Effects of Physical Activity on Math - an RCT
Condition: Academic Acheivement; Physical Activity
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Background

      Increased physical activity can improve cognition and academic skills. However due to
      economic concerns and increasing focus on standardized testing, PA in schools often receives
      little attention and physical education is reduced in many countries in favor of spending
      more time devoted to academic classes. This tendency is not compatible with the increasing
      evidence for the association between physical activity, fitness, cognitive and academic
      performance.

      Despite increasing evidence for the association between PA, fitness, cognitive and academic
      performance, very few longitudinal high-quality studies exists examining the effect of
      physical activity on academic performance (ref.). Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge
      only two studies have assessed academic outcomes following the integration of physical
      activity into the classroom with intervention participants scoring significantly higher in
      test sections compared to controls which makes generalizing from these results challenging.

      To promote policy changes that require more physical activity in school, empirical data are
      needed to study the effects of school-based physical activity programs. Therefore the
      investigators carried out a cluster randomized controlled trial conducted to examine the
      effect on math achievement and executive functions of classroom based PA in math.
    

Detailed description: 
      Study Design

      Twelve elementary schools were cluster randomized to the active math intervention or served
      as control. Randomization was performed by shuffling sealed envelopes with intervention
      allocation inside to determine group assignment. This happened in a meeting where the leaders
      of the schools, employees at the municipalities and the responsible researcher were present.
      The study lasted for a school year (43 weeks) and the subjects were tested before and after
      the nine-month long intervention.

      All tests were performed within one week except for the objective measurement of physical
      activity (PA) via accelerometer (ActiGraph, 7163, Pensacola, FL), which took place in a
      separate week, just before baseline and endline. In the intervention period (38 weeks) the
      participants received on average 6 mathematics lessons of 45 minutes per week with
      respectively physically active and traditional teaching.

      The intervention

      The intervention consisted of math teaching focusing on implementing PA in the classroom as a
      facilitating instrument. Teachers were told to include at least 15 minutes of physical
      activity in each 45 minutes math lesson. In addition sedentary activities were only allowed
      to last for maximum 20 minutes. Classroom-based PA had the aim of creating a meaningful
      binding between the mathematical concepts and a specific physical activity to improve mental
      representation of mathematics and thus contribute to understanding and memory of the
      mathematical concepts.

      Classroom teacher training for implementation of the intervention

      Training was provided to math teachers at each intervention school in a course given by the
      responsible group of researchers. The training was planned in collaboration between
      mathematics teachers in the intervention schools and the responsible group of researchers and
      was based on the curriculum for mathematics in Danish public schools. The planning of the
      teaching content took place on a 4-day mandatory course for all mathematics teachers with the
      purpose to enable the teachers to teach active mathematics and thereby to promote the math
      achievement.

      As part of the course the teachers received a folder with suggestions for PA in math made by
      the responsible group of researchers. In addition they developed activities with specific
      instructions and inspiration for how teachers could incorporate PA as an element of academic
      instruction. Since the teacher's motivation and involvement can influence the outcome of the
      study, emphasis was placed on creating high motivation in the course by increasing
      understanding of the numerous positive cognitive effects of PA.
    

Intervention name(s): Physically active math lessons
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The intervention consists of a nine month period with physical activity as part of, and integrated, in math lessons
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Factorial Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Motor Activity; Cognition; Academic Acheivement; Preadolescent Children