Exercise Rocks!!! By: Mrs. Reagan’s Class

Here’s what all we’ve done… -Listening to guest speaker and our inspiration for the project, Dr. Charles Raper -Training each morning to improve our mile time by our Mile-a-thon -Doing an experiment to see how exercise affects memory (using scientific method) -Surveying fourth grade students about exercise and related topics and using the results to practice data and graphing -We will also be doing a STEM project during the afternoons of TCAP week relating to this topic.

Our Mile-a-thon

The Effects of Exercise on Memory

Make Observations We have noticed that when we exercise we feel better throughout the day.

Will exercise improve my memory? Ask a Question Will exercise improve my memory?

Form a Hypothesis We think that exercise will improve our memory because it will get blood flowing to our brains.

Test Your Hypothesis First, we watched a list of 14 words. Then we wrote down as many as we could remember in one minute. Next, we jumped rope for 2 straight minutes. Finally, we watched a different list of 14 words and wrote down as many as we could remember afterwards.

Record Data Morning Class: Afternoon Class: Average Words Before: 6.3 Student Number Number of Words Before Exercise Number of Words After Exercise 1 8 6 2 3 4 5 11 7 12 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Average 6.0 8.8 Student Number Number of Words Before Exercise Number of Words After Exercise 1 7 5 2 6 8 3 10 11 4 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Average 6.6 7.4 Better Before Exercise 12 Better After Exercise 23 Same on Both 5 Average Words Before: 6.3 After: 8.1

Data

Draw Conclusions In conclusion, we supported our hypothesis that most students were able to remember better after exercise.

Fourth Grade Exercise Survey Results

Exercise Survey We surveyed 100 fourth graders about their exercise habits, focus, test anxiety, grades, etc. Here are our results!

How often do fourth graders exercise?

How often do you feel stressed? Exercise 3 or more days a week will help you feel less stressed! % of students

What is your usual level of happiness? A little exercise is better than none! % of students

How do you feel about your body? Students who exercised everyday were most likely to be happy with their bodies! % of students

Which of these describes your grades? Wow! If you want all A’s, you better exercise everyday! Our survey supports this! % of students

How do you usually feel when taking a test? We didn’t ask people when they were exercising… Maybe if they exercised right before a test, they would be less nervous??? % of students

Do you feel like it is hard to focus at school? You are more likely to be able to focus if you exercise daily! % of students

How often do your parents exercise? If your parents exercise, you are more likely to exercise too! If your parent don’t exercise, you’re not likely to either. % of students

Written by Jackson Greene Conclusions When people exercise, they feel better. Here try this: Watch television for a bit, then write down a few sentences. Do your thoughts keep drifting back to TV? Now, go play outside, then write a paper. Is it easier to focus? Yes! Do you know why? The blood in your body is pumping to your brain. It know it sounds weird, but your brain needs blood to work. So if you exercise before school, you have better focus, and when you exercise you are much happier. Written by Jackson Greene