classroom.  Therefore, since recognizing the difference in the ways that boys and girls’ brains operate, test scores have substantially improved, although this adjustment in class management styles has more to do with the differences in the way that boys and girls think than it does with the idea that exercise builds brain cells (Sonoma Family, 2013, para. 1; Gurian, 2004, para. 15-18).  

Exercise, however, helps both boys and girls think better by allowing more blood flow to the brain that in turn changes hormone levels and helps the brain use nutrients more effectively.  Additionally, because exercise increases the body’s energy levels, it also increases stamina and relieves the tedium of studying (Sonoma Family, 2013, para. 2).

Accordingly, the Fitnessgram program, prepared by the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas, measured the six levels of physical fitness—aerobic capacity, musculoskeletal fitness, including muscle strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility, and body composition--for 5th-, 7th-, and 9th-grade California students (Sonoma Family, 2013, para. 3; Plowman, 2013, p. 56). 

If these students scored well on at least three components scored higher on a California achievement test, and those students who measured high in all six levels of physical fitness also achieved the highest scores (Sonoma Family, 2013, para. 4).  Recognizing the correlation between the physically active child and the academically motivated student, the Grant Elementary School in Petaluma, California, has raised the extra funds to pay for a P.E. specialist, keeping the school’s achievement results high and its fitness scores double the state average (Sonoma Family, 2013, para. 5).

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References to Unnamed Sources

Gurian, Michael & Stevens, Kathy.  (2004, November).  With boys and girls in mind: Closing achievement gaps.  Educational Leadership, 62 (3), 21-26.  ASCD.  Retrieved from  http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov04/vol62/num03/With-Boys-and-Girls-in-Mind.aspx

See also the annotated bibliography under “Movement Enhances Learning Particularly in Boys” later on this Web page.

Welk, G. J. (2013).  Fitnessgram/Activitygram Reference Guide. Edited by Sharon  Plowman & Marilu D. Meredith.  4th Edition.  Dallas, Texas: Cooper Institute. Retrieved from http://www.cooperinstitute.org/vault/2440/web/files/662.pdf

The Cooper Institute’s Fitnessgram annually sets the standards for physical fitness in California, Delaware, Georgia, Texas, and Kansas as well as many large school districts including New York City, Miam-Dade County, and the District of Columbia as well as partnering with the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Amateur Athletic Union, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.  Moreover the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2003 endorsed the programs body composition screening for children and adolescents (Welk, 2013, p. 30).

Coe, Dawn Podulka, Pivarnik, James M., & Womack, Christopher, et al.  (2006).  Effect of Physical Education and Activity: Levels on academic achievement in children. Medical Science & Sports Exercise, 38(8), 1516-1519.  Wafapower.com.  Retrieved from http://www.wafapower.com/scienceresearch/PE_academic_achievement.pdf

Seeking to determine if a link existed between participating in physical education classes and academic achievement in middle school, this study contrasted the physical fitness and academic achievements of 214 sixth-grade students randomly assigned to P.E. classes, averaging 19 students each, as well as 30-minute blocks of extracurricular physical exercise during the school year.  The students who met the Healthy People 2010 guidelines for vigorous activity and the Cooper Institute Fitnessgram assessment standards, made significantly higher grades than those who didn’t perform any robust exercise during the school year. The researchers, however, didn’t find any correlation between moderate physical activity and higher grades.  They also didn’t find any relation between enrollment in P.E. classes and scores on standardized tests (Coe, 2006, Abstract; PYFP, 2010, http://www.pyfp.org/assessment/free-materials.shtml).

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Bottom Line:  Only regular vigorous exercise bolsters academic achievement.                      

Doneny, Kathleen. (2013, October 21).  Kids who exercise more may get better grades. U.K. study looked at math, science and English performance.   HealthDay News. Retrieved from http://consumer.healthday.com/kids-health-information-23/child-development-news-124/kids-who-exercise-get-better-grades-study-681278.html

Regular moderate to vigorous daily exercise may strengthen  academic performance, according to United Kingdom research culled from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) or “Children of the 90s” health research project [and annotated earlier in this bibliography], “Associations between objectively measured physical activity and academic attainment in adolescents from a UK cohort”, and published in the October 2013 edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Doneny, 2013, para. 1). 

What’s more, the more intense the exercise the greater the probability that it will improve grades in academic subjects (Doneny, 2013, para. 2).  Josephine Booth, a lecturer at the University of Dundee, thus theorizes that physical activity might increase time on task in the classroom, or else it might positively influence self-esteem.   But as yet, researchers don’t know exactly why brisk exercise improves grades--just that it does.  However, findings do show that levels of physical activity can affect brain structure and function and thereby influence academic performance and that there is a link between academic high achievers and physical fitness (Doneny, 2013, para, 3-5).

British researchers tracked the long-term health and well-being of almost  5,000 students, measuring the how much and how long students exercised from three to seven days a week starting at age 11 that was recorded by a device they wore on their belts (Doneny, 2013, para, 6).  At this point, both genders averaged well below the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise—29 minutes for boys and 18 minutes for girls (Doneny, 2013, para. 7).

Throughout their academic career at age 13, 15, and 16, both boys and girls who exercised the most performed the best in English science.  Moreover, other variables, such as social and economic status, birth weight, mother’s age at delivery and whether or not she smoked or not during pregnancy didn’t break this link (Doneny, 2013, para. 8-9).

The newly released British research validates previous investigations that show that physical activity exerts a positive effect on children’s brain functioning, explains James Sallis, Distinguished Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine and Director of Active Living Research at the University of California, San Diego.  Sallis lauds this study since it “pinpointed the effects of moderate-to-vigorous activity by adjusting for the effect of total activity, which is mostly light walking” (Doneny, 2013, para. 10).  He also reasons that physiological changes rather than increased motivation are more likely to lead to accelerated academic performance higher-intensity activity would more likely effect the brain that could then lead to improved academic performance.  (Doneny, 2013, para. 11-12).

The great equalizer: How fitness levels can help even out the academic playing field among children. (2012, August 13).  Being Latino.   Retrieved from http://www.beinglatino.us/lifestyle/the-great-equalizer-how-fitness-levels-can-help-even-out-the-academic-playing-field-among-children/

New research continues to verify older studies that not only are physical fit children healthier, but they also do better in school. Indeed, a student’s level of fitness more strongly determines academic success than a family’s socioeconomic status or the child’s confidence (Being Latino, 2012, August 13, para. 1).

University of North Texas researcher. Sudhish Srifkanth, has evaluated over 1,200 Texas middle-schoolers assessing their muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, aerobic capacity, and body mass index and after determining their degree of fitness, he has found that the fitter students did better on math and reading tests (Being Latino, 2012, August 13, para. 2).  

Trent Petrie, Director of the University of North Texas’ Center for Sports Psychology, explains that regular exercise coupled with a high level of physical fitness improves memory, concentration, and commitment to completing tasks (Being Latino, 2012, August 13, para. 3). UNT researchers also consider multiple variables including social support –a crucial factor necessary for achieving academic success particularly in boys (Being Latino, 2012, August 13, para. 5).

Backing up Srifkanth’s tentative findings,  a 2010 University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana  has also found that MRI scans show that children who are the most physical fit also have “significantly larger basal ganglia—the section of the brain that controls focus, discipline, and cognitive function (Being Latino, 2012, August 13, para. 4).

Thus, recess at school is gong than just a “time filler” but is a way to further  academic achievement in the classroom particularly when children come from impoverished backgrounds (Being Latino, 2012, August 13, para. 5).

____________

References to Unnamed Sources

*APA: Fitness Predicts Academic Achievement in Middle School. (2012, August 3).  General Health Care and Practice News.  Pri-med.com.  Retrieved from  http://www.pri-med.com/PMO/MedicalNewsDetail.aspx?id=6179

FRIDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) –Cardio-respiratory fitness is the strongest indicator of reading and math achievement for middle school students, according to a study presented by Sudhish Srikanth and colleagues from the University of North Texas at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, held from August 2 to 5 in Orlando, Florida (APA, 2012, August 3, para. 1 & 2).

The prospective studied weighed the effect of cardio-respiratory fitness, social status, and self-esteem in determining academic success after  analyzing how these factors influenced the grades of 561 male and 650 middle schools in a suburban school district in Texas (APA, 2012, August 3, para. 3). 

 Upon adjusting for socioeconomic status, and subject-specific academic self-concept, UNT researchers found that cardiorespiratory fitness and perceived social support foretold reading scores in boys while only cardiorespiratory fitness predetermined math performance.   In girls both cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition accurately forecast reading performance while only cardiorespiratory fitness predicted how well they would do in math (APA, 2012, August 3, para. 4). 

Only cardiorespiratory fitness influenced both boys and girls grades on reading and math tests, an association that suggests that middle schools should devote more attention to physical education classes (APA, 2012, August 3, para. 5).

*Indicates the original research not included in the source list.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).  (n. d.).  Physical Education Position Statements Chart.  Retrieved from http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/standards/PEPS.cfu

Kerr, Suzy. (2014, January 31).  Does Exercise Improve Learning in Children?  Livestrong.com.  Retrieved from http://www.livestrong.com/article/226065-does-exercise-improve-learning-in-children/

Being physical is not only good for the body, but it’s also good for the mind as noted in this Livestrong article that concludes with links to various articles in the popular press on academic research that verify its claims (Kerr, 2014, January 31, para. 1). 

Exercise Increases Blood Flow

Better blood flow is achieved by a healthy diet that includes whole grains, lean proteins, and fresh fruits and vegetables—as well as daily exercise keeps the cardiovascular system fit.  Exercise in children thus promotes neurogenesis, or the generation of neurons in the developing brain (Kerr, 2013, January 31, para. 2-3).

 Exercise Impacts Memory

While increasing blood flow throughout the body, exercise can also help the memory process.  For example, researchers have discovered that simply by walking or cycling children have bettered their multitasking and thinking skills, making their working memories more efficient than that of students who don’t exercise (Kerr, 2013, January 31, para. 4).

Exercise Increases Cognitive Control

The ability to pay attention, or cognitive control, can be linked to exercise as well since research indicates that students who regularly exercise increase their ability to improve their attention spans.  Students who suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, for example, are better able to focus on a task after a relatively brief period of exercise (Kerr, 2013, January 31, para. 5).

Sports Participation Improves Education

Research also shows that vigorously participating in sports and physical activities correlates with superior information processing, behavior and memory (Kerr, 2013, January 31, para. 6).

Propst, Laban E.  (2013).  Exercise can enhance learning in children.  Teaching Tiny Tots. Retrieved from http://www.teaching-tiny-tots.com/exercise-can-enhance-learning-in-children.html

Even though research indicates that P. E. increases memory and learning, educators often fail to use it to enhance their students’ learning capability.  However, exercise makes learning and memory possible since it  increases the flow of oxygen to the brain, provides for more efficient synaptic activity, stimulates neurogenesis, and increases the release of hormones responsible for cognitive development (Propst, 2013, para. 1-2).

Although limited, there is recent research that directly links exercise to learning and memory enhancement in children. One study examined what happens when primary schools cut back on academic instruction and increased time for physical play. Instead of lowering scores, the children improved their scores as shown in François Trudeau   and Roy J Shephard’s  methodical review of  scholarly databases, “Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance” in the 2008 monograph for The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (Propst, 2013, para. 3).

In addition, research undertaken by Charles Hillman, Darla M. Castelli, and Sarah M. Buck has shown a strong correlation between physical fitness and cognitive performance in children.  Their 2005 study, “Aerobic Fitness and Neurocognitive Function in Healthy Preadolescent Children”, published in the November 2005 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, measured the brain activity of small children while they were distinguishing between cats and dogs.  By comparing the measurable fitness of children with their reaction times and the percentage of correct responses they made,  the researchers inferred that physically fit children displayed faster reaction times and higher levels of information processing (Propst, 2013, para. 4).  

The very intensity of physical activity increases cognitive functioning, for brain function increases when participants exercise vigorously. Since high-impact exercises also present some risks, professionals should monitor children when they participate in them. Safe workouts include bear crawls, frog jumps, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and sprinting (Propst, 2013, para. 5).

Moreover, if children have fun regularly taking part in vigorous sports, they stand a better chance of increasing their cognitive functioning and are also more likely to play these games away from school. This, in turn, increases their intelligence as well as their general health (Propst, 2013, para. 6).   

Propst then suggests that preschool children can take part in high intensity exercise if they play the game “Bears on Dots”, a game that is remarkably similar to the Milton-Bradley game known as Twister (2013, para. 6).

____________
 

Annotated Reference Sources

*Hillman, C. H., Castelli, D. M., & Buck, S. M. (2005, November).  Aerobic fitness and neurocognitive function in healthy preadolescent children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37(11), 1967-74.  [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16286868

Investigating the relationship between age, aerobic fitness, and cognitive function in pre-adolescent children and young adults, Charles Hillman, Darla M. Castelli, and Sarah M. Buck found a correlation between scoring well on the Cooper Institute’s Fitnessgram test and an acceptable attention span, working memory, and response time in children as well as cognitive processing speed.  Researchers compared 24 children with the mean age of 9.6 years and 27 adults with the mean age of 19, subjecting them to fitness testing as well as using neuro-electric and behavioral responses to a stimulus discrimination task to determine how well their brains reacted to stimuli. Their results correlated physical fitness with better cognitive functioning in elementary school children. 

Trudeau, François & Shephard, Roy J. (2008).   Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5(10),  1-17.  BioMed Central.  [Full text]. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2329661/

Trudeau and Shephard reviewed the relation between participation in P. E. and school sports and its possible link to school achievement by comprehensively searching Medline, Psychoinfo, Scholar, Google, and ERIC databases whereupon they discovered that quasi-experimental data indicated that allocating an additional hour to physical activity during the school day didn’t lower students'grades even when it reduced the time they devoted to academic subjects.   On the contrary, devoting more time to physical activity resulted in “small absolute gains” in the students' G.P.A. while increasing their level of physical fitness.  Thus, cross-sectional observations demonstrated a positive link between academic performance and physical activity.

Cross-sectional observation also indicates a positive link between physical activity and cognitive function, but physical fitness does not necessary correlate with academic achievement.  Even so, physical activity improves concentration, memory, and classroom behavior, thus drawing attention to a positive relationship between physical activity and intellectual performance.  Thus, research confirms that while physical activity can be added to the curriculum without taking away from academic achievement, cutting out recess won’t raise the scores on standardized tests.

*Indicates the original research not included in the source list.

Richardson, Vanessa.  (2009, May 27). A Fit Body Means a Fit Mind.  Edutopia.  Retrieved from  http://www.edutopia.org/exercise-fitness-brain-benefits-learning

Contemporary research that shows that regular exercise improves attention span, memory and learning, reduces stress alleviates the effects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and delays cognitive decline, thus making the term “dumb jocks” an oxymoron (Richardson, 2009, May 27, para. 1-2).

Aerobic exercise creates the best environment for helping brain cells change, grow, and work together as it pumps more oxygen-rich blood into the brain, thus better nourishing brain tissue. Exercise also spurs the brain to produce a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—a type of “Miracle-Gro for the brain”. Investigators also hypothesize that exercise helps create new brain cells in the dentate gurus--a region of the brain that encourages learning and memory skills (Richardson, 2009, May 27, para. 3-6).

Since the brain’s frontal lobe keeps growing through adolescence, exercise can help further developed the school child’s cognitive capacity (Richardson, 2009, May 27, para. 7). In a 2007 study published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, “Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement in Third and Fifth Graders”, Charles Hillman and associates put 259 Illinois pupils through push-ups and a timed run and then measured their Body Mass Index. When the researchers compared the children’s physical fitness to their academic performance, they found that “the more physical tests the students passed, the better they scored on an achievement test” regardless of gender, race, and family income (Richardson, 2009 May 27, para. 8-9).

Accordingly, daily vigorous exercise can pay off in academic achievement. In a study entitled “Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Overweight Children's Cognitive Functioning: A Randomized Controlled Trial” (2007, December) published in the Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Georgia researchers found that children ages 7-11 who exercised for 40 minutes daily after school scored higher on  standardized tests than groups that only exercised for 10 minutes a day [or who serving as a control group didn’t work out at all] (Richardson, 2009, May 27, para. 10; Davis, 2007, Abstract). 

Phillip Toporowski, Professor of Exercise Science at the University of Georgia, thus contends that this research disproves the idea that recess sent hyped up pupils back to class: “It appears to be the other way around . . . They go back to class less boisterous, more attentive, and better behaved compared with kids who have been sitting in chairs for hours on end” (Richardson , 2009, May 27, para. 11).

University of Illinois researchers Charles Hillman, Matthew B. Pontifex, and Arthur F. Kramer also prove that exercise increases attention span in “The Effect of Acute Treadmill Walking on Cognitve Control and Academic Achievement in Preadolescent Children” in the March 2009 issue of Neuroscience.  After spending 20 minutes engaged in moderate exercise--walking on a treadmill at a speed that was sixty percent of their maximum heart rate--rather than spending 20 minutes sitting still,  the 20 nine-year-old children they tested gave more accurate responses on standardized tests . These results validate the hypothesis that a single aerobic workout before class boosts learning skills and attention speeds in elementary-school age children (Richardson, 2009, May 27, para. 12; Hillman, 2009, p. 1044).

Try a little line dancing! ____________ Scheduling Aerobic  Exercise

In 2005, when twelve Naperville Central High School students needed help with literacy skills, their schedules placed them in an early morning, 30-minute, aerobic session whereupon heart monitors ensured that they reached their target zone of 160-190 beats per minute.  Afterwards they joined a control group who had not exercised in a special literacy class (Richardson, 2009, May 27, para. 13-15).   Those students who exercised before class showed one and a quarter year’s growth on the standardized reading test in only a semester as opposed to those students who didn’t exercise. They showed gains of just nine-tenths of a year (Richardson, 2009 May 28, para. 16).

The success of this experiment encouraged Paul Zientarski, Naperville’s Instructional Coordinator for Physical Fitness and Health, to use the same approach with students who were having trouble in math by scheduling P.E. before an introductory algebra class.  Here, those students who exercised improved their math scores by 20.4 as opposed to the other students in the class who just increased their math scores 3.9 percent.  This proved that it didn’t matter whether students worked out either in the early morning or after lunch, just so they exercised, for this settled them down and made them more ready to learn (Richardson, 2009, May 28, para. 17).

As to which exercises generate the most brain power, researchers recommend cardiovascular exercises that increase the heart rate, like running, and swimming. Naperville High P. E. classes, therefore, focus on making sure that students get plenty of cardiovascular exercise—running sprints and jumping romp, vigorous playground activities, gymnastics, and tumbling (Richardson, 2009, May 28, para. 18-19). 

P. E. on the Chopping Block

The Naperville High P. E. program has thus become a model for gym classes at a time when schools are cutting back on P. E. Similarly, another defender of productive P. E. classes, PE4Life, of Kansas City, Missouri, has trained schools nationwide how to implement beneficial P. E. activities. For instance, one Kansas City inner school by increasing P. E. time from one day to five days a week increased cardiovascular fitness by 200 percent and decreased disciplinary problems by 59 percent (Richardson, 2009, May 28, para. 20-22).

Richardson also recommends that teachers squeeze in 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily, but also notes that even a “20-minute romp” will make anyone who works out (Richardson, 2009, May 28, para. 23-24). 

____________

Annotated Bibliographies of Cited References

*Castelli, Darla M., Hillman, Charles H. & Buck, Sarah M., et al. Physical fitness and academic achievement in third and fifth-grade students. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 29, 239-252. [Full-text]. Retrieved from http://fitnessforlife.org/AcuCustom/Sitename/Documents/DocumentItem/7336.pdf

Research examined 259 Illinois public elementary school children in the third and fifth grades and linked aerobic capacity with academic achievement while inversely relating Body Mass Index with poor school performance. These findings suggest that certain aspects of physical fitness correlate with academic performance in pre-adolescents [Abstract].

*Davis, C. L., Tomporowski, P. D., & Boyle, C. A. (2007, December). Effects of aerobic exercise on overweight children's cognitive functioning: A randomized controlled trial. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 78(5), 510-9. [Abstract only]. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Tomporowski+AND+children+AND+exercise+AND+2007 

University of Georgia researchers tested the influence of aerobic exercise training on brain function in 94 sedentary, overweight, nine-year-old children, randomly placing them in one of three groups—one that spent 20 minutes a day exercises, one that exercises 40 minutes per day, and a control group. Before and after each exercise session, the researchers gave each pupil a standardized test measuring thinking skills. In between these two exams, the 20- and 40-minute exercise groups met five days a week for 15 weeks. Those children in the 40-minute exercise group scored much higher than the control group of overweight children who didn’t exercise before the standardized tests.

*Hillman, Charles H., Pontifex, Matthew B., and Kramer, Arthur F. (2009, March 31). The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience, 159(3), 1044-1054. [Full Text]. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667807/

Researchers assessed how well elementary school students performed on an achievement test after a single session of moderate exercise versus the same amount of time spent resting: Twelve boys and eight girls with the average age of nine-and-a half years spent 20 minutes on a treadmill waling at 60 percent of their maximum heart rate and then took an achievement test after their heart rate returned to within 10 percent of their pre-exercise area whereupon researchers found the children gave more accurate answers and turned in a better performance as opposed to taking an achievement test without exercising before it (Hillman, 2009, Abstract, p. 1044).

*PE4life. (n. d.). Our work. Retrieved from http://www.pe4life.org/our-work/our-work.html

As of 2011-2012, PE4life had worked with 2,855 schools of which 94 percent showed some progress in successfully fulfilling the non-profit organization’s goals: 1) Boost exposure to the best practices in physical education, 2) grow quality P. E. programs, 3) encourage community partnerships that enhance wellness opportunities, 4) familiarize educators with the benefits of physical activity, and 5) prompt school wellness policy changes (PE4life, n. d., para. 6-10).

*Indicates the original research not included in the source list.

Thompson, Jonathan. (2013, March 1). Exercise for better grades. Livestrong Fitness Blog. Retrieved from http://www.livestrongfitness.com/blog/exercise-for-better-grades/

Exercise not only produces physical benefits and improvement in mood and stress, but it all increases overall brain function (Thompson, 2013, March).

The Science of Exercise

Because exercise increases the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and other hormones that regulate brain growth enough to impact learning capacity and mental performance,  even moderate exercise can improve all aspects of cognitive function: memory, alertness, focus, comprehension, and the capacity to carry out motor commands (Thompson, 2013, March 1, para. 2-3).  Exercise additionally activates those genes that manage brain plasticity, which helps individuals retain information and adapt to different circumstances.  This means that exercise can improve brain function even in older adults (Thomspon, 2013, March 1, para. 3).

A real-world test of this research, however, happened in 2010 when Naperville Central High School included exercise as part of the first period’s curriculum, and teacher incorporated physical activity into the lessons.  Using physical activity to teach academic subjects also dramatically improved reading scores and raised math scores by 20 percent.  Similarly, when other schools and universities have combined exercise and learning, they have duplicated these positive results, and businesses have sparked employees’ productivity (Thompson, 2013, March 1, para. 4-5). 

Exercise Helps Children with ADHD

Although medication helps the 2.5 million school children in the United States diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the side effects of long-term use remain unknown.  So when researchers proposes exercise as a potential non-pharmaceutical intervention, this offers new hope for children with ADHD particularly when they score better on standardized tests and games that test their ability to focus after walking at a vigorous pace for twenty minutes (Thompson, 2013, March 1, para. 6-8).

Putting Research Into Practice

 

Sign up your child for swimming class.

Inserting exercise into the curriculum therefore proves that “long bouts of exercise aren’t necessary to achieve better brain function.” While most studies that have confirmed this finding, scheduled exercise in the morning or immediately before academic testing, physical activity can become a part of each teacher’s lesson plans at any time of day each day--its very regularity building self-discipline. It’s important, however, to start out slowly, allowing students to exercise at a moderate intensity since if they exhaust themselves all the effort might be counterproductive (Thompson, 2013, March 1, para. 8-10).

 ____________

Sources

*Cotman, Carl W. & Berchtold, Nicole C. (2002, June 1). Exercise: a behavioral intervention to enhance brain health and plasticity. Trends in Neurosciences, 25(6), 295-301.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-2236(02)02143-4. [Abstract only]. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016622360202144

Research on animal models shows that voluntary exercise increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and other growth factors, stimulating neuron grown, resistance to brain trauma and improving mental functioning.  High-density oligonucleotide microarray analysis also shows that physical activity additional mobilizes gene expression profiles that benefit brain plasticity.

Michigan State University. (2012, October 16). Exercise may lead to better school performance for kids with ADHD. Science Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121016132109.html

To reach this conclusion, Pontifex and his fellow researchers divided 40 ADHA-diagnosed children, aged 8 to 10 into two groups—one of which spent 20 minutes reading while seated and one group who spent 20 minutes walking on a treadmill [as well as performing the same task with a control group]. To test the children’s ability to concentrate afterwards, testers had both groups of children take a reading comprehension test and math exam similar to standardized tests as well as having them play a computer game where they had to ignore extraneous visual stimuli. Researchers then discovered that all the children who had exercised did better on both the reading and math tests and more easily avoided making repeated mistakes while playing the computer game. This research therefore supports the incorporation of physical activity during the school day (Michigan State, 2012, October 16, para. 5-7).

*Pontifex, Matthew B, Saliba, Brian J, Raine, et al. (2013, March; published online 2012, October 19). Exercise improves behavioral, neurocognitive, and scholastic performance in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The Journal of Pediatrics, 162(3), 543-551. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.08.036. [Abstract only]. Retrieved from http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(12)00994-8/abstract

Students at Naperville Central High School west of Chicago go to gym class first before taking on math and reading in a move to “jump start” their brains (Wright, 2010, April 14, para. 1-5). 

Students are constantly on the move in their academic classrooms since “exercise, good fitness-based exercise makes our brain ready to learn”, according to John Ratey of Harvard Medical School (Wright, 2010, April 14, para. 6-7).

Research  at the University of Illinois demonstrates that 30-minutes spent on a treadmill helps students perform ten percent better on problem solving.“. But at Naperville, reading comprehension scores have nearly doubled and math scores are up 20 percent (Wright, 2010, April 14, para. 8-11).  
All of which sends the Naperville P. E. staff  looking for different ways to exercise; for example, learning to square dance gives kids a workout since all aerobic exercise raises the heart rate and complex dance steps fire up brain cells that, in turn, emit neuro-transmitters that activate growth factors that join the brain cells together (Wright, 2010, April 14, para. 12-14).

Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder “can better drown out distractions and focus on a task after a single bout of exercise, according to research conducted by a Michigan State University Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Matthew Pontifex, who recommends exercise as a treatment for ADHA, in an article published in the Journal of Pediatrics, “Exercise Improves Behavioral, Neurocognitive, and Scholastic Performance in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The Journal of Pediatrics. (Michigan State, 2012, October 16, para. 1-3).

Researchers controlled for the time participants in the study spent studying, but earlier reports demonstrated that those conscientious students also exercise regularly. Students who study three or more hours a day, for example, are more likely to exercise vigorously and three times more likely to participate in moderate exercise. Furthermore, those students with a G.P.A. of 3.5 or higher are three times more apt to exercise vigorously than those whose G.P.A. is under 3.0 (Parker-Pope, 2010, June 2, para. 7-8).

Matthew Pontifex and his fellow researchers examined how a single 20-minute session of moderately intense aerobic exercise affected the response accuracy and stimulus-related processes of pre-adolescents diagnosed with ADHD, who were measured along with healthy a control group in two “separate counterbalanced sessions”.  Both groups of children showed a greater response accuracy and were better able to respond to stimuli. Researchers therefore theorize that single, relatively short periods of moderately intense aerobic exercise may enhance brain cognitive function in all children as well as inhibit impulsivity in children with ADHD.

Wright, David & Siegel, Hannah.  (2010, April 14).  Bikes, balls in class: How phy ed transformed one school.  ABC News.   Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/WN/exercise-school-leads-learning/story?id=10371315#.UMX4FKyI7Sg

As one sophomore girl who has traded her C’s and D’s for A’s and B’s explains, “It kind of gets the gears in your head turning . . . It makes you actually think about what you’re doing.  Instead of, oh, this is math class.  I’m going to zone out” (Wright, 2010, April 14, para. 15).  Indeed, when a math teacher discovers that students are zoning out, they take a “brain break”, exercising for a short while (Wright, 2010, April 14, para. 15).

____________

Exercise Helps College & University Students Learn

\

Neubert, Amy Patterson.  (2013, April 15).  College students working out at campus gyms get better grades.   Purdue News. Purdue University.  Retrieved from http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q2/college-students-working-out-at-campus-gyms-get-better-grades.html

Purdue University students who regularly visit the campus gym several times per week are more likely to succeed in the classroom, earning a higher grade point average than those students who irregularly visit the gym.  Tricia Zelaya, Assistant Director for Student Development and Assessment at Purdue’s Division of Recreation Sports, speculates that students who regularly take time out to exercise, as shown by swipes from their student I.D. cards, are more likely to have better time and management skills that students who aren’t motivated to budget a portion of their leisure time to exercise (Neubert, 2013 April 15, para. 1-2).

Statistics also show a link between visits to the gym during the spring semester of 2010 and the grades gym-going students earned: Students who visited the gym at least 16 times monthly averaged a G.P.A. of 3.10 or high while those who only when to the gym seven times a month averaged a G.P.A. of 3.06 (Neubert, 2013, April 15, para. 3).  Thus, Zelaya argues that while some critics might view university recreation facilities as “a distraction from academics”, a gym “is really part of the learning landscape (Neubert, 2013, April 15, para. 5). 

Furthermore, Bonnie Tjeerdsma Blankenship, Purdue Professor of Health and Kinesiology, emphasizes that similar research shows that physical activity also has a positive impact on academic achievement from preschool through high school since the cognitive benefits of physical activity develop into a “a lifestyle habit that is never too young to learn” (Neubert, 2013, April 15, para. 6).

Zelaya notes that since “student success research shows that [physically] engaged students do better academically”, a gym or recreational center “is a place where students learn to use physical activity to cope with stress” (Neubert, 2013, April 16, para. 8).

Parker-Pope, Tara. (2010, June 3). Vigorous exercise linked with better grades.  Well.  New York Times.  Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/vigorous-exercise-linked-with-better-grades/

University students who regularly vigorously exercise have higher grade point averages, according to a survey that tracked the grades and exercise habits of 266 undergraduates at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan just as previous research has linked aerobic exercise and academic achievement in middle school (Parker-Pope, 2010, June 3, para. 2-3).   Since correlation doesn’t mean causation, however, researchers controlled for factors that might influence G.P.A.’s, such as gender, time spent studying, participation in sports, and majors. Considering these factors, researchers concluded that students who took part in vigorous exercise each day had G.P.A.’s that averaged 0.4 points higher than those who didn’t exercise (Parker-Pope, 2010, June 2, para. 5-6).

•  Make getting enough exercise a family priority:  Schedule family outings that include exercise for every one—hiking, bicycling, or simply walks around the block after supper.

• For maximum health, children and teenagers need an hour’s worth of daily exercise:  Don’t assume that they are getting it at school, so make sure to include whatever sports and physical activities the children like to do in their weekly schedule.  

• Make sure everyone, including mom and dad, knows how to swim by scheduling classes at the local Y or municipal swimming pool.

• Energize the family on mornings before big exams by making sure everyone gets up early enough to get in 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, perhaps dancing around the house repeating formulas, verb conjugations, or spelling words that test takers might need to know. 

• Urge local elementary, middle, and high schools to incorporate exercise in the classroom as well as to schedule short bouts of physical activity throughout the day.

• Make gardening, leaf raking, shoveling snow, and lawn mowing family activities.

• Give it to the request to get a family dog on the condition that the children walk it at least twice a day.

• Remember learners are more likely to remember details if they use several different senses to commit them to memory.  If this takes creating a rap song complete with accompanying dance steps to learn the multiplication tables or the amendments to the Constitution, go for it:  The sillier the exercise the better!

  ____________

Exercise Videos for All Ages

The exercise videos below feature easy-to-do exercises with little or no explanation needed.

Online Exercise Videos for 

Tweens to Adults

Community Central TV. (2012, August 11).  Fun dance  work outs with Ashley J. Johnson. You Tube. (29:49 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D42MzGlZR5c

Dancesweatlive. (2012, November 12).  Night club groove 3: Dance fitness workout with Benjamin Allen.  YouTube.  (15:47 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DViA35E4qs

---. (2012, January 2).  Run the world: Beyonce dance workout with Benjamin Allen. YouTube.  (7:55 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFfgqvuMjT4

MUVE Method. (2011, August 23).  Dance exercise to Katy Perry song “Firework”.  YouTube.  (4:27 minutes).  Retrieved from  http://www.youtube.com/watchv=X3kI1VOxJfk\

Online Exercise Videos for 

Elementary School Children

Include exercise breaks in the curriculum.

Eugene, Paul.  (2012, April 15).  Kids workout #2 with Paul Eugene.  YouTube.  (7:59 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXSCWxyqtlc

---.  (2010, March 28).  Kids workout with Paul Eugene.  YouTube.   (10.11 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWmscIVv8-4

Rusakoya, Olya.  (2013,  September 13).  Children Zumba fitness. YouTube.  (3:49 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHq3j7IlxCI

Preschool & Kindergarten 

Exercise Videos 

Children love to sing. (2013, July 1).  Kids exercise video song/Attention march.  YouTube.   (3:11 minutes).  Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZifG4ghGz34

Katherineelizabeth96. (2011, July 24).  Fit factor kids exercise. YouTube.  (4:40 minutes). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LndXdPdKaQ

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Different Learning Styles for 

Boys & Girls

Since most males and females learn differently, it makes sense to adopt teaching techniques that let girls be girls and boys be boys.  Males learn verbal concepts and about feelings handling spatial-mechanical graphs and diagrams and using manipulatives.  Boys are also easier to discipline if they can move around the classroom instead of always having to stay seated.  Girls, on the other hand, are more likely to understand math and science concepts by using concrete, manipulative objects.

Gurian, Michael & Stevens, Kathy.  (2004, November).  With boys and girls in mind: Closing achievement gaps.  Educational Leadership, 62 (3), 21-26.  ASCD.  Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/nov04/vol62/num03/With-Boys-and-Girls-in-Mind.aspx

Research shows a disconnect between teaching practice and the needs of male and female brains since schools fail to recognize gender-specific needs (2004, November, 1& 3). However, new positron emission tomography  (PET) and MRI technologies reveal structural and functional differences that affect learning  more than culture and gender roles do (Gurian, 2004, November, para. 5). 

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The Multitasking Minds of Girls

Exercise breaks help multi-taskinglearners.

Girls multi-task better and are more detail oriented.  They are also excel in language arts.  Since girls' brains mature earlier, girls are more likely to think before acting.  Most girls, however, are concrete rather than abstract thinkers. The corpus callosum, or the connecting bundle of tissues between the hemispheres in female brains, averages up to 25 percent larger than male brains by adolescence, thus allowing for more “cross talk”, or multi-tasking, between the hemispheres.  Girls also have stronger temporal lobes, which makes them more detailed oriented. The female brain also boosts a larger hippocampus than a male brain has, giving them an advantage when it comes to language arts (Gurian, 2004, November, para. 8-10).  

Additionally, since the female prefrontal-cortex develops earlier than the male prefrontal cortex does, and women have a higher level or serotonin in their bloodstreams and brains, so they are less impulsive than boys are. They also use more of the cortical areas of their brains for verbal and emotive functioning while boys use these parts of the brain for spatial and mechanical functioning (Gurian, 2004, November, para. 12).

All of this allows females to outperform males in reading and writing –not to mention sitting still.  At the same time, the typical female brain doesn’t active in the cortical areas like the male brain does, so they are less likely to understand objects and understanding  abstract  concepts. Thus, males and female gravitate towards those subjects that allow them to experience the richest personal stimulation—most girls excelling in language skills, and most boys surpassing their female counterparts in spatial-mechanical skills   Accordingly, teachers need to especially encourage girls and provide the extra support they might need to interest them in subjects like computer design (Gurian, 2004, November, para. 13-15).

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The Mechanical Minds of Boys

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

Slugs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's What little boys are made of.

Mother Goose was right: The male brain devotes less space to verbal and emotional activity.  While the average male brain dedicates more areas to spatial-mechanical functioning than the female brain does, it also devotes half the space to verbal emotive functioning that the female brain does.  Hence, boys like to manipulate objects, or just their arms and legs while they also experience words and feelings differently than girls do.  Boys’ brains also make less serotonin and oxytocin, a human bonding chemical, than girls’ brains do, so boys are more impulsive and less likely to sit still.  Since their brains are structured to compartmentalize learning while girls are much better at multitasking, boys have a shorter attention span and cannot as easily transition between lessons (Gurian, 2004, November. para. 16-20).  All of which might be a hint to make movement part of the lesson plan.

Separating boys and girls helps teachers plan different lesson and exercise plans geared to help each gender excel.

The male brain also recharges by entering into a rest state, so the male students are dozing off in the back of the classroom have entered a neural fret state while girls reorient neural focus without entering a rest state.  Moreover, the more words use to explain a lesson, the more likely the guys are to “zone out” unless the lesson is explained with the aid of diagrams and pictures instead of words (Gurian, 2004, November , para. 21).  

The differences in the typical male and female brains thus explain why males more easily master higher math and physics as well as other subjects taught abstractly, enjoy playing video games that involve physical movement, and are more likely to get in trouble for their impulsive behavior, fidgeting, and inability to listen (Gurian, 2004, November, para. 22).

The Nature-Based Approach

In 1996, the Gurian Institute started to argue for a nature-based approach that enables both male and female students to accentuate learning behaviors that come naturally to them (Gurian, 2004, para. 28). 

The Nature-Based Classroom

In a schoolroom designed for male learning, boys have more space to spread out than girl students do, and the space allows more room for movement than a traditional classroom would since even a little movement can help male students stay focused (Gurian, 2004, para. 31).

Manipulatives, such as blocks, can also help boys expand their verbal skills. The teacher can use the blocks area to help boys expand their verbal skills since boys more easily verbalize the activities they are dong than their feelings. The classroom would also give girls lots of opportunity to manipulate objects, preparing them for higher-level math and science courses (Gurian, 2004, para. 32-33). 

Boys  & Feelings

Similarly, by manipulating objects and doing something spatial and mechanical, such as bouncing a ball, boys can learn to talk out their feelings and frustrations and eventually self-regulate their behavior (Gurin, 2004, para. 34-35).  At-risk females can also receive counseling while understanding the importance of becoming “tech-saavy” (Gurian, 2004, para. 36-37).

The Task Ahead

Although educators have a history of being intimated by the complex nature of gender, science now backs up intuitive suggestions that male and females learn differently, so applying this knowledge allows all children to learn what comes naturally (Gurian, 2004, para. 38-39).

For more information on how to improve your child's grades, go to Part 4 of 10/Ten Ways to Improve Your Child’s Grades/Read Aloud to Your Child, published in July

http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades-4-of.html.  

More specifically read aloud to your preschool child 20 minutes daily, and read aloud with your elementary and middle school child 30 minutes daily.  Children can also read aloud to each other in pairs, quizzing each other on specific, predetermined points in a story or article.  A balanced life filled with active play and learning should help all children learn.

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Other blog pages in the Ways to Improve Your Child’s Grades series:

Make sure your child has a regular bedtime and enough sleep.  Ways to Improve Your Child’s Grades. (2014, January 18).   Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/01/ten-ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades.html

Limit and Monitor the Use of Social Media: How Social Media Influences Academic Success. (17 February 2014; revised 2015, January 6). Retrieved from https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6180686702778716801#editor/target=post;postID=7228483845226909971;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=34;src=postname

Read to your child daily:  Read aloud and along with children to ensure their success.  (2014, July 11).  Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades-4-of.html

Give your child social skills training:  Teaching manners and social skills doesn’t stop at age seven. (2014, July 18). Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grade-5-of.html

 Teach your child time management skills:  Perfect your child’s time management skills. (2015, February 6).  Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2015/02/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grades-6-of.html

Give your child social skills training:  Teaching manners and social skills doesn’t stop at age seven. (2014, July 18). Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/ways-to-improve-your-childs-grade-5-of.html