No abstract

A 10-min and 20-min classroom exercise break moderately improved math performance in students compared with a seated classroom lesson.

This study identified unique, sex-specific trajectories of organized sport participation. The differences in health outcomes between trajectory classes, such as participants with consistent sport participation having more preferable health outcomes at the age of 20 yr, support the internal validity of the trajectories. Strategies are needed to identify and encourage those in the dropout trajectory to maintain their participation and those in the nonparticipator or joiner trajectories to join sport earlier. Specifically, interventions to encourage early sport participation in girls and help nonparticipating boys to join sport during adolescence may help more children receive the benefits of sport participation.

This study was the first to directly compare the acute effects of 5, 10, and 20 minutes of classroom exercise breaks on on-task behavior. Methods: In this within-subject experiment, 96 4 th and 5 th grade students, in 5 classroom groups, participated in each of four conditions: 10 minutes of sedentary classroom activity and 5, 10, 20 minutes of classroom exercise breaks led by research staff. On-task behavior was directly and systematically observed from videotapes before and after each condition. The post-test time-on-task scores were compared using a repeated measures mixed ANCOVA, adjusted for age, classroom, and the time-varying pre-test time-on-task. Results: Time-on-task was significantly higher in students after 10 minutes of classroom exercise breaks compared to a sedentary attention control (87.6% vs 77.1%, d=0.45, p=.004). Conclusions: Ten minutes of classroom exercise breaks improved on-task behavior in children.

Introduction A majority of preschool-aged children spend a significant portion of every weekday in a preschool or child care setting, where they typically participate in limited physical activity. This study determined if an ecologic physical activity intervention in preschools increases children’s moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA). Design RCT, with preschool as the unit of randomization and analysis. Child physical activity was measured by accelerometry. Mixed model analysis of covariance with preschool as a random variable was used to test the effects of the intervention on physical activity in the total group and in sex-specific subgroups. Data were collected in 2008–2010 and analyzed in 2012–2014. Setting/participants Children in 4-year-old classrooms in 16 preschools, pair matched and assigned to intervention or control groups. Intervention The intervention focused on increasing children’s physical activity by changing instructional practices. Researchers trained preschool teachers to engage children in physical activity during: (1) structured, teacher-led physical activity opportunities in the classroom; (2) structured and unstructured physical activity opportunities at recess; and (3) physical activity integrated into pre-academic lessons. Research staff encouraged teachers to adapt the intervention to their classrooms. Main outcome measures Minutes/hour of MVPA during the preschool day. Results In an analytic sample of 379 children (188 intervention, 191 control), those in the intervention schools engaged in significantly more MVPA than children in control schools (7.4 and 6.6 minutes/hour, respectively). This difference remained significant after adjusting for parent education and length of the school day (half versus full day), In the sex-specific analyses, the difference was significant for girls (6.8 vs 6.1 minutes/hour of MVPA, respectively) but not for boys (7.9 vs 7.2 minutes/hour, respectively). Conclusions A flexible ecologic physical activity intervention that trains teachers to provide children with opportunities to be active throughout the school day increased MVPA in preschool children.