Moderate-to-vigorous physically active academic lessons and academic engagement in children with and without a social disadvantage Mullender-Wijnsma,

Background: Integration of physical active academic lessons in the school curriculum may be an innovative way to improve academic outcomes. This study examined the effect of physically active academic lessons (Fit en Vaardig op school) on academic engagement of socially disadvantaged children and children without this disadvantage. In addition, the relationship between lesson time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity and academic engagement was examined. Methods: From four elementary schools, 86 children who participated in the 22-weeks intervention were recruited (23 socially disadvantaged children). Academic engagement was determined by observing time-on-task during three classroom observation moments (start, midway and end observation). Every moment consisted of lesson observations after intervention lessons (post-intervention) and after regular classroom lessons (post-control). Differences in time-on-task between socially disadvantaged children and children without this disadvantage were analyzed using independent samples t-test. Differences between post-intervention and post-control observations were analyzed using multilevel analysis. Heart rate monitors measured the lesson time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity. The relationship between percentage of moderate to vigorous physical activity during the intervention lessons and time-on-task was analyzed by calculation of partial correlations. Results: Time-on-task of socially disadvantaged children was lower than that of children without this disadvantage, differences were significant at the start post-control (t(65) = 2.39, p < 0.05) and post-intervention (t(71) = 2.75, p < 0.05) observation and at the midway post-control (t(68) = 2.45, p < 0.05) observation. Multilevel analysis showed that the time-on-task of all children was significantly higher during post-intervention in comparison with post-control lessons (ES = 0.41). No significant difference was found at the start observation, but there were significant differences at the midway (ES = 0.60) and end (ES = 0.59) observation. On average, the children were exercising in moderate to vigorous physical activity during 60% of de lesson time (14 minutes of an average lesson of 23 minutes). No significant relationships were found between percentage of moderate to vigorous physical activity during the intervention and time-on-task in the post-intervention lessons. Conclusions: Physically active academic lessons may positively influence time-on-task in children, which can contribute to academic success in the long term. * Correspondence: m.j.mullender-wijnsma@umcg.nl University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Center for Human Movement Sciences, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, Groningen 9713 AV, The Netherlands Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2015 Mullender-Wijnsma et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Mullender-Wijnsma et al. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:404 Page 2 of 9 Background Children who experience risk factors in their home environment, such as low parental education levels and low family income, are more likely to have poor academic outcomes [1]. One of the predictors of academic outcomes is academic engagement in the classroom, which can be measured by the time spent focusing on academic tasks (time-on-task) [2,3]. Because academic engagement of children during a school day is positively related to academic success, it is important for schools to make effective use of official school time and ensure that children’s time-on-task is as high as possible [4]. Some studies showed that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have more difficulties with academic engagement. For example, children at-risk showed deficiencies in focusing on task in comparison with other children [5]. Interventions aimed at increasing academic engagement of children at-risk may contribute to the academic outcomes of these children [6]. A few studies showed positive effects of physically active academic lessons on time-on-task in subsequent regular classroom lessons. In one study effects were examined of short classroom-based physical activities (Energizers) that encourage children to move during academic instruction [7]. Third and fourth grade children showed a significant improvement in on-task behavior immediately after the Energizers. Another study explored the impact of the TAKE 10! program, in which movement and learning are integrated [8]. They found a reduction in off-task behavior of more than 20% after a physically active lesson and concluded that the active academic lessons had a positive effect on elementary school children’s behavior in class. Furthermore, the Texas I-CAN physically active academic lessons were found to prevent the reduction in time-ontask experienced after a period of inactivity in elementary school children [9]. In addition, positive effects of a threeyear physically active academic intervention were found on academic achievement [10]. Although no time-on-task was measured in this study, the effects on academic achievement may, in part, be due to the effects on timeon-task. To improve academic outcomes in children, physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity (MVPA) during the lessons seems important [10,11]. This type of physical activity is linked with a substantial number of health benefits in children [12] and an increase of cerebral blood flow, which improves the oxygenation of the prefrontal cortex, a brain region that is important for cognitive functioning [13]. In addition, it stimulates immediate chemical changes in the brain, like increases in levels of dopamine and norepinephrine. These increased concentrations may immediately enhance attention and aid cognitive performance [14]. The question rises whether the lesson time spent in MVPA during physically active academic lessons influences the on-task behavior of the children immediately after the lessons. A study examined the short-term effects of moderate physical activity in children in an experimental setting. Primary school children walked on a treadmill at 60% of their estimated maximum heart rate for 20 minutes. After this exercise an improvement in attention and academic achievement was found [15]. Another study examined the time spent in the target heart rate zone (55%-80% of their maximum heart rate) and its relationship to cognitive tasks. No evidence was found that time within the target heart rate zone was related to cognitive performance. However, the results suggested that vigorous activities (time spent above the target heart rate zone) might have cognitive benefits [16]. Although this study suggested effects of vigorous activities, a review study showed that MVPA could facilitate cognition and that intense exercise could be detrimental to cognition [17]. Summarized, in the literature we found an increase in time-on-task after physically active academic lessons and physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity seems to be an important prerequisite in order to find positive effects. This study focuses on socially disadvantaged children (SDC) in the Netherlands, based on parental education level, who academically underperform in comparison with children without this disadvantage (non-SDC) [18]. The first aim of the present study was to confirm that SDC were less on task during regular classroom lessons in comparison with non-SDC. The second aim was to investigate the effect of ‘Fit & Vaardig op school’ (F&V; Fit and academically proficient at school), physically active academic lessons, on the time-on-task of SDC and non-SDC immediately after F&V lessons. As it has been shown in the literature that disadvantaged children had poorer abilities to maintain their task attention [5], and that physical activity might be more effective for the attention of lower performers [19], it is hypothesized that SDC could benefit more from physically active academic lessons in comparison with non-SDC. The third aim was to examine if the lesson time spent in MVPA during the F&V lessons was related to the time-on-task in the lessons that immediately followed the F&V lessons. It was hypothesized that the more lesson time was spent in MVPA, the higher the time-on-task after the lesson. Highly intensive exercise was expected to be detrimental to cognitive performance [17].