Students in Kaitlyn Nevill ’ s third-grade class at Meadowthorpe Elementary in Lexington take movement breaks between traditional instructional time in their seats . Photo by Beth Goins
ON THE MOVE
Program eyes correlation between physical activity and improved school test scores
STORY BY TAMMY LANE , FAYETTE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
When Amber Livingood ’ s third-graders take a five-minute movement break , a UK student watches closely as they clip on small pedometers and literally go through the motions with the GoNoodle activities system . After the youngsters log their time and number of steps and then return to task , the college observer takes note of how often Livingood prompts the class or redirects a child and of their behavioral compliance , comparing the half-hour before and after the break . Later , the UK team also will review the students ’ standardized test scores to gauge the effect of these brain breaks .
“ What I found in prior studies are increases in students ’ achievement scores . They ’ re not super drastic , but we ’ re seeing gains that are statistically significant . We ’ ve found some nice improvement – math in particular ,” said principal investigator Dr . Alicia Fedewa , an associate professor in the Department of Educational , School , and Counseling Psychology at the University of Kentucky . “ Our hypothesis is the more physical activity breaks in the classroom , the higher the scores .”
Fedewa ’ s team , which includes colleagues Dr . Heather Erwin and Dr . Elizabeth Fettrow in Kinesiology and Health Promotion , visited Livingood ’ s and other participating classrooms at Dixie Magnet Elementary over a two-week span to collect data last fall . They returned in the spring to complete their research . The group of 18 UK students conducted the same study simultaneously with grades 3-5 at Ashland , Garden Springs and Meadowthorpe elementaries .
“ We ’ re shooting for 10 extra minutes of physical activity per day ,” said Fedewa , who noted the children generally have a 20-minute recess at school . ( The national recommendation is 60 minutes of exercise each day .) “ We ’ re really curious to see just how much activity the kids are getting in these breaks ,” she added .
Livingood , for instance , uses GoNoodle twice a day – morning and afternoon . In one recent session , her third-graders learned new vocabulary while acting
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