Cognitive Benefits of Physical Education: Making Connections with Brain Research

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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).

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…1996-2007)

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

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

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

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

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

Ware Shoals Primary School Cognitive Benefits of Physical Education: Making Connections with Brain Research Debbie Smith Clemson University Clemson, SC Stevens@Clemson.edu Samantha Jackson Ware Shoals Primary School Ware Shoals, SC sjackson@gwd51.k12.sc.us

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