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A+ Advice for ParentsPE decline weakens a child's learningBy Leanna Landsmann Q: Our school canceled physical education classes to prep students for state tests. I'm not against studying, but how stupid was that? It added to kids' anxiety. A parent group is asking the Board of Education to never let this happen again. We also want to offer PE every day, not just three days a week. Is there data we can present to show that exercise helps kids get better grades?
A: More and more parents are concerned about the decline of PE in schools. A vast majority of those with school-age children (91 percent) do not believe that PE interferes with children's academic needs. Yet many administrators, citing the need for more instructional time, are "downsizing" PE. The idea
that there is a beneficial relationship between physical education and academic
success is not new. Thomas Jefferson advised scholars to spend about two hours
every day in exercise. "Health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong
body makes the mind strong." Daily PE, once the norm, began to decline in
the early 1990s. Growing testing pressures and tight budgets led to fewer classes.
By 2003, only 28 percent of the nation's students attended daily PE, according
to "Shape of the Nation," a 2006 study by the National Association for
Sport and Physical Education and the American Heart Association. As childhood
obesity increases, organizations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the
PTA are pushing to rescue recess and reinstate daily PE. Studies done at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University show that kids who play sports often have better school performance and social skills. A Tufts University study found that students who exercised at least three days a week reported a better state of physical health and were happier than those who didn't exercise. A study of Illinois third and fifth graders published in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology found that students who had good measures of aerobic fitness and body-mass index tended to have higher scores on state exams in reading and mathematics. Researchers Charles Hillman and Daria Catellis say the relationship held true regardless of children's gender or socioeconomic differences. The most compelling data comes from Dr. John J. Ratey, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who calls exercise "food for the brain. A mental Miracle Gro." Ratey is testing his theories in schools and says his work shows that while exercise itself doesn't make a student smarter, it puts the brain of a learner in the optimal position to learn. Ratey's book, "Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain" (Little, Brown, 2008) discusses neuroscientific, biomedical and educational research showing how exercise offers brain-related benefits such as reducing stress and improving attention. Ratey and colleagues think that exercise makes the brain produce higher quantities of a protein called BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which Ratey says encourages brain cells to sprout synapses. These synapses form the connections the brain needs to make in order to learn. States are starting to take notice. The Florida legislature is considering a daily PE requirement. In Texas, Senate Bill 530 would require moderate or vigorous daily physical activity for students grades K-8. "This would help Texas students in multiple ways," says Marilu Meredith, director of the FITNESSGRAM Project at The Cooper Institute. "It should not only improve their health but improve their readiness to learn." Be prepared to discuss trade-offs with the Board. Adding more PE to a finite school day? Be willing to take away something. More PE isn't the only solution, say many educators. It may be more effective to work with the PTO and community groups to create a program that gets kids more physically active after school. "Too many kids get home and spend hours in from of TV or video games," says one frustrated Las Vegas principal. "Kids need rigorous play to let off steam and form relationships as well as for their physical health. We need the entire community's help to fund safe places for students not in organized sports to stay and play after school." Copyright 2008, United Feature Syndicate, Inc. A-PLUS ADVICE FOR PARENTS 3-18-08 Submission inquiries? Contact Stacey Pusey at 856-241-7772. |
To recommend a topic or source, email: Leanna@aplusadvice.com |
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