Federal Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie recently unveiled plans to persuade state education and sports ministers to make sure sport and physical education is compulsory in schools.
The physical advantages of getting kids moving have been well recognised to assist prevent chronic disease and develop movement habits across their lifespan.
Yet one among McKenzie’s key pointsto push for mandatory physical education, was based on improving school results.
This statement is a crucial and positive shift within the education sector. Until recently, bodies and minds were often considered separate entities when it got here to education.
Physical education has been perceived as only coping with the “movement of the body” or the “non-thinking thing”. So historically, it has been pushed to the periphery. For example, physical education is yet to be an endorsed focus for the national senior secondary curriculum.
Yet over the past 20 years, growing research has strongly recognised the inter-connections between body and mind.
How can movement help a student’s brain?
Brain processing takes up about 20% of our total metabolism through cognitive activities like memory, attention and concentration.
This cognition needs a robust flow of fuel (glucose, oxygen) and hormones to activate and enhance the brain’s capability to perform, learn and eliminate waste.
So any prolonged sitting and inactivity can result in negative cognitive consequences. For instance, inactivity in childhood has been linked to reduced working memory, attention and learning.
A student’s brain doesn’t keep itself healthy independently. It is the reference to a healthy, moving body that may also help improve brain performance.
Physical activity can also be vital in developing students’ brain structures (cells/neurons) and performing at an early age.
The human brain isn’t fully developed until the third decade of life, so getting kids moving generally is a powerful academic strategy.
What does the research tell us?
More studies are linking physical activity and improved cognitive function. One of essentially the most globally recognised found primary school students’ level of cognitive function increased from just 20 minutes of walking. Students did higher in an educational test and had improved attention.
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Since this study, there have been many other US studies which have established links between physical activity and students’ academic performance, including from the north east (with greater than 1800 students) and Texas (2.5 million students).
Several large scale reviews have also identified links between physical activity and students’ academic performance, for instance, grades and test scores.
In Australia, a study of 757 primary school students across 29 primary schools found fitter children had higher NAPLAN scores. Students with specialist physical education teachers also had higher numeracy and literacy scores.
There can also be evidence of improved cognitive performance (attention, memory, concentration), self-esteem, mental health (reduced depression, anxiety, stress), enjoyment and lesson engagement from school students’ participation in physical activity.
What variety of physical activity is best?
Researchers are still figuring out what types, conditions and length of physical activities can have essentially the most effect.
For instance, going for a routine walk requires less decision-making and intensity than completing a Tough Mudder or Ninja Warrior course.
Top 5 suggestions to supply top quality physical activity in school
1. Curriculum
Opportunities to participate in authentic (resembling real-world) games and sportsembedded with reflective and guided considering opportunities. This may also help students develop solutions to movement problems and understand sporting traditions, roles, teamwork and rules.
2. Classroom
Provide lively breaks (short break of a number of minutes) with easy and/or integrated physical activities like moving to music during prolonged, inactive lessons to enhance academic engagement.
3. Recess
Access to a bigger number of mobile equipment can engage students in additional creative exploration of physical activities.
Mobile equipment can encourage more variety and selection for college kids to design complex, evolving physical activities beyond fixed locations.
4. Before and after school
Partnering with national sporting organisations through programs resembling Australia’s Sporting Schools.
Students can then pursue sports and physical activity beyond those facilitated in school and by this system.
5. Active transport
Set up a walking school bus or bicycle train to plan a safely structured walk or ride to highschool with a number of adults, depending on air quality, distances to highschool and busyness of streets.