I have been taking some education courses lately. This was a report I did for one of them that I thought you might find interesting.
Physically
Active Learning: A practical solution for increased learning?
I
first became interested in physically active learning due to my
interaction with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). I
have a child with ADHD and know how hard it is for her to sit still
and accomplish a task. She has to get up, take breaks, and move
around in order to concentrate on an academic task. Yet in schools I
observed the common practice of making a child sit out of recess if
they had not finished some instructional work. On an intuitive level
this seemed counterproductive and I wanted to explore whether there
was some science that connected exercise with learning. As I dug
into the research I came across the idea of physically active
learning in schools.
Physically
active learning came into vogue in the early 2010s1,2,
partly as a reaction to new research linking exercise and brain
function and partly as a reaction to increased concerns over obesity
and inactivity. Physically active learning is the idea that moderate
physical activity, either before or during learning sessions,
increases memory and executive brain functions1,2.
Physically active learning sounds wonderful, but is it really
necessary and/or practical for schools today?
Physically
active learning is not the kinesthetic learning that is presently
being used in schools. Though physically active learning and
kinesthetic learning do overlap to some degree, they are different in
philosophy and practice. Kinesthetic learning3,4
is a specific learning style that may help certain individuals to
increase their ability to retain information. It relies on some form
of psychomotor activity, whether as small as moving blocks at a desk
or as large as dancing around a classroom, that is tied to the
subject being taught. In contrast physically active learning applies
more broadly to the population as a whole. All individuals
experience a change in brain function when they exercise5,6.
In addition the physical activity associated with physically active
learning is always whole body exercise, not small fine motor skills
activities. And finally the physical activity in physically active
learning is not necessarily associated with the subject being taught.
It
has long been known that there is a link between physical activity or
fitness levels on both brain structure and brain function7.
For example, two studies that looked at kids 9-10 yrs of age found
that those children who were more fit had larger basal gangli and
hippocampi, areas of the brain that control attention and memory8.
Exercise has also been shown to increase the production of
neurotropic factors, key elements to establishing new memories14,15.
Furthermore studies have found a correlation between fitness and
academic achievement9,10.
Even when academic instructional time is decreased to provide for
more physical activity such as PE, academic test scores do not go
down1,
9.
However
despite these results, there has been a steady decrease in movement
and PE in schools as they attempt to keep up with mandates such as No
child left behind. A 2013 bulletin from the Institute of Medicine
reports that half the administrators of schools decreased PE time
since 200111.
This is despite the fact that rates of obesity in US children have
doubled in the past 30 years, which brings along a whole host of
problems related to health and self image12.
Even at schools that still have PE, it is not uncommon for children
to be disciplined for classroom infractions by being forced to sit
out of PE or recess. This is especially common for children who are
naturally active, like ADHD children, who create frequent disruptions
in the classroom. In the belief that they need to make children
concentrate harder on the material at their desks in order to raise
test scores, educators may actually be holding back children from
reaching their optimal performance when it comes to academic
progress. This is why physically active learning techniques are so
important.
Physically
active learning links small amounts of moderate exercise with direct
changes in the brain, and these changes are thought to lead to an
increase in the ability of an individual to learn. A typical
physically active learning study will have children or adults
exercising for 20 minutes or resting for 20 minutes, followed by a
study time or a testing time. These studies have shown that moderate
exercise, such as walking or cycling for 15-30 minutes, increases
memory, attention, and problem-solving in children13.
One study looked at 20 minutes of stationary biking during a
learning session of foreign words14.
There
was a significant increase in retention for those who participated in
exercise compared to those who didn't. But what is even more
exciting was that this improvement was most enhanced for those people
who were “low performers”, ie those who had the most trouble
remembering the words. In a study of children in Northeast Kansas
public schools 16,
teachers were taught how to implement physically active learning
(called PAAC) and achieved at least 40 hrs per month of physical
activity within the class. This led to decreased BMI among the
students and increased reading, math, and spelling test scores.
Other reports of the benefit of physically active learning are more
anecdotal. In a Connecticut school kids crab-walk from place to
place and report better attitudes and retention17.
A Portland High School teacher uses musical chairs in her classroom,
which keeps the students more engaged and focused17.
From all of these studies it is evident that physically active
learning exercise is beneficial to students.
In
today's climate of shrinking PE time, more sedimentary lifestyles,
ADHD and increasing rates of obesity, physically active learning is
worth considering for the classroom. Unfortunately few teachers
implement physically active learning in their classrooms. Some ways
to incorporate physically active learning into a classroom include:
short
breaks of jumping jacks
switching
desks in the middle of instruction
running
team relay races where words must be put in the correct place on a
diagram/chart in order for the racer to go back to their team
playing
musical chairs with true/false statements. When a false statement
is said, the students scramble for the chairs.
dances
that incorporate lessons (see crystal structure dance and mitosis
dance)
disciplining
kids by making them walk/run a track during PE or recess, rather
than sitting still
Furthermore
there are some webpages that have other ideas of physically active
learning techniques:
References:
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Physical
Exercise during Encoding Improves Vocabulary Learning in Young
Female Adults: A Neuroendocrinological Study Maren Schmidt-Kassow et
al, Plos One May 20, 2013
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