Background/Purpose Children spend many hours a day sitting to receive academic instruction in hopes of improving standardized test scores. Sitting for an extended time is detrimental to children's physical health and may cause off-task behavior in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of active academic lessons on children's physical activity (PA) and on-task behavior.
Method 139 children from six classes (3rd - 5th grades) in one elementary school participated in an active academic lesson program for 12 weeks (4 weeks baseline and 8 weeks intervention). Classroom teachers were trained to implement 10-minute bouts of active academic lessons using the TAKE 10!® program that they modified to fit into their curriculum. In-school PA, in the form of step counts, were measured using pedometers at baseline (week 1), follow-up (week 8) and post follow-up (week 12). On-task behavior was measured through classroom observations using momentary time sampling method. A one-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to analyze PA. A two-way repeated-measure ANOVA compared on-task behavior between pre-active vs. post-active lessons and baseline vs. intervention.
Analysis/Results Children's step counts significantly (P < 0.05) increased from baseline (5382 ± 1560) to follow-up (5851 ± 1812), and post follow-up (6275 ± 1944). The program was effective in improving on-task behavior following active academic lessons. There was statistically significant (P < 0.05) improvement in on-task behavior of 5% between pre-active and post-active lessons.
Conclusions Active academic lessons were effective in increasing children's in-school PA and on-task behavior in the classroom.
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