Relationship between School Physical Activity and Academic Performance of Children

Abstract

This paper investigated literature concerning the relationship between school physical activity and the academic performance of school children. Some of the past research has identified a positive relationship between physical activity and academic performances. However, several studies did not find that was the case. Further, the studies also had difficulties to ascertain if the association is causal and if so, the direction of the cause-effect. As a result several intervention programs have been conducted to answer the above problems. Some researchers allocated extra time for physical education, aerobic exercise or free play time and concluded that spending more time in physical education had some favorable effects on some of the academic achievement measures. However, some did not achieve positive outcomes. It would appear that most studies have a relatively short period of intervention program and there is an urgent need to conduct a longitudinal study. This paper alerts readers to and outlines the Commonwealth Institute Lifestyle of our Kids (LOOK) longitudinal study that commenced in 2005 in Canberra that seeks to address the shortcomings of the past research in this area.