Physically Active Lessons Improve Lesson Activity and On-Task Behavior: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of the “Virtual Traveller” Intervention

Abstract

Abstract:Background: Physically active lessons have not often been assessed with randomised controlled trials. Aims: Evaluate the effects of the 'Virtual Traveller' intervention delivered using classroom interactive whiteboards on physical activity, on-task behaviour and student engagement. Methods: Participants were 219 children aged 8-9 years from ten schools in Greater London, assessed in a cluster-randomised controlled trial between March 2015 and May 2016. For six weeks, intervention children received 10-minute 'Virtual Traveller' sessions three times a week during maths and English lessons (VT group: n=113). Children in control schools received regular teaching (COM group: n=106). Outcomes were school-day, weekend-day and lesson-time sedentary behaviour (SB), light (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), on-task behaviour and student engagement, assessed at baseline (T0), two-(T1) and four weeks (T2) during the Virtual Traveller intervention and one week (T3) and three months (T4) post-intervention using multilevel modelling. Results: VT pupils engaged in significantly more school-day MVPA at T1 only, with no other significant differences between groups in overall schoolday or weekend-day activity. VT pupils engaged in significantly less SB and more MVPA during lesson time than COM pupils. More on-task behaviour was shown in VT pupils than COM pupils but there was no difference in student engagement. Discussion: Virtual Traveller reduced sedentary behaviour and increased physical activity during lesson time but not across overall school or weekend-days. It improved on-task behaviour but had no effect on student engagement. Conclusion: Physical activity can be integrated into teaching using interactive whiteboards with no detriment to educational outcomes. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 Results: VT pupils engaged in significantly more school-day MVPA at T1 only, with no other significant differences between groups in overall school-day or weekend-day activity. VT pupils engaged in significantly less SB and more MVPA during lesson time than COM pupils.More on-task behaviour was shown in VT pupils than COM pupils but there was no difference in student engagement.

Physically active lessons in schools and their impact on physical activity, educational, health and cognition outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Interventions contained an average of 3. 18 or an audio CD and CD player 65 . Intervention effects on outcomes…”

“…13 14 Physically active lessons (also known as physically active learning 15 ) combine physical activity with academic content and have been explored as a potential method of increasing activity in schools without detriment to educational time. 16 Examples of physically active lessons include doing starjumps whilst reciting times tables 17 or using movements to show whether an answer is true or false 18 . Embedded physical activity can be specifically relevant to the learning task at-hand, or task non-relevant but still occurring simultaneously in the taught session 19 .…”

Effect of Integrated Physical Activities with Mathematics on Objectively Assessed Physical Activity

“…An evolving literature shows that PA in the classroom has the potential to contribute to the PA levels of children, in addition to the benefits on cognitive and academic outcomes [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], however, results remain inconclusive due to limited high quality interventions [ 12 ]. A number of intervention studies conducted in the academic classroom have also only assessed overall PA at school [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] or overall PA levels during the week [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. To more objectively evaluate this approach it is important to directly capture activity levels at the classroom level.…”

“…Considering the large number of classroom-based intervention studies that have been identified from recent reviews and meta-analyses [ 4 , 5 , 6 ], only 9 studies have objectively estimated the PA of lessons integrated with learning [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Of these, five compared the PA levels of the integrated lessons to a control group or condition [ 14 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], and only three provided detail on the actual intensity of the integrated activities [ 18 , 20 , 22 ]. The “Virtual Traveler” program [ 18 ] embedded Google earth videos on interactive whiteboards and children reached MVPA levels by simulating appropriate on-the-spot movements as they ‘traveled’ to, and interacted with, locations.…”

“…Of these, five compared the PA levels of the integrated lessons to a control group or condition [ 14 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], and only three provided detail on the actual intensity of the integrated activities [ 18 , 20 , 22 ]. The “Virtual Traveler” program [ 18 ] embedded Google earth videos on interactive whiteboards and children reached MVPA levels by simulating appropriate on-the-spot movements as they ‘traveled’ to, and interacted with, locations. Grieco and colleagues [ 20 ] used one 15-minute integrated PA lesson (named “spelling relay”) in their study.…”