Running head: HOW MOVEMENT EFFECTS STUDENT PERFORMANCE & 1

BEHAVIOR

How Movement in the Classroom Effects Students’ Academic Performance and Behaviors

Lillian Blizzard

Chesapeake College

March 2019
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How Movement in the Classroom Effects Students’ Academic Performance and Behaviors

Throughout history many philosophers, psychologists, and researchers have stated

movement enhances students’ learning. Even though all of this research was published, the

United States education system still relies on the traditional lecture model of education where

students are expected to sit still, listen to the teacher, and passively absorb information. Current

research suggests the traditional model of sitting still and listening to the teacher is the not the

best way for students to learn. Students learn best by including some type of physical activity in

the classroom because of the positive effects physical activity has on the brain and students’

overall physical and mental health. Studies also suggest bad behaviors decrease in students who

usually exhibit these behaviors when physical activity is incorporated into the lessons.

Incorporating physical activity into a classroom routine helps increase students’ academic

performance and promotes positive behaviors.

The primary learning model of the past and present in education is the “sit and git” model

(Jensen, 2008, p. 60). “Sit and git” refers to the educational model where students listen to the

teacher for them to understand the material that is being taught (Schnurr, 2016). “For decades,

the educational and scientific communities seemed to believe that thinking was thinking and

movement was movement, and each was as separate as could be” (Jensen, 2008, p. 60).

Movement and learning can be traced all the way back to Ancient Greece, where physical fitness

was incorporated into lessons on mathematics (Darian, 2012, p. 17). Even though many

researchers published studies that concluded children learn best by incorporating movement into

the lessons, dating back to 1840, school administrators and educators did not support or integrate

their research into the classroom (Darian, 2012, p. 18). In 1840, Frederick Froebel became
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known as the “father of Kindergarten” by incorporating play in children’s learning environment

(Darian, 2012, p. 18). Froebel “saw movement as a means of purposefully educating the child

through structured activities” (Brosterman, 1997, as cited in Darian, 2012, p. 18). John Dewey,

who published numerous essays about how society and education affect each other, was a

supporter of incorporating movement into the “whole spectrum of learning” because it helped

children learn (Darian, 2012, p. 21-22). When Dewey first published his work “he found little

support among school administrators” (Koch, 1952, as cited in Darian, 2012, p. 23). Jean Piaget

also proposed his cognitive development theory where he said it was important to include

“movement in a young child’s learning process” (Darian, 2012, p. 27). One potential reason all

of this research on incorporating movement in the classroom was overlooked is because of the

launching of Sputnik into space; it’s launch was a sign the Soviet Union had more rigorous

academics than the United States (Darian, 2012, p. 25). This caused the public and educators to

press school administrators to adopt a curriculum that was more focused on academic content to

raise students’ intelligence (Darian, 2012, p. 25). Although, some research in recent years has

been published stated there is no correlation between movement and learning, many books,

research, papers, and randomized controlled studies have been published previously and recently

to disprove them. For example, two studies in 2007 conducted by Steward G. Trost found there

was no effect between academic performance and physical activity (Darian, 2012, p. 31).

Research proves there are no disadvantages to incorporating movement in the classroom, rather

extensive benefits.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), physical activity is defined as “any

bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure” (2018).

Examples of physical activity include the following: hiking, gardening, basketball, volleyball,
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moving boxes, walking, and a fitness class (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC],

2010). Physical activity and exercise have different things that define them, but exercise is a sub-

category of physical activity. Exercise is defined as “physical activity that is planned, structured,

repetitive, and aims to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness” (WHO,

2018). Examples of exercise can include the following: walking, biking, jogging, lifting weights,

yoga, and tai chi (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2019). Physical activity and exercise have

different things that define them, but exercise is a sub-category of physical activity.

People should incorporate physical activity into their daily routine because of the

numerous health benefits. Being physically active prevents the leading causes of death, which

are heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancer (U.S. Department of Health & Human

Services (HHS), & Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, 2017). Participating in physical

activity also helps with relieving stress, increases self-esteem, increases energy, builds strength

and endurance, helps with depression, improves sleep, increases years of life, builds stronger

muscles, can help with decreasing obesity, and promotes strong joint, muscle, and bone

development (HHS & Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, 2017). People who do not

participate in any physical activity, called physical inactivity, have the opposite of what is listed

above, and have increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, heart disease, type two

diabetes, and high cholesterol (HHS & Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, 2017). Physical

inactivity can also decrease your lifespan.

The brain shows how closely related movement and learning are. The cerebellum is the

part of the brain that is associated with movement (Jensen, 2008, p. 61). The cerebellum is “a

cauliflower-shaped structure located below the occipital lobe and next to the brain stem,” with

numerous neurons and nerve fibers (Jensen, 2008, p. 160). A neuron is a type of brain cell that
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receives stimulation from its dendrites, or branches, and communicates with other neurons by

“firing a nerve impulse along an axon” (Jenson, 2008, p. 161). Axons are the main body of the

neuron and are a long fiber connecting dendrites (Jenson, 2008, p. 159). Those nerve fibers

create neural circuits that “feed information” to other parts of the brain, and other parts of the

brain “feed information” back to it (Jensen, 2008, p. 61). Most of these neural circuits are

considered “outbound,” meaning they influence the other parts of the brain rather than being

“inbound,” meaning they receive they signals from other parts of the brain (Jensen, 2008, p. 61).

Peter Strick and his staff, who are located at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Syracuse,

NY, “traced a pathway from the cerebellum back to parts of the brain involved in memory,

attention, and spatial perception” (Jenson, 2008, p. 61). This means the part of the brain that is

involved in movement, the cerebellum, is also involved with the parts of the brain that handle

learning.

Physical activity has a positive effect on brain function. Physical activity increases blood

flow to the brain (Jensen, 2008, p. 62). When blood flow is increased, it also increases the

amount of oxygen that goes to the brain (Jensen, 2008, p. 62). “Oxygen is essential for brain

function” (p. 62). This means when a person is engaging in physical activity, it is therefore

increasing the amount of blood flow and oxygen to the brain thus increasing and improving brain

function. An increase in brain function also means an increase in academic performance. When

the brain lacks oxygen, it can result in a person being confused, lacking focus, and memory

problems (Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 7). When students are lacking focus, it can lead to behavior

problems that disrupt the class. When people sit, their bodies go into a shutdown mode because

their hearts become more sluggish, blood flow is not returned from their legs, and their brain

quiets thought processes (McCaughey, 2018, p. 4). Students who are inactive for 20 minutes or
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longer experience less oxygen making its way to the brain, “resulting in diminished ability to

focus, comprehend, and remember” (Reilly, 2000 as cited in Kozol, 2014, p. 7).

Exercise also prompts neurotrophins, which are chemicals, to go to the brain where it

increases the “number of connections between neurons,” which allows the brain to perform

activities and store information (Jensen, 2008, p. 63). Exercise also increases the growth of new

neurons and formation of new neural pathways, meaning the brain can send and store new

information throughout the body (Jensen, 2008, p. 63). When students’ brains have more neurons

and neural pathways, the students are able to understand the information that is being taught

more efficiently, and they are able to recall information more easily to think and solve problems

(Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 8). This can lead to an increase in academic performance. Academic

performance is also increased when students are engaging in physical activity because it uses

more parts of the brain, causing the brain to be able to retain more information while learning

than when a person sits still (Kozol, 2014, p. 4). Neurotransmitters are also released when

exercise is performed, specifically monoamines (Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 6). Monoamines

include dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, but also go by their nickname of “happy

chemicals” because they, “improve [people’s] mood, attention, motivation and learning” (Poole

& Baker, 2018, p. 6). This can contribute to people having improved mental health.

According to Poole & Baker (2018), physical activity also generates positive mental

health among students. If physical activity is incorporated into the classroom, those happy

chemicals, neurotransmitters, can decrease students stress, anxiety, and irritability (p.6-9).

Physical activity can also increase students’ confidence and self-esteem. Since physical activity

increases students learning, students will be able to understand the content more, and be able to

complete the work with a greater level of understanding (p. 9). Students will feel good about
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themselves because they put in the effort to complete their work effectively (p. 9). This

contributes to students’ positive mental health.

Positive academic behaviors are also increased if physical activity is incorporated into the

classroom. Students are shown to complete their assignments on time in class and homework if

physical activity is present within the classroom (Warehime et al., 2019, 199). Students are also

shown to improve their memory, on-task behavior, concentration, and attention when physical

activity is included in the classroom (Dousset, 2015, p. 32). Research states that implementing

physical activity breaks throughout the day decreases behavioral problems in the classroom.

“When students have trouble sustaining attention, students display three to eight times as many

negative behaviors” (Lotta, 2015, p. 2) Since physical activity increases student engagement, it

reduces behavioral problems (Dousset, 2015, p.3). “Increased student engagement circles back to

improved concentration, improved test scores, and decreased behavioral problems” (Dousset,

2015, p.3). Incorporating movement in the classroom can especially help students with

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) because it can decrease their disruptive

behaviors and help them focus for longer than when they must sit still (Mulrine, et al., as cited in

Lotta, 2015, p. 8). The positive academic behaviors that students display associated with

incorporating physical activity in classroom, decrease the number of negative behavioral

problems in the classroom.

Numerous studies have been conducted with children and adults to see the benefits

physical activity has in the classroom. Kathleen Kozol (2014) performed a study to see the effect

movement has on spelling test scores in the classroom. One class of 14-19 students received

movement with their instruction in the classroom, and the other class consisting of 14-19

students did not receive any movement with their instruction in the classroom (p. 9). Students
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were given a pre-test and post-test to measure their performance on the spelling tests (p.9). The

results of this study concluded that the classroom with incorporated movement performed 1.76

points over the classroom without movement on the tests (p.12). Students in the classroom with

movement performed on or above grade level on 100% of their tests, whereas the other

classroom only had 85.71% at on or above grade level (p.13). Based on this study there is a

positive correlation between incorporating movement in the classroom and an increase in

academic performance.

Another study was conducted by Shane Warehime et al. (2019) to see the effects physical

activity had in secondary science classrooms. The teachers incorporated physical activity in the

following ways: outdoor activities, through the curriculum, and in-class breaks. The study

showed that incorporating physical activity into the classroom kept unwanted behaviors down

and increased student engagement (p. 205-206). The physical activity kept boredom and sleeping

out of the class, resulting in less disruptive behaviors, and an increase in participation (p. 205-

206).

Teachers can incorporate physical activity by providing in-class breaks. These breaks can

also occur during the transition of subjects. It is shown that “brief classroom physical activity

breaks are associated with improved cognitive performance, classroom behavior, and educational

outcomes among students” (CDC, 2014). This means these brief activity breaks increase

academic achievement and positive behaviors. These in-class breaks usually go by the name

“brain breaks,” which are supposed to increase blood flow to the brain and regain students’ focus

(Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 13). There are numerous brain breaks teachers can implement in the

classroom, but here are some examples. Teachers could have students walk in place or around

the room and the addition of music may make more students participate. Students could also
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dance to the music (Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 13). The teacher could also create popsicle sticks

with aerobic exercises, like jumping jacks, high knees, etc., on them and have students pick

which ones to perform (Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 13). According to the National Cancer

Institution, aerobic exercises are exercises that increase the heart rate. The students could also

perform yoga with the teacher’s instruction (Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 14). Yoga can strengthen

students’ concentration and core muscles at the same time (Poole & Baker, 2018, p. 14).

Brain Breaks can also incorporate academic material. According to Springe, Atteberry,

Werner, & Misner, the teacher can use the “Spelling Mix-Up” brain break for language arts

where students are split up into two teams (p. 6). Each student then gets a letter from the alphabet

(p. 6). The teacher will then call out a word, and the two teams race to see who can spell it the

fastest (p.6). Another example for language arts is the “That Sounds Like” brain break where

students have to perform a movement based on what the different grammar parts mean when

reading (p. 8). The teacher writes the following on the board: “period” = “stop,” “exclamation

point” = “excited/stop,” “question mark” = “shrug shoulders,” and “comma” = “pause and

continue” (p. 8). The students will perform a movement the teacher specifies and when the

teacher calls out a part of grammar, the students perform the movement on the board that

corresponds (p. 8). If the teacher calls out exclamation point, the students look on the board and

it says “excited/stop” (p. 8). This means the students would perform the movement they are

currently doing at faster rate (excited) and then they will stop the movement (p.8). An example

of a brain break for math is “Pac Man Chomps Again,” which is about students understanding

fractions (p. 11). Two students will come up to the front of the room and will each be given a

fraction card (p. 11). Then another student will be called on to be the “Pac Man,” which is the

greater or less than sign (p. 11). The student will have to arrange himself or herself in one of
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those signs to solve the equation (p.11). Once the equation is solved, the “Pac Man” will pick an

exercise for the whole class to perform together (p. 11). Another example involving mathematics

is the “Fitness Math” brain break where students role a die and have to perform an exercise that

is associated with that number (p. 11). This can also be more challenging for older students if

you have them multiply the odd or even numbers they role by a certain number (p. 11). They

would then have to perform the amount of exercises based on the product of the multiplication

(p.11). For social studies, a brain break the teacher could use in the classroom is the “U.S Walk

and Talk,” where the teacher splits the class in pairs and gives each pair a current social studies

topic (p. 14). The pairs then have five minutes to “walk and talk” about their topic and will

present their discussion to the class (p. 14). For science, a brain break the teacher can incorporate

in the classroom is “calm down,” where students perform specific stretches that are related to

review concepts (p.15). For example, “reach for the sky—review concepts relating to weather

(cloud formations, rain, etc.)” (p. 15). All of these brain breaks are targeted to help students

learning, focus, and decrease negative behaviors in the classroom.

Researchers, scientists, and philosophers have proven there is a correlation between

movement and learning since the 1840s Physical activity has numerous health benefits associated

with it because of its effect on the brain. Physical activity is known to decrease negative

behaviors in the classroom while increasing students’ academic performance and positive

behaviors. Even though all of this research has been published, most schools and education

systems as whole still do not incorporate movement in the classroom but are focused mainly on

the lecture model of education. Numerous studies have been conducted to prove that

incorporating physical activity helps students learn better, which proves the lecture model is not

the best way for students to learn.

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