Does Learning Through Movement Improve Academic Performance in Primary Schoolchildren? A Systematic Review

Abstract

Physically active children have greater motor competence and a faster maturation compared with their sedentary peers. Recent research also suggests that physical activity during childhood may also promote cognitive development and therefore improve academic performance. The aim of this study was to understand if physically active academic lessons may improve academic achievement in primary schoolchildren. A systematic review following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines was conducted. The search was performed on the following database: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and PsycINFO (APA). Studies evaluating schoolchildren aged between 3 and 11 years taking part in educational contexts that include physical activity and natural environments evaluating physical fitness and/or educational outcomes were included. A total of 54 studies (for a total sample of 29,460 schoolchildren) were considered eligible and included in the qualitative synthesis. The Effective Public Health Practice Project risk-of-bias assessment revealed a moderate quality of the included studies with only two considered weeks. Despite differences in the retrieved protocols, physically active academic lessons improve the total time engaged in physical activity, motor skills, and/or academic performance. The results of this review suggest that learning through movement is an effective, low-cost, and enjoyable strategy for elementary schoolchildren.

Effects of an innovative daily physical activity intervention on the health and fitness status of primary school children: a cluster randomized controlled trial

“…Therefore, the approach taken in many intervention programs is to use external sports coaches to teach the physical education classes [59]. Previously, the concept of teaching cognitive content in combination with movement and PA was used, in particular in mathematics and language learning, as in our intervention, and led to an improvement in the cognitive performance of the participating children [60,61]. Other intervention designs prefer to organize additional sports activities in the school settings outside of class time [59], adding an additional daily physical activity lesson to the curriculum [30,32,62], spending the daily morning break at school with physical activities [63], or implementing high-intensity physical activity programs during short breaks in cognitive lessons [64].…”

Promoting physical activity in an early childhood education setting: integrating gross motor skills and mathematics

“…In the recent years, integration of physical activities with the teaching curriculum content had been recommended and explored in primary schools (Webster et al 2015;Mavilidi and Vazou 2021). A recent review showed that physically active lessons yielded benefits in motor skills and academic performance among primary school students (Petrigna et al 2022). There has also been evidence that such integrated lessons enhanced students' focus during class, (i.e., time-on-task) which could contribute to academic learning processes (Mullender-Wijnsma et al 2015).…”

“…There has been particular interest with integrating movements with mathematics, as it has been argued that sensorimotor components transform mathematical concepts into tangible events or situations for young children, thereby facilitating effective learning (Mavilidi et al 2018). In relation to health, such integrated approach can increase the amount of physical activity time and help children meet the recommendations to gain associated health benefits (Petrigna et al 2022;Vetter et al 2020). In ECEC settings, this potentially useful strategy may allow teachers to circumvent the challenges associated with promoting physical activity in the face of academic learning requirements.…”

“…However, the growing evidence to support the benefits and utility of such approach have been mostly for primary school settings (Petrigna et al 2022). While specific frameworks had been proposed to integrate movement with learning in ECEC (Lu and Montague 2016), empirical work on physically active mathematics learning for preprimary school settings are still needed (Vetter et al 2020).…”

Enhancing Child Development Through a Physically Active Learning Program to Mitigate the Impact of Physical Inactivity and ADHD Symptoms: A Crossover Trial

“…Contrary to our hypotheses, the initial level of PA (PA a or PA b ) or the diagnosis of ADHD did not in uence the effectiveness of the intervention. Means, Standard Deviations, and Mean Difference Across Groups for Child Development Domains).DiscussionOver the past few years, there has been a growing interest in school-based PAL programs as promising interventions to increase PA levels among school-aged children and potentially enhance educational outcomes[36, 38,39,41,57]. However, limited knowledge exists regarding the effects of these interventions on holistic child development when implemented in the classroom over an extended period.…”