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).
____________
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).
____________
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
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].
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).
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.
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
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
\
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).
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).
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.
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.
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
Online
Exercise Videos for
Elementary School Children
|
|
Include
exercise breaks in the curriculum.
|
Preschool & Kindergarten
Exercise Videos
____________
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.
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).
____________
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).
____________
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
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.
____________
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
