A Narrative Review of School-Based Physical Activity for Enhancing Cognition and Learning: The Importance of Relevancy and Integration

Abstract

Engaging in regular physical activity can have substantial cognitive and academic benefits for children, and is generally promoted for its beneficial effects on children’s physical and mental health. Although embodied cognition research has convincingly shown the integral relationship of the human body and mind, in schools physical activity and cognitive activity are typically treated as unrelated processes. Consequently, most physical activities used are neither sufficiently relevant for nor fully integrated into the learning tasks. In reviewing the literature regarding the integration of physical activity into education to promote cognition and learning, two main lines of research emerged: exercise and cognition research vs. embodied cognition research. In this narrative review, we describe these two separately evolved schools of thought, highlighting their differences and commonalities. In categorising the existing studies on a 2 × 2 matrix, concerning the two main categories of relevance for and integration into the learning task, it becomes clear where the different foci lie, and how both lines of research could profit from learning from each other. Finally, a new instructional model that integrates task-relevant physical activities into the cognitive/learning task is proposed to inform both further research and educational practice.

Effects of different types of classroom physical activity breaks on children’s on‐task behaviour, academic achievement and cognition

“…Previous research found no differences between active breaks and traditional seated lessons on mathematics performance (22), on-task behaviour or sustained attention in primary school children (24). Possibly, longer activity breaks around 10 minutes or even physically active lessons, involving adjusted lessons with physical activities integrated with the academic instruction, would be able to fully engage students to the academic curriculum and enhance their on-task behaviour and academic performance (22,25,26).…”

Physical Education: Adaptations and Benefits for Deaf Students

“…Thus these activities may bring psychological and physiological benefits (e.g. health promotion, feelings expression, formation of critical awareness, autonomy development, and motivation for study, among others) (Munoz et al, 2004;Pettersson, 2000;Sarma, 2017;Mavilidi et al, 2018 Physical activity can be carried out without restriction by the deaf population.…”

Establishing a Scientific Consensus on the Cognitive Benefits of Physical Activity

“…To date, there are two scientific consensus statements on the effect of physical activity and aging, and cognitive and academic performance [26,42]. Regarding aging, twenty-six researchers from nine different countries and a variety of academic disciplines met in Denmark to reach an evidence-based consensus about physical activity and its effect on older adults.…”

“…We further distinguish between acute and chronic effects of physical activity. Acute effects develop during short-term exposure or a single bout of physical activity, whereas repeated bouts of physical activity are needed for the chronic effects to take place [26]. Both effects are significant, with acute effects, on one hand, expressed as improved attention and cognitive function [13,26].…”

“…It is assumed that fine movements, such as making gestures during problem solving (e.g., finger counting, pointing, tracing), or gross motor movements, such as enacting to learned words, can improve learning by sharing the load between the cognitive and motor systems (i.e., cognitive offloading) [24,25] and by providing additional cues that can be incorporated in cognitive schemas and used in subsequent knowledge retrieval [22]. Mavilidi et al (2018) [26] have suggested that for movements to be effective for learning they need to be integrated into and relevant for the learning task.…”