Physical Activity and Performance at

SchoolA Systematic Review of the

Literature Including a Methodological
Quality Assessment
Amika Singh, PhD; Léonie Uijtdewilligen, MSc; Jos W. R. Twisk, PhD; Willem van Mechelen, PhD,
MD; Mai J. M. Chinapaw, PhD
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/1107683
Participation in physical activity is positively related to academic performance in children.
Because we found only 2 high-quality studies, future high-quality studies are needed to confirm
our findings. These studies should thoroughly examine the dose-response relationship between
physical activity and academic performance as well as explanatory mechanisms for this
relationship.
Physical activity and sports are generally promoted for their positive effect on children's physical
health; regular participation in physical activity in childhood is associated with a decreased
cardiovascular risk in youth and adulthood.1 There is also a growing body of literature
suggesting that physical activity has beneficial effects on several mental health outcomes,
including health-related quality of life and better mood states.1

The Relationship Between Physical

Activity & Academic Performance
http://www.supportrealteachers.org/articles-on-physical-activity--academic-achievement.html

supportrealteachers.org

Active Education: Growing Evidence on Physical Activity and Academic

Performance. "This research brief reviews published scientific articles that examine
how physical activity and fitness may help school-aged children maximize their
academic performance. It also provides an overview of the effects of physical activity
on the developing brain."

How Does Physical Activity Affect Academic Performance?

April 19th, 2012 by SPARK

https://sparkpe.org/blog/how-physical-activity-affects-academic-performance/
Students in every grade level at schools across the country are struggling in class. It’ s not because they’ re
underachievers, or they’ re not smart, or they don’ t care. It’ s because we’ re working against them. The longer
children and teens are forced to sit and grow roots in their chairs, the harder it will be for them to bloom.
There is myriad research that proves that students need adequate amounts of physical activity throughout the school
day—not only do they prevent obesity and obesity-related issues, but they perform better academically also.

Exercise directly impacts the behavior and development of the brain. “ It is likely that the effects of physical activity on
cognition would be particularly important in the highly plastic developing brains of youth,” according to a 2010 essay
penned by Charles Basch of Columbia University.

The impact of physical activity and fitness

on academic achievement and cognitive
performance in children
Thomas J.H. Keeley &Kenneth R. Fox
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17509840903233822

The potential for physical activity and fitness to improve cognitive function,
learning and academic achievement in children has received attention by
researchers and policy makers. This paper reports a systematic approach to
identification, analysis and review of published studies up to early 2009. A three-
step search method was adopted to identify studies that used measures of
physical activity or fitness to assess either degree of association with or effect on
a) academic achievement and b) cognitive performance. A total of 18 studies
including one randomised control trial, six quasi-experimental and 11
correlational studies were included for data extraction. No studies meeting
criteria that examined the links between physical activity and cognitive function
were found. Weak positive associations were found between both physical
activity and fitness and academic achievement and fitness and elements of
cognitive function, but this was not supported by intervention studies. There is
insufficient evidence to conclude that additional physical education time
increases academic achievement; however there is no evidence that it is
detrimental. The quality and depth of the evidence base is limited. Further
research with rigour beyond correlational studies is essential.

Active Education: Growing Evidence on Physical Activity and Academic Performance

https://activelivingresearch.org/sites/default/files/ALR_Brief_ActiveEducation_Jan2015.pdf

activelivingresearch.org
One in three kids in the United States is overweight or obese. Obese youth have elevated risk for health
problems like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, unhealthy blood cholesterol patterns,
and other health risks related to cardiovascular disease.1 Obesity can also have serious ramifications for
kids’ cognitive development2 and affect school attendance.3, 4 Because children spend so much time at
school, schools have a unique opportunity to help children become more healthy and active. The
Institute of Medicine has called on school leaders to offer more opportunities for children to be
physically active before, during and after the school day.5 Further, both childhood obesity and poor
academic performance tend to be clustered in schools with a high percentage of lower-income, minority
students, creating a student health issue that is especially problematic in those communities. There is a
growing body of evidence indicating that physical activity and fitness can benefit both health and
academic performance for children. This research brief reviews published scientific articles that examine
how physical activity and fitness may help school-aged children maximize their academic performance.
It also provides an overview of the effects of physical activity on the developing brain.

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OF

COLLEGE STUDENTS
Jamie Aweau, Marvin Stucks, Michael Colacicco, Greg Farnell, Ed Cunliff, & Melissa Powers University of Central
Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol11/iss1/26/
Participation in regular physical activity provides many benefits to general health. Among children and adolescents,
physical activity also appears to have a positive impact on academic performance. The relationship between physical
activity and academic performance of college students is not well studied.

There’s no significant patterns of physical activity by GPA were observed in this analysis; however, this topic
deserves further study due to limitations associated with this data set such as self-reporting. Further study of physical
activity and GPA should be conducted using measurement of actual physical activity levels and GPA among college
students.

The Impact of Physical Activity on the Academic Performance among Medical and Health Sciences
Students: A Cross Sectional Study from RAKMHSU - Ras Alkhaimah-UAE

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281707087_The_Impact_of_Physical_Activity_on_the_Acad
emic_Performance_among_Medical_and_Health_Sciences_Students_A_Cross_Sectional_Study_from_R
AKMHSU_-_Ras_Alkhaimah-UAE

Review

Physical activity and academic achievement in children: A

historical perspective
Author links open overlay panelErin K.HowieRussell R.Pate
 Journal of Sport and Health Science
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254612000737

Children and youth receive numerous physical health benefits from physical activity
(PA), including improved fitness, cardiovascular function, metabolic function, and bone
health.1 Despite these health benefits, many children continually fail to meet PA
recommendations.2 To increase PA in a large number of children, experts have targeted
schools as a setting in which to promote PA.3,4 Most efforts to sell PA to school
administrators and policymakers have emphasized its health benefits, with little
success. Therefore, advocates have searched for an alternative approach to persuade
decision makers to include PA in the school day. One approach has been to associate
PA with academic achievement.
Because the primary goal of schools is student academic achievement, the key to
increasing PA in schools would be to show that PA improves academics. Academic
outcomes have become even more important since 2001, when the No Child Left
Behind legislation raised the stakes of standardized academic achievement tests in the
United States. As administrators have increased the focus on academic achievement
since then, schools increasingly have eliminated PA opportunities.5 In response, public
health researchers have searched for the “holy grail” of PA in schools: a positive
connection between PA and academic achievement. If scientific evidence verifies and
supports a positive connection between PA and academics, administrators may be
more likely to increase PA opportunities during the school day.

Association between physical activity

and academic performance in Korean
adolescent students
 Wi-Young So
 https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-12-258
 2012
 BMC Public Health

Recently, physical activity (PA) was found to improve cognitive and memory functions
in the brain; however, no epidemiological studies have specifically investigated this
phenomenon in the Korean adolescent student population. The purpose of this study was
to investigate the effects of various types of PA undertaken at various frequencies, on the
academic performance of Korean adolescent students.
Our analyses of the relevant data from the KYRBWS-V suggested that vigorous PA was
positively correlated with academic performance in the case of boys, and moderate PA
was positively correlated with academic performance in both boys and girls. However,
strengthening exercises were not positively correlated with academic performance in
boys or girls. Furthermore, when undertaken 5 or more times a week, vigorous PA in
boys and strengthening exercises in both boys and girls were negatively correlated with
academic performance. The results from this study are potentially relevant to the
development of future education policies in Korean schools, particularly with regard to
early intervention strategies designed to identify and counteract potential factors
contributing to academic underachievement.

The effects of physical

activity on academic
achievement in
kindergarten aged
children
Shannonhouse, Amy K. (2012) The effects of physical activity on academic achievement in
kindergarten aged children. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/13520/
Amy Kathleen Shannonhouse, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 2012
Increasing time in physical activity could help combat childhood obesity. In addition to
physical health, daily physical activity’s benefits on the brain and cognitive functioning have
been extensively researched and provide support for incorporating more physical activity
into physical education and the school day. This research investigated the effects of physical
activity on academic achievement in kindergarten children across the 2008/09 school year.
The main hypothesis examined in the study was whether children who participated in the
Interactive Physical Activity Center (IPAC) would perform better academically than the
control group on the Dibels Oral Reading Fluency, Retell Fluency, and Group Mathematics
Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (G-Made) achievement tests. To ensure that children
in the experimental group were physically active, participation, changes in heart rate,
activity scores and perceived exertion were examined across the year. Third, school
attendance was examined to determine if the experimental group had fewer school
absences than the control group. A longitudinal non-equivalent control group design was
used to investigate the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement. To
determine if the children were active in the IPAC, a one-way ANOVA examined changes in
fitness variables. For the main question of the study concerning physical activity and
academic achievement a two-way (Group X Time) ANOVA was used to compare academic
progress of the experimental and control group. To assess school attendance of the two
groups, a one-tailed independent samples t-test was used. Results demonstrated that
kindergarten children who received the IPAC program increased their physical activity and
reached the academic performance level of the control group by the end of the school year.
The experimental group experienced a greater rate of improvement over time in three out
of four of the Dibels subtests compared to the control group, and improved the same as the
controls in the Growth Scale Value of the G-Made. These results expand previous research
on the relationship between physical activity and academic performance in kindergarten
children. Results of this study are important for administrators and teachers because quality
physical activity experiences have the potential to impact cognitive, physical and academic
outcomes in our schools.