Mounting Evidence Suggests Link Between P.E., Educational Achievement

Feb 22, 2008 (RWJ Foundation)

• A growing body of evidence supports a connection between physical activity and academic achievement, Education Week reports.


• A study published last year in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology suggests that children who performed well on two measures of physical fitness tended to score higher on state reading and math exams, regardless of gender or socioeconomic status.


• A study in the December 2007 Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, meanwhile, followed 163 Augusta, Ga., schoolchildren and found that those who exercised for 40 minutes daily demonstrated the greatest improvements in cognitive function, with gains roughly twice as large as children who exercised for only 20 minutes daily.


• In 2004, schools in Naperville, Ill., implemented “learning readiness” P.E. classes for students who had received low scores on certain academic tests. Under the program, roughly a dozen students struggling with reading participated in early-morning P.E. sessions and attended a specialized literacy class.

Often, there seems to be an "either/or" attitude when it comes to physical fitness and academic success. NCLB and the resulting "drill" approach to reading and math performance on standardized tests gobble up the lion's share of the school day. Is this the best strategy???

After one semester, children participating in the "learning readiness" PE classes in Naperville Central High program showed 1.34 year’s of growth on standardized reading tests, compared with seven-tenths of a year’s growth among struggling students who attended only literacy classes.

We hope that more school District's explore programs that integrate physical activity and academic success - and remember that a child brings a brain and a body into the learning equation. (Viadero, Education Week, 2/12/08 [registration required]).

SPARK - and BDNF

I spent a few hours with several groups of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders last week. They were being trained as part of the Gen Xe3 program in Generation FIT. The more time I spend trusting these young people with the role of leading Exerlearning in the school-classroom environment, the more bold I get in what content is included.

That week I decided to dig deep and include a comprehensive overview of what happens to the brain and it's ability to succeed at many cognitive tasks (using that vocabulary). Dr. John Ratey's book SPARK provided just what I need to understand the process clearly. Check out his blog here.

Once I understood the content myself, I was able to translate the message into a cartoon-heavy PowerPoint that made good sense to my eager young audience. For many, it was the first time that they understood why sitting still and concentrating was particularly difficult for them. In Generation FIT we request that the greatest percentage of our "Game Master" mentors be students who are either challenged or challenging in some way. Those very students are usually the best leaders of Generation FIT and ExerLearning in a very short time. The students eagerly returned to class chattering about "hippocampus" and "BDNF" - and ready to share what they understand with their peers - and their teachers!

If you'd like the PowerPoint file, simply send us an e-mail with your request, school, grade level and any comments.

Classroom Teachers for Exerlearning: Student Support

There is a promising article on a New Hampshire school's support of student wellness via activity. The article is especially interesting because it mention PE programs and NCLB grants in the same article. That’s a huge step forward.

PE teachers and others who "get it" are adding PE to the national radar screen, but we still have an uphill battle. Some things to consider are the myriad of agendas within a school. When a single or small group of PE teachers must fight to include as much activity as possible for students it can be exhausting and tough. One of the main benefits of the Generation FIT model is that the students – the very group we are targeting for the activity – lead and manage the program. One aspect of Generation FIT is getting the physical activity right in the classroom where the majority of teachers in a school can witness for themselves the benefits of physical activity on learning, attendance, behavior, engagement, leadership and collaboration. Teachers cannot embrace a change that doesn't appear relevant to their objectives or items that they are being evaluated on. All of us understand that. http://www.generation-fit.com/

When a team of Gen FIT students (lead by the most challenged and challenging in a class) make "learning" better -“PE” is meaningful in the classroom teacher's agenda. This is a huge paradigm –cultural shift in a school. One of the student groups we target in Gen FIT are those struggling with reading, math, behavior, ADHD and such. In our sub-program, GenXe3, those students are trained in the physiology of learning, the brain, kinesiology of exergame activity, wellness FOR THEIR TEACHERS, goal setting and making positive choices. Back to the tobacco issue – these students who may be tempted to make risky choices in life are teamed with a faculty member and are trained to help the faculty member make choices that help them reach their wellness goals.

Piece by piece Gen FIT students change the culture of a school – while developing a critical mass of change agents for “more PE.” We gain a school full of Exerlearners.

IN all this I believe we need to review how we label what the PE class is called in a school. You don’t just have history – there is world history, US history. Math is algebra, geometry and calculus. PE can be PE4Life as course, or Learning readiness PE – or some description that sounds nothing at all like PE. Why? Because every adult has experienced PE and often they attach memories or concepts about it that have no relation to what PE is today. Overcoming the collective memory of parents of our students is an additional battle we shouldn’t have to add.

That is one reason I trademarked the term Exerlearning. It is important to have a vocabulary for a cultural change. As people learn the meaning of the new word – like Phil Lawler’s “Exergame” to differentiate a class of video game – they can then understand and converse more easily.

One more aspect of the article to consider (and we welcome your comments and discussion):

"Key components are composed of the following recommendations: To encourage parents and guardians to support their children in enjoyable physical activities and be role models for a heathy lifestyle; support special programs including family fitness events and events that emphasize lifelong physical activity; integration of such activities across school curriculum; encourage students to initiate activities on a schoolwide basis; "

Here is a quote we'd like to turn around. "Adults within the school community can encourage students to be more active and develop good eating habits." With GenXe3 - the very students we want to target can lead the change at school and in the community. Think of the 21st century Skills that would be gained by the students!

RWJ Foundation and the need for Exerlearning

Active Living Research (ALR) recently released a research brief highlighting evidence of the link between increased physical activity and improved academic performance among children, the Dunn County News reports. ALR, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that, although more than one-third of U.S. children and teens are considered overweight or obese, schools are increasingly replacing physical education with academic coursework in their push to improve standardized test scores. This is great news for Generation FIT and our ExerLearning initiatives.

According to the report, just 3.8 percent of elementary schools currently offer daily P.E., and only 36 percent of high school students achieve recommended levels of physical activity. The report points out, however, that decreased P.E. time is not associated with improved academic performance. In fact, the report indicates that children who are physically active tend to perform at higher levels in the classroom and on standardized tests. In addition, active students exhibit fewer behavior problems and better concentration skills. Noting that “you can’t have healthy minds without healthy bodies,” U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) says the report underscores the “need to strengthen P.E. in America” (Dunn County News, 2/6/08; RWJF Active Living Research brief, Fall 2007).

If you want to learn more, simply send an e-mail.

Creative Kids Get Off the Couch

It may be the default way to play most video games - slouched on the couch or in a chair, but Get Outta My face has become the home of kids creating new ways to play their games. Sure, any game can be an "exergame" and provide rich ExerLearning benefits. Who better to deliver unique and effective ideas - kids aged 8-18!!! Take a look at the contest and forward this link to creative gamers you know.

Phil Lawler Shares the News

Several mornings each week I get a few e-mails from Phil Lawler, founder of PE4Life and most enthusiastic, enegetic supporter of great physical education on the globe (my well-founded opinion). For more about the Naperville High PE/Learning connection click here. This morning he sent over a NEWSWEEK article tying fitness, exercise and cognition that was exciting to read.

In part, it explains (please read the full article), "The Greeks probably intuited a basic principle that Western researchers also figured out long ago: aerobic exercise helps the heart pump more blood to the brain, along with the rest of the body. More blood means more oxygen, and thus better-nourished brain cells. For decades, that has been the only link between athletic and mental prowess that science has been able to demonstrate with any degree of certainty. "People have been slow to grasp that exercise can really affect cognition," says Hillman, "just as it affects muscles."
Now, however, armed with brain-scanning tools and a sophisticated understanding of biochemistry, researchers are realizing that the mental effects of exercise are far more profound and complex than they once thought. The process starts in the muscles. Every time a bicep or quad contracts and releases, it sends out chemicals, including a protein called IGF-1 that travels through the bloodstream, across the blood-brain barrier and into the brain itself. There, IGF-1 takes on the role of foreman in the body's neurotransmitter factory. It issues orders to ramp up production of several chemicals, including one called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Ratey, author of the upcoming book "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain," calls this molecule "Miracle-Gro for the brain." It fuels almost all the activities that lead to higher thought.

All About Kids and READING:

Exercise probably has "a more long-lasting effect on brains that are still developing," says Phil Tomporowski, a professor of exercise science at the University of Georgia. In kids, as in adults, the hippocampus reaps many benefits from exercise. This won't surprise parents of kids with ADHD, many of whom already use physical activity as a substitute or supplement for drugs. In children with the disorder, the hippocampus is enlarged, and it may be wired to the rest of the brain in abnormal ways that affect its function.
But a good workout, or for that matter a boisterous session of kickball, can also have much more widespread effects on children's brains. Until about 20, kids don't have fully developed frontal lobes, so they "recruit" other parts of the brain to perform necessary functions, including those involved in learning. In Hillman's look at third- and fifth-grade PE students, exercise sped up not just executive functioning, but a broad variety of skills ranging from math to logic to reading, all of which rope in many regions of the brain. "In kids you have a tremendous amount of growing brain tissue, particularly in the frontal lobe," says Tomporowski. "So we can't just break it down to hippocampal function in them. Exactly what else is going on in there, I don't think anybody knows."

Phil Lawler, Paul Zientarsky and the team at Naperville High have exciting stories to tell, begin exploring here.