Students who take part in physical exercises like star
jumps or running on the spot during school lessons do better in
tests than peers who stick to sedentary learning, according to a
UCL-led study.
The meta-analysis of 42 studies around the world, published
in British Journal of Sports Medicine, aimed to
assess the benefits of incorporating physical activity in
academic lessons. This approach has been adopted by schools
seeking to increase activity levels among students without
reducing academic teaching time.
Typical activities include using movement to signify
whether a fact is true or false, or jumping on the spot a certain
number of times to answer a maths question.
The study concluded that incorporating physical activity
had a large, significant effect on educational outcomes during
the lesson, assessed through tests or by observing pupils’
attention to a given task, and a smaller effect on overall
educational outcomes, as well as increasing the students’ overall
levels of physical activity.
Lead author Dr Emma Norris (UCL Centre for Behaviour
Change, UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) said: “Physical
activity is good for children’s health, and the biggest
contributor of sedentary time in children’s lives is the seven or
eight hours a day they spend in classrooms.
“Our study shows that physically active lessons are a
useful addition to the curriculum. They can create a memorable
learning experience, helping children to learn more
effectively.”
Co-author Dr Tommy van Steen (Leiden University, The
Netherlands), added: “These improvements in physical activity
levels and educational outcomes are the result of quite basic
physical exercises. Teachers can easily incorporate these
physical active lessons in the existing curriculum to improve the
learning experience of students.”
Researchers looked at data from 12,663 students aged
between three and 14. Nearly half of the studies took place in
the United States, with seven conducted in Australia, five in the
UK, four in the Netherlands and one in China, Croatia, Ireland,
Israel, Portugal and Sweden.
In one of the 42 studies analysed, eight- and
nine-year-olds simulated travelling the world by running on the
spot in between answering questions relating to different
countries. The research team, also led by Dr Norris at UCL,
concluded that the children were more active and more focused on
the task than peers in a control group, following teachers’
instructions more closely.*
In another study in the Netherlands, primary school
children who took part in physically active lessons three times a
week over two years made significantly better progress in
spelling and mathematics than their peers – equating to four
months of extra learning gains.**
The study was conducted by researchers at UCL, Leiden
University, the National University of Singapore, and the
University of Sydney.
* ‘Physically
Active Lessons Improve Lesson Activity and On-Task Behavior: A
Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of the “Virtual Traveller”
Intervention’, published in Health
Education and Behaviour.
** ‘Physically
Active Math and Language Lessons Improve Academic Achievement: A
Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial’,
published in Pediatrics.
