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MOVEMENT AND LEARNING
In times of diminishing financial resources, educators must make hard choices. Do dance, theatre, interscholastic athletics and physical education (i.e., activities that involve movement) belong in the budget? Are they frills or fundamentals? What does research tell us?
FACTS SUPPORTED BY RESEARCH:
• As a group students who participate in interscholastic athletics tend to perform better academically (GPA) than students who do not participate.
• Athletes in general tend to perform better academically during their sports season.
• Athletes who participate in two (or three) sports tend to perform better academically than athletes who participate in only one sport.
• The cerebellum (the part of the brain that processes movement) has clear pathways to the parts of the brain involved in memory, attention, spatial perception, language, complex emotional behavior, and decision making.
• Exercise increases both the number of connections among these neurons and the number of capillaries around them.
• Exercise triggers the release of natural chemicals that boost the ability of neurons to communicate with each other, thus enhancing cognition.
• Exercise also triggers the release of natural chemicals that stimulate the brain’s pleasure centers decreasing stress, increasing self-esteem, enhancing sense of purpose in life, and improving attitude in school.
• Children engaged in daily physical education (or athletics) show superior motor fitness, academic performance and attitude toward school as compared to their counterparts who do not participate.
• Vigorous aerobic exercise improves short-term memory, reaction time and creativity.
Making athletics more important than school itself is counterproductive, but movement is important too. Children learn better when they get regular, vigorous physical exercise. Resources need to be found that “harness the hidden power of movement, activities and sports” for all children.
In times of diminishing financial resources, educators must make hard choices. Do dance, theatre, interscholastic athletics and physical education (i.e., activities that involve movement) belong in the budget? Are they frills or fundamentals? What does research tell us?
FACTS SUPPORTED BY RESEARCH:
• As a group students who participate in interscholastic athletics tend to perform better academically (GPA) than students who do not participate.
• Athletes in general tend to perform better academically during their sports season.
• Athletes who participate in two (or three) sports tend to perform better academically than athletes who participate in only one sport.
• The cerebellum (the part of the brain that processes movement) has clear pathways to the parts of the brain involved in memory, attention, spatial perception, language, complex emotional behavior, and decision making.
• Exercise increases both the number of connections among these neurons and the number of capillaries around them.
• Exercise triggers the release of natural chemicals that boost the ability of neurons to communicate with each other, thus enhancing cognition.
• Exercise also triggers the release of natural chemicals that stimulate the brain’s pleasure centers decreasing stress, increasing self-esteem, enhancing sense of purpose in life, and improving attitude in school.
• Children engaged in daily physical education (or athletics) show superior motor fitness, academic performance and attitude toward school as compared to their counterparts who do not participate.
• Vigorous aerobic exercise improves short-term memory, reaction time and creativity.
Making athletics more important than school itself is counterproductive, but movement is important too. Children learn better when they get regular, vigorous physical exercise. Resources need to be found that “harness the hidden power of movement, activities and sports” for all children.
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