1. Cognitive Benefits of Physical Education: Making Connections with Brain Research

2. Balance activities... ...can improve academic achievement
...can enahnce reading & visual processing
...can improve writing skills
...can enhance athletic performance
...can decrease learning disabilities

3. Balance disturbances can impair brain processing structures
involved w/ attention, memory,
vision, auditory perception,
reading, speech, movement,
spatial orientation, sequencing
and complex mathematical
relationships.

4. Balance Equipment Balance Boards Hoppity Hops Spinning Swings
Brain Mats
Body Tubes
Stilts
Gonge Cup
Merry-Go-Rounds
Skateboards/Skating

5. Why Exercise Works!! Blood pumping through our bodies,
enables our brain to function at it’s best.
Physical activity builds and conditions
the brain.
No more GYM Teacher…but,
BRAIN TRAINERS!!!

6. Results of INACTIVITY
65% of adults and 1 in 3 children are overweight.
Inactivity kills our brains---physically,
shriveling them up through lack of use!!
We treat the mind and the body as if
they were separate…they are not!!!
Our bodies need to work hard to keep
our brains in peak performance
Exercise cues the building blocks of learning in the brain.
Ratey

7. studies on the effect of Brain Rule #1 Exercise Boosts Brain Power
1995 began the avalanche of
studies on the effect of
exercise and the brain.
Brain Rule #1 Exercise Boosts Brain Power

8. Can WE Change the Brains of our Students’?
YES...through everyday experiences!
The brain responds like
muscles do, growing with use, withering with
inactivity!!

9. HOW DOES THE BRAIN CHANGE?
Our experiences
at school will change the
brain in some way!
HOW DOES THE BRAIN CHANGE?
Eric Jenson
How we grow new brain cells
through physical activity!

10. BDNF= Miracle-Gro which Fosters Plasticity
Brain plasticity refers to the capacity of the brain to modify its structure and function as a result of the interaction with the environment.
CODE FOR LEARNING
BDNF is really the brain's wonder drug.
BDNF functions to translate activity into synaptic & cognitive connections.
Ratey

11. better cognition, mood regulation and
Research concludes…exercise is strongly correlated with increased brain mass,
better cognition, mood regulation and
new cell production.
“As physical educators,
we create the brain cells.
It’s up to other teacher’s to fill them”
Ratey

12. “The greatest fallacy in American education today is that dropping physical education will improve academic performance.”

13. Why is Rhythm Important?
CONNECTION #3
Why is Rhythm Important?
The foundation for language
comes from hearing a beat
and copying the rhythm
Everything involves rhythm
A child that can keep a rhythm…
can learn to read!

14. Rhythmic Activities
Cup Passing Game
Jump Rope Rhymes
Alphabet Clap
Criss-Cross Clap

15. What the Research says about…Exercise & the Brain
CONNECTION #4
What the Research says about…Exercise & the Brain
Physical Education is positively related to increased academic performance.
Physical Education does not influence academic performance in a negative manner.
Reducing time in physical education does not guarantee improvement in academics.

16. I. Physical Education is positively related to increased academic performance.
CDE studies consistently show that students with higher fitness scores also have higher test scores.
In 2004, a panel of noted researchers supported the findings of the CDE study and added that physical activity has a positive influence on memory, concentration and classroom behavior.
1977 Trois-Rivieres study looked at the effect of PE on children as they moved from 1st – 6th grade where academic performance proved to be significantly higher in those exposed to daily PE.

17. II. Physical Education does not influence academic performance in a negative manner.
Exercise improves cognition in school children. Aerobic exercise (as well as BMI) was related to achievement in reading and math (Castelli, D., 2007).
School Health, Academic Performance and Exercise study found the academic achievement did not differ for students that spent over four times longer in physical education and significantly less time in academic classes (Dwyer , et al, 1983).

18. III. Reducing time in physical education does not guarantee improvement in academics.
Increasing time in physical education does not negatively influence academic achievement & decreasing time in PE will not ensure that children perform any better in the classroom (Wilkens,Graham, et. Al., 2003).
Sacrificing physical education for classroom time does not improve academic performance (Shepard, Dwyer, Sallis, Ahamed, Coe… )

19. Programs that support active brains & active bodies:
Naperville Central High School, Naperville, Il
file://localhost/Users/debbies/Desktop/Pumpingup thebrain.html
Woodland Elementary School, Kansas City, MO.
Copenhagen, Denmark

20. Fittest School in the Nation???
Naperville, IL
Every student at Madison Junior High completes a computer-based fitness test.
A revolutionary PE program has transformed the student body body into perhaps the fittest in the nation with Zero hour PE. The purpose is to determine whether working out before school gives students a boost in reading ability and the rest of their academic subjects.
Among one entire sophomore class, only 3% were overweight, versus the national average of 30%.
The program has also turned these students into some of the smartest in the nation.
In 1999, Naperville’s 8th graders were among 230,000 students form around the world who took an international test called TIMMS which evaluates knowledge of math & science. In recent years students from Chain, Japan and Singapore have outpaced American kid in these subjects. The Naperville students finished 6th in Math & 1st in science . The Naperville students stand out as an extraordinary bit of good news.
Students spend one day a week in the school's state-of-the-art fitness center.
A revolutionary PE program has transformed the student body body into perhaps the fittest in the nation with Zero hour PE.
Among one entire sophomore class, only 3% were overweight,
versus the national average of 30%.
In 1999, Naperville District 203 scored #1 in science and #6 in math on TIMSS
(Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study)
Ratey

21. PE one day per week /50 minutes.
Woodland Elementary School
Woodland Elementary School
2005 Fall
PE one day per week /50 minutes.
2006 Jan - June
PE4life Program
Five days a week /45 minutes.
Inner city school with 80% of kids on
free lunch program.
PE4LIFE added
Cardiac monitored watches,
Dance Dance Revolution,
A few exercise bicycles/fitness machines.
AND A NEW ATTITUDE!!
Ratey

22. Johannes Skolen Copenhagen, Denmark
School PE was increased from once a week to 5 times a week for 250 students for three months.
ABSENTEEISM decreased by 38%.
CONCENTR ATION ABILITY was measured and it improved 33%.
Teachers reported, “The increase in exercise had great effects on CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR.”
Exercise had a major impact on GRADES; there was an average of 1.5 grade improvement across the board.
Ratey

23. The brain is involved in everything we do at school… to ignore it is irresponsible!!!

24. Ware Shoals Primary School
Cognitive Benefits of Physical Education: Making Connections with Brain Research
Debbie Smith
Clemson University
Clemson, SC
Samantha Jackson
Ware Shoals Primary School
Ware Shoals, SC

25. REFERENCES