Physical activity predicts task-related behaviour, affect and tiredness in the primary school classroom: A within-person experiment.

Heemskerk, Christina; Strand, Steve; Malmberg, Lars-Erik (2023). Physical activity predicts task-related behaviour, affect and tiredness in the primary school classroom: A within-person experiment. British journal of educational psychology, 93 Suppl 1(Suppl 1), pp. 130-151. Wiley 10.1111/bjep.12523

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AIM

We investigated the dose-response relationship between acute physical activity (PA) intensity during physical education (PE) lessons (dose), and task behaviour and learning experiences in the classroom after PE (response), and mediation effects of acute PA on-task behaviour via learning experiences.

METHOD

A total of 78 children (Mage  = 9.30 years; 43 females) took part. Participants reported learning experiences (tiredness, positive and negative affect) during one afternoon per week for 6 weeks. Their task behaviour was observed (on-task, active off-task and passive off-task) during two classroom lessons. Between the classroom lessons, they took part in a PE lesson, with experimentally induced PA intensity (low, medium and high). Accelerometers were worn for 24 h leading up to and during every intervention afternoon. Participants completed self-reports three times per classroom lesson, both before and after PE. Intra- and interindividual differences in PA, task behaviour and learning experiences were analysed with multilevel structural equation models.

RESULTS

Moderate PA directly increased on-task behaviour and reduced passive off-task behaviour, whereas light PA increased active off-task behaviour and reduced on-task behaviour. We found no direct effects of vigorous PA or mediated effects of any PA intensity on-task-related behaviour. However, a greater positive affect during PE indirectly led to more on-task and less passive off-task behaviour. Regularly active children reported less tiredness in the classroom.

CONCLUSION

PE lessons can increase on-task behaviour and reduce both passive and active off-task behaviours. Positive affect and tiredness are indirectly involved in the impact of PA on task-related behaviour. The greatest benefits were found for moderate PA and for PE lessons, which left children feeling positive. Moreover, regular participation in moderate-to-vigorous PA leads children to feel less tired during school lessons.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Developmental Psychology

UniBE Contributor:

Heemskerk, Christina Hubertina H. M.

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology

ISSN:

2044-8279

Publisher:

Wiley

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

08 Jun 2022 12:27

Last Modified:

24 Mar 2024 02:13

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/bjep.12523

PubMed ID:

35661349

Uncontrolled Keywords:

affect classroom behaviour learning experiences physical activity

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/170475

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/170475

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