Active kids active minds: a physical activity intervention to promote learning?

Abstract

This study assessed the feasibility and impact of introducing a programme of an additional 30 minutes per day of moderate physical activity within curriculum time on learning and readiness to learn in a large elementary school in south-east Queensland, Australia. The programme, Active Kids Active Minds (AKAM), involved Year 5 students (n = 107), their classroom teachers (n = 6) and an AKAM physical education specialist, and took place across one year. The fidelity of the intervention was assessed through objective physical activity measurement, while intervention outcomes included cognitive ability and self-perception tests as well as supplementary qualitative field observations, student academic records and behaviour records, and teacher and student participant interviews. Following the intervention, no significant changes were evident in students' cognition or self-perceptions. This paper reports the quantitative data measures that found only weak increased levels of moderate physical activity, qualitative results being reported elsewhere. The limitations and pragmatics around research design and physical activity interventions of this type in schools are also discussed.

Keywords:

• physical activity
• school-based research
• cognitive learning

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Acknowledgements

This study was awarded to Doune Macdonald by the Department of Education, Training and Employment in Queensland, Australia. At the time of the project, lisahunter and Rebecca Abbott were employed at The University of Queensland. Our thanks go to the students, teachers and principal who agreed to participate in the study. Also thanks to Amanda Pavey for her editing work.

Notes on contributors

lisahunter researches and teaches in education, health, movement, sport and leisure, a connecting thread being the relationship between self, pedagogy and society. lisahunter's methodological work is currently in narrative inquiry, visual and sensory methods, and ethnography in projects about female surfing, digital pedagogies and teacher education heteronormativity. Previously lisahunter' was contracted as a part-time Senior Researcher for the AKAM project, with work towards this publication continuing post-employment and in leisure time.

Rebecca Abbott is a Research Fellow within the evidence synthesis team at the University of Exeter Medical School in the UK. Rebecca is involved in producing systematic reviews to inform locally relevant evidence-based practssice. The evidence synthesis team also plays an integral role in the identification and prioritisation of research projects for development within the South West peninsula of the UK. Prior to joining the Medical School in 2012, Rebecca was a research fellow at the School of Human Movement Studies at UQ, with a passionate interest in physical activity and health-related research with children and young people.

Doune Macdonald is currently a Research Professor in the School of Human Movement Studies at The University of Queensland and was a project leader for the Active Kids, Active Minds projects. She is the principal investigator on two Australian Research Council grants addressing the health-related work undertaken by teachers and global outsourcing practices in health and physical education.

Jenny Ziviani is Foundation Professor of Children's Allied Health Research, a collaboration between Children's Health Queensland and The School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. She is an occupational therapist with specific interests in supporting community participation for children with disabilities and the delivery of early intervention services that are sensitive to the needs of families.

Monica Cuskelly is the Director of the long-running Down Syndrome Research Program based at The University of Queensland. In addition to her interests in the development of individuals with Down syndrome, she has research interests in the psycho-social functioning of individuals with intellectual disability, family functioning in families with a child with a disability, and self-regulation and mastery motivation in vulnerable groups.