Effects of Physical Activity on Math - an RCT

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.

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.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* 1st Grade primary school children on public schools

Exclusion Criteria:

* Physical disabilities
* No written informed consent from parents