In high school, myself, along with various other people that I have met during my short period of time here at Penn State have discussed having to take a P.E. class in high school. In elementary school, physical activity was left more to recess. But no matter what the circumstance, there was always a good amount of time in the day that we as growing kids and adolescents were left to our own devices to exercise and take a break from the academic stress of the day. Lately there has been some controversy whether P.E. classes should even still be offered in public schools, and by examining many different credible sources the answer seems to be yes. Some of the many different sources that have published research that shows a strong correlation between the need for physical education in the school system to better academic performance include Columbia University, the New York City Health Department and Department of Education, the Universities of Illinois, West Virginia, and California.
The thing about physical activity is that it can have a great impact on many different parts of our bodies. It can have an impact on cognitive skills, attitudes, and academic behavior. All of these things have been proved to be important parts of improved academic performance. When combined, this enhances concentration and attention as well as behaving better in the classroom. The most recent argument, and my main point is that in some cases if students are exposed to more time in physical education, it can lead to improved grades and standardized test scores. Many schools nowadays are thinking about cutting P.E. funding and I was even able to see that in my high school before I left, however, there are actually many benefits of that small amount of time that students get participating in physical activity. Physical activity allows an increase of oxygen flow to the brain along with increased brain neurotransmitters. According to one of my sources that I used, the correlation of physical exercise and better academic performance may be due to, “[Increased] brain-derived neurotrophins that support neuronal differentiation and survival in the developing brain.” Neurotrophins assure the survival of neurons in areas responsible for learning, memory, and higher thinking.”
One study that I found done by various universities such as Michigan State and Tarleton State University found very promising just mixed evidence that discusses this claim. Although numerous studies have shown positive relationships between academic achievements and both physical activity and sports participation, there have only been a few that have shown no correlation or an inverse relationship. The researchers who took it upon themselves to do this study believe that students may perform better after physical activity due to increased arousal and reduced boredom: therefore they attention span and concentration was increased. Increased activity levels could also lead to higher self-esteem which could help in the classroom as well. The study was done in a public school in western Michigan. 215 six-grade students were randomly assigned to this study, narrowed down from the 662 six-graders that had the opportunity to be involved. Students were put into one of two groups. One of the groups was enrolled in P.E. the first semester, and one during the second. During the semester that they did not have P.E. they were enrolled in an exploratory class such as a computer class. Each class met every day of the week for 55 minutes. Having parental consent that was obtained before the study commenced, they took the height, weight, and body mass index of the children and they were also asked about their physical activities. Their academic achievement was based on their individual grades for each student in the core classes. An A was considered a 5, a B was a four, and etc. until you got to an F which counted as a 1. Terra Nova standardized test scores were also used to measure the academic achievement of the students. Not only this, but the study was very careful to monitor student activity levels in the P.E. classes, the curriculum context variables, and the teacher behavior. All factors that could alter the final results. They found that students who performed vigorous physical activity at a level that met or exceeded the Health People 2010 guidelines achieved higher academic scores compared with the other student in both and second semesters. However, surprisingly, moderate physical activity did not affect grades, and standardized test scores were not significantly related to P.E. or physical activity levels.
There was definitely evidence in the conclusion of the study that physical activity up to a certain point does affect academic performance in a positive manner, however if it’s only a moderate amount it may make no difference at all. Although, because there are a lot of other studies, some small scale and some on the larger scale, that all came up with the result that physical activity is positively correlated with positive academic performance it may have been chance that they found little to no significance between the two in this specific study. According to the National Association for Sports and Physical Education recommends 60 minutes a day for children and adolescents. But maybe we could also apply this to our own lives even though we are no longer in high school or elementary school. If you find yourself losing focus, going for a walk or taking an hour at the gym might be just the thing to get your attention back.
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