Theory: Movement Helps People Learn Better
Compiled by Lori Gracey | Excutive Director | TCEA.org
Summary of the Belief: Physical activity improves academic achievement.
Points about the Belief:
- Physical activity has been found to generate positive structural changes in the brain, such as development of nerves, formation and differentiation of blood vessels, and improve connectivity.
Resources:
- Developmental psychologist John Best carried out an experiment to investigate the influence of “exergames” on the brain. He asked 33 children to take part in games that differed in their levels of physical activity and cognitive engagement (the intellectual challenge of the game). He examined the effect of these games on the executive functions – the higher control functions – of the participants’ brains. The results showed that the level of cognitive engagement had no effect, but that the level of physical activity did. Children were able to solve problems more quickly after playing a physical game than a cognitive game. He concluded that children “learn” more (in the sense of using the higher part of their brain more effectively) from exergaming than from, say, watching an educational video.
- Gao and Mandryk found acute cognitive benefits of even a casual exergame (10 minutes of light exercise) over watching the same game but not exercising on cognitive tests requiring focus and concentration in adults.
- Maillot, Perrot, and Hartley found that exergaming significantly improved cognitive measures of executive control and processing speed functions in older adults.
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Your Analysis:
Is the theory:
- Myth
- Unproven
- Based on truth
What This Should Mean to Teachers: