- Title
- Effects of physical education interventions on cognition and academic performance outcomes in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis
- Creator
- García-Hermoso, Antonio; Ramírez-Vélez, Robinson; Lubans, David Revalds; Izquierdo, Mikel
- Relation
- British Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 55, Issue 21, p. 1224-1232
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-104112
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of interventions aimed at optimising the quantity and quality of physical education (PE) on cognition and academic performance in children and adolescents. DESIGN: A systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: Studies from electronic databases from inception to 3 January 2021 were identified. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Experimental studies that assessed the effect of quantity-based (ie, increasing the amount of curriculum time allocated to PE) or quality-based (ie, increasing students' participation in physical activity during PE) PE interventions, or both, on changes in cognition and/or academic performance in youth (aged 5-18 years) were included. RESULTS: 19 trials comprising 8676 youth (46.5% girls) were included. Individual quality-based PE interventions increased cognition performance (Hedges' g=0.38, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.60; I 2=83.70%), mainly in primary education settings (g=0.48, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.89; I 2=90.43%). Academic performance, principally mathematics-related skills, was also increased by quality-based PE interventions (g=0.15, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.24; I 2=41.75%). Among these interventions, teaching strategies favoured similar results, but without heterogeneity in the results (g=0.12, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.18; I 2=0%). In contrast, quantity-based PE interventions had a very small and non-significant effect on academic performance (g=0.09, 95% CI -0.05 to 0.24; Q=11.65; I 2=48.48%). Finally, there were no differences between the three PE interventions (ie, quantity, quality, and combined PE interventions) in regard to academic performance. CONCLUSION: Improving the quality of PE classes may improve students' cognition and academic performance in children and adolescents. Importantly, allocating more time for PE does not seem to compromise this performance.
- Subject
- brain; education; meta-analysis; school; SDG 4; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1445303
- Identifier
- uon:42553
- Identifier
- ISSN:0306-3674
- Language
- eng
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Goal 4: Quality Education
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