As a Health & Physical Education teacher from waaaay back, I’ve always had a passion for PE and seen it as being a vital part of any well-balanced school curriculum.
However, it seems to be common practice for schools to reduce the amount of time kids spend doing physical activity as soon as it is no longer mandatory. In most states in Australia this is around the end of Year 10.
Many schools offer no opportunities at all for Year 11 & 12 students to partake in physical activity during school hours. Often citing the need to dedicate as much time as possible to academic pursuits.
But what if being active, as well as being good for the body also had benefits for the mind? What if we could also keep the accountability aficionados happy by showing how that by being active, students could also improve their grades?
It’s common sense of course to believe that kids should function better if they’re active. Our body isn’t designed to be sedentary.
But it does help to have some research to back up our common sense opinions.
Research out of the Universities of Dundee and Strathclyde claims that every 15 minutes of daily exercise improves performance by an average of about a quarter of a grade, meaning it is possible that children who carried out 60 minutes of exercise every day could improve their academic performance by a full grade – for example, from a C to a B, or a B to an A.
Could your school give over more time for physical activity?
Common sense tells me it would have all manner of benefits for your community… now I just have to find the research to back me up.
Author: Dan Haesler is a teacher, consultant and speaker at the Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminars. His website is: http://danhaesler.com/ and he tweets at @danhaesler
If you want to help boost your child’s IQ, get better grades, and work more efficiently – the answer is you need to fit in some regular exercise!
The following research is important for your children and you to note 1
• Primary-school students who exercise approximately 40 minutes per day have increased their IQ score by an average of 4 points.
• Year six students who are fit, score around 30 % higher than average students, and less fit students around 20 % below the average.
• Older students who participate in sport have around 20% improvements in Math, Science, English and History results.
• Eighteen year olds that are fit are more likely to go on to higher education and get full time jobs.
• Exercising before an exam may improve test scores by up to 17%.
There are over 100 studies in the Journal of Applied Physiology, that reveal that both aerobic and resistance training help maintain cognitive function as we age. Anyone with Alzheimer’s in the family should take heed!
All of my work is evidence based research. http://www.ahealthyview.com.au