Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 91, October 2016, Pages 322-328
Preventive Medicine

Effects of physical activity on schoolchildren's academic performance: The Active Smarter Kids (ASK) cluster-randomized controlled trial

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.09.005Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • We found no effect of physical activity on overall academic performance.

  • We observed no sig. difference between I-schools and C-schools in pupils' PA levels.

  • We found a sig. effect on numeracy in children in the lowest tertile at baseline.

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the effect of a seven-month, school-based cluster-randomized controlled trial on academic performance in 10-year-old children.

Methods

In total, 1129 fifth-grade children from 57 elementary schools in Sogn og Fjordane County, Norway, were cluster-randomized by school either to the intervention group or to the control group. The children in the 28 intervention schools participated in a physical activity intervention between November 2014 and June 2015 consisting of three components: 1) 90 min/week of physically active educational lessons mainly carried out in the school playground; 2) 5 min/day of physical activity breaks during classroom lessons; 3) 10 min/day physical activity homework. Academic performance in numeracy, reading and English was measured using standardized Norwegian national tests. Physical activity was measured objectively by accelerometry.

Results

We found no effect of the intervention on academic performance in primary analyses (standardized difference 0.01–0.06, p > 0.358). Subgroup analyses, however, revealed a favorable intervention effect for those who performed the poorest at baseline (lowest tertile) for numeracy (p = 0.005 for the subgroup  group interaction), compared to controls (standardized difference 0.62, 95% CI 0.19–1.07).

Conclusions

This large, rigorously conducted cluster RCT in 10-year-old children supports the notion that there is still inadequate evidence to conclude that increased physical activity in school enhances academic achievement in all children. Still, combining physical activity and learning seems a viable model to stimulate learning in those academically weakest schoolchildren.

Keywords

Physical activity
Elementary school
Children
Academic performance
Physically active educational lessons
Cluster RCT

Cited by (0)

Trial registration number: Clinicaltrials.gov ID nr: NCT02132494.