task 2 on physical education

IELTS General Training

A hub for IELTS GT test takers to help them reach their goal.

Essay 272 – Physical education classes are an important part of a child’s education

Gt writing task 2 / essay sample # 272.

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people say that physical education classes are an important part of a child’s education. Others believe that it is more important to focus on academics during school time.

Discuss both these views, and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Model Answer 1:

It is argued by many people that physical education is vital for children and should be introduced into the academic curriculum, yet others deem that children should put emphasis on academic activities during school time. This essay expounds on both viewpoints before coming up with a logical opinion.

To commence with, introducing physical education into the academic curriculum might be an effective approach not only to augment children’s physical activity participation levels but also to improve academic outcomes. On the one hand, physical inactivity causes a range of non-communicable diseases like obesity, diabetes, and cancers. Physical activity, on the other hand, helps to maintain fitness, in turn, increases children’s school engagement and thus improves their cognitive and academic performance. A case in point is Australia. The country enhances the physical activity and literacy levels of children in elementary school by integrating physical education into the academic curriculum.

In contrast, others think that children should devote school time to their studies. According to them, physical literacy can be taught at home, whereas school time needs to be dedicated to acquiring academic knowledge. This is because if physical education is integrated with the curriculum, then one or two major subjects would be compromised accordingly. This, in turn, will hamper overall academic activities.

I believe that schools are not an ideal place for physical education. The reason is that once gymnasiums were rare in a community, but today, every community has a gymnasium for physical education. Therefore, there is no ground for adding physical education to the primary school curriculum.

It seems reasonable to conclude that physical education should not be included in the primary school curriculum because it could handicap the academic process while killing valuable time for learning important lessons.

Model Answer 2:

The question of whether physical education classes hold significant value in a child’s education or if the academic focus should take precedence during school time has sparked an animated debate. While some argue for the importance of physical education as an integral part of a well-rounded education, others emphasize the primacy of academic pursuits. In my opinion, physical education classes are essential for a child’s holistic development, and striking a balance between academics and physical activity is crucial.

On the one hand, proponents of academic focus argue that the primary goal of education is to equip children with the necessary knowledge and skills for future academic and career success. They emphasise that dedicating more time to core subjects like mathematics, science, and languages maximizes intellectual growth, fosters critical thinking, and enhances problem-solving abilities. Academic achievement is often seen as the primary measure of a child’s success and is crucial in preparing them for higher education and professional opportunities.

On the other hand, advocates for physical education highlight the numerous benefits it offers to a child’s overall well-being. Regular physical activity not only promotes physical fitness but also enhances cognitive function, concentration, and memory retention. Physical education classes provide opportunities for children to develop crucial social skills such as teamwork, cooperation, and leadership. Engaging in sports and physical activities instils values of discipline, resilience, and healthy lifestyle habits from an early age.

Furthermore, integrating physical education into the school curriculum can address the growing concern about sedentary lifestyles and childhood obesity. With the prevalence of technology and sedentary forms of entertainment, physical education classes play a vital role in promoting an active lifestyle and instilling lifelong habits of regular exercise. For example, incorporating physical education classes into the school curriculum ensures that students engage in regular physical activity, reducing the risk of obesity-related health issues.

In conclusion, while academic focus is undeniably important, physical education classes should not be neglected in a child’s education. Incorporating academics with physical activity is essential for well-rounded development, promoting physical fitness, cognitive function, social skills, and a positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle.

Privacy Overview

Writing Correction
Online Prep Platform
Online Course
Speaking Assessment
Ace The IELTS
Target Band 7
Practice Tests Downloads
IELTS Success Formula
Essays Band 9 IELTS Writing Task 2 samples – IELTS Band 9 essays
Essays Band 8 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS essays of Band 8
Essays Band 7 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS essays of Band 7
Essays Band 6 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS essays of Band 6
Essays Band 5 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS essays of Band 5
Reports Band 9 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS reports of Band 9 (Academic Writing Task 1)
Reports Band 8 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS reports of Band 8
Reports Band 7 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS reports of Band 7
Letters Band 9 IELTS Writing Task 1 – samples of IELTS letters of Band 9
Letters Band 8 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS letters of Band 8
Letters Band 7 IELTS Writing – samples of IELTS letters of Band 7
Speaking Samples
Tests Samples
2023, 2024 IELTS questions
2022 IELTS questions
2021 IELTS questions
2020 IELTS questions
High Scorer’s Advice IELTS high achievers share their secrets
IELTS Results Competition
IELTS-Blog App

IELTS essay, topic: Some people think that sport in schools is a waste of time and resources, while others believe it is a vital part of education (opinion)

IELTS Essays - Band 9

This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer’s Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is likely to score IELTS Band 9.

Set 2 Academic book, Practice Test 8

Writing Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people believe that having sport in schools is a waste of time and resources, whilst other people believe that sport in schools is a vital part of education.

Discuss both these views and give your opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience.

You should write at least 250 words.

In most education systems around the world, physical education is one of the components of the syllabus. However, this is a controversial topic, as it has been argued that sport as a school subject is unnecessary. Opposing this is the view that physical education is a vital aspect of the education.

Physical education was introduced into schools to promote a healthy lifestyle by exposing students to different types of sport and ensuring that those who are not naturally sporty are exposed to exercise and its benefits. For students who are already very active, having a sports lesson might be unnecessary, but those who are not given the opportunities or who are not from active families depend on schools for exercise. Furthermore, a school is supposed to educate on multiple levels, a key aspect of which is healthy living. It is not sufficient to discuss exercise in class; students must experience the effects that ensue. One of these benefits is that exercise enables people to concentrate more efficiently and work more efficiently, meaning that having sport as a subject is beneficial to other subjects as well.

On the other hand, exercise to some degree is a personal matter and forcing students to exercise in class can then have the opposite effect. This feeling can lead to students not pursuing any sports later due to negative experiences and memories connected to it. Another argument is that exercise is a leisure activity and therefore not school-related and should be practiced outside of school.

In conclusion, while negative results can be caused through physical education, it is vital for students to take part in it. Some students are only exposed to a healthy lifestyle in schools and therefore there is a responsibility to educate individuals in this area.

Go here for more IELTS Band 9 Essays

IELTS Essay, topic: Should governments or teachers be responsible for what is to be taught in schools (opinion)? This is a model response to a Writing Task 2...
IELTS essay, topic: Is learning a foreign language essential or a waste of time (opinion)? This is a model response to a Writing Task 2...
IELTS essay, topic: Is fashion a significant part of society, or a waste of time and money (opinion)? This is a model response to a Writing Task 2...
IELTS essay, topic: Unemployment payments encourage people not to seek work (opinion) This is a model response to a Writing Task 2...

6 thoughts on “IELTS essay, topic: Some people think that sport in schools is a waste of time and resources, while others believe it is a vital part of education (opinion)”

This is really good as well as it is quite helpful for me. Thank you🌹

I’m so glad this helps! Thank you for your feedback.

I’m glad this helps!

These are helpful. Please evaluate my writing. Question- Today the quality of life in large cities is decreasing. Discuss the causes and solutions. Answer People come to metropolitan cities in search of a better life. However, large towns have now become unfavorable places to live in, due to the fact that, they are over populated. In the following essay, I will discuss the top two challenges that make living in a city difficult; subsequently, I will provide solutions that I assume will help to solve them. The first reason people despise living in a city is the traffic jam; as there are as many cars as there are people, people find it difficult to be punctual. For instance, in Addis Ababa, a person needs to get up very early in the morning, if he or she wishes to get to work or school on time, as there are long queues for public transportation. Even if you are driving, the crowded streets make your morning miserable, killing your time and draining your energy before the day even begins. The second reason is housing. Renting or owning a house is extremely expensive in such cities. Residents allocate more than half of their monthly income on rent, which hinders them from saving as much money as they thought they would, making it unbearable to live in the city.

In my perspective, the following solutions can make humans better tolerate city life. First of all, the government should construct alternative roads and underground train railways. Second, the national government should build condominiums or affordable apartments to tackle the housing shortage. And there should be strict laws against sound and air pollution, especially in residential areas. In a nutshell, I believe if the abide mentioned measures are enacted, it will make living in the city pleasant, affordable, and convenient.

Hi Yordanos, to get your writing checked, please purchase a writing correction package here and you will receive instructions how to submit your writing for feedback.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

IELTS Mentor "IELTS Preparation & Sample Answer"

Skip to content
Jump to main navigation and login

Nav view search

IELTS Sample

IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.

Ielts essay # 1426 - physical education classes are an important part of education, ielts writing task 2/ ielts essay:, some people say that physical education classes are an important part of a child's education. others believe that it is more important to focus on academics during school time., discuss both these views and give your opinion..

IELTS Essay
IELTS Writing Task 2
Discuss both views

IELTS Materials

IELTS Bar Graph
IELTS Line Graph
IELTS Table Chart
IELTS Flow Chart
IELTS Pie Chart
IELTS Letter Writing
Academic Reading

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Copyright Notice
HTML Sitemap

Education essay topics for IELTS writing task 2

Home » IELTS writing task 2 questions » Education essay topics for writing task 2 IELTS

Take a look at these sample Task 2 essay questions about education for your IELTS exam.

For a FREE ebook of our top 10 IELTS Band 9 essay samples in PDF, click here!

IELTS Writing Task 2: Physical Education

Here is an IELTS Writing Task 2 question that came up in the exam in June 2022:

Many schools offer some type of physical education classes to their students. Why is physical education important? Should physical education classes be required or optional?

IELTS Writing Task 2: A Good Teacher

Here is an IELTS Writing Task 2 question that came up in the exam in May 2024:

Some people say that to become a good teacher, you should acquire enough training, while others say that teaching capabilities can be developed with experience. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

IELTS Writing Task 2: Packaging

Here is an IELTS Writing Task 2 question that came up in the exam in April 2024:

Some people say that manufacturers and supermarkets should take the responsibility of reducing the amount of packaging of goods. Others argue that customers should take responsibility and avoid buying goods with a lot of packaging. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

IELTS Writing Task 2: Towns And Cities

Here is an IELTS Writing Task 2 question that came up in the exam in March 2024:

The world has many towns and cities constructed in previous centuries that were more suitable and livable for people in those times than they are now. What problems will this cause? What can be done to solve these problems?

IELTS Writing Task 2: Eco-Tourism

Here is an IELTS Writing Task 2 question that came up in the exam in February 2024:

Eco-tourism often involves visiting remote and fragile ecosystems, which raises concerns about the impact on local cultures and indigenous communities. What problems can this cause? How can these problems be resolved?

IELTS Writing Task 2: Homelessness

Ielts writing task 2: work in farming.

Comments are closed.

english-practice.net

Practice English Exercises to Improve Your Skills

english-exercises.net

Practice More English Exercises to Improve Your Skills

englishpracticetest.net

Practice More English Tests to Improve Your Skills

Cambridge Practice Test

Practice Cam Listening Test with Answer & Transcript

Listening Practice Test

Practice Listening Test with Answer & Transcript

Practice Cambridge Reading Test with Answer

Practice Reading Test

Practice Reading Test with Answer

Practice Reading Mock Test with Answer

Speaking Practice Test

Speaking Practice Test with with Band 8-9 Samples

42 Common Topics for ielts Speaking Part 1

100 TOPICS for ielts Speaking Part 2 with Band 8 Sample

70 TOPICS for ielts Speaking Part 2 with Band 8+ Sample Recordings

Vocabulary Words

Most Common Vocabulary Topics for ielts Speaking

Writing Practice Test

Writing Practice Test with Band 8-9 Samples

Writing Mock Test with Band 8-9 Samples

Writing Task 2 Topics with Band 7-8-9 Samples

General Reading Tests

Practice General Reading Test with Answer

IELTS Writing Task 2 – Topic: EDUCATION

ielts writing topics 2019

1. As computers are being used more and more in education, there will be soon no role for teachers in the classroom.

Sample Answer 1

There have been immense advances in technology in most aspects of people’s lives, especially in the field of education. Nowadays, an increasing number of students rely on computers to research for information and to produce a perfect paper for school purposes. Others have decided to leave the original way of learning to get knowledge through online schools. These changes in the learning process have brought a special concern regarding the possible decrease of importance of teachers in the classroom.

Some people believe the role of teachers started to fade because computers have been helping some students to progress in their studies quicker than when compared with an original classroom. For example, in the same classroom, students have different intellectual capacities, thus some would be tied to a slow advance in their studies because of others‟ incapacity of understanding. In this way, pupils could progress in their acquisition of knowledge at their own pace using computers instead of learning from teachers.

However, the presence of a teacher is essential for students because the human contact influences them in positive ways. Firstly, students realize that they are not dealing with a machine but with a human being who deserves attention and respect. They also learn the importance of studying in group and respect other students, which helps them to improve their social skills.

Moreover, teachers are required in the learning process because they acknowledge some student’s deficiencies and help them to solve their problems by repeating the same explanation, giving extra exercises or even suggesting a private tutor. Hence, students can have a bigger chance not to fail in a subject.

In conclusion, the role for teachers in the learning process is still very important and it will continue to be in the future because no machine can replace the human interaction and its consequences.

(303 words)

Sample Answer 2

Nobody can argue that the acquisition of knowledge is more fun and easier with computers. The mere activity of touching and exploring this device constitutes an enjoyable task for a kid. This, accompanied with the relaxing attitude and software interactivity, usually conduce to a better grasping of new knowledge. At a higher educational level; the availability of digital books, simulator and other academic materials, provide the student with an ever accessible source of information, that otherwise would not be at hand.

But, besides the increasing complexity and behavior of intelligent software, which is usually embedded in the academic digital material, the need of human interaction in the learning process will always be present, at least in the foreseeable future. There is the necessity for a human being to be able to determine what the specifics needs of each individual are. The expertise of a teacher in how to explain and adapt complex concepts to different individuals can hardly be mimicked by a computer, no matter how sophisticated its software is.

As computers are becoming a common tool for teaching, teachers should be more aware of their role as guides in the acquisition of knowledge rather than transmitters of facts. They have to be open minded to the changes that are taking places, keep updated and serve as a problem solvers in the learning process, thus allowing students to discover the fact for themselves.

To summarize, in my personal view, teachers play and will() play an important role in the classroom, especially at the primary level. No matter how complex computers become, there will be no replacement for the human interaction, but in the way haw this interaction takes place.

(279 words)

2. In some countries young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages for young people who decide to do this.

Sample Answer

It is quite common these days for young people in many countries to have a break from studying after graduating from high school. This trend is not restricted to rich students who have the money to travel, but is also evident among poorer students who choose to work and become economically independent for a period of time.

The reasons for this trend may involve the recognition that a young adult who passes directly from school to university is rather restricted in terms of general knowledge and experience of the world. By contrast, those who have spent some time earning a living or traveling to other places have a broader view of life and better personal resources to draw on. They tend to be more independent, which is a very important factor in academic study and research, as well as giving them an advantage in terms of coping with the challenges of student life.

However, there are certainly dangers in taking time off at that important age. Young adults may end up never returning to their studies or finding it difficult to readapt to an academic environment. They may think that it is better to continue in a particular job, or to do something completely different from a university course. But overall, I think this is less likely today, when academic qualifications are essential for getting a reasonable career.

My view is that young people should be encouraged to broaden their horizons. That is the best way for them to get a clear perspective of what they are hoping to do with their lives and why. Students with such a perspective are usually the most effective and motivated ones and taking a year off may be the best way to gain this.

(291 words)

3. Some people believe that a college or university education should be available to all students. Others believe that higher education should be available only to good students. Discuss these views. Which view do you agree with? Explain why.

People learn through their entire lives. They constantly improve their knowledge and develop. I think that a college or university education should be available to all students because every person has the right to choose the way to self-perfection. Bellow I will give some of my reasons to support my position.

First of all, every person should have the chance to get a higher degree, gain new knowledge and experience. However, some people believe that higher education should be available only to good students. I think it is silly. It is like to make unavailable traveling for one who does not have IQ high enough.

Second of all, some young people do not do well at school but they have great personality and ability to learn. They are self-confident, persistent and patient. With these qualities they can get higher grades then their classmates who are talented but lazy. Imagine for example situation when a teenager gets high grades because his or her parents constantly make him or her study and help to do most of the homework. In this case a child does very well at school but I think a college can show the opposite results.

Finally, it is a discrimination against students to make available higher education only for good ones. So, if a student does poor and gets low grades he/she should be sent down. But if a person was never given a chance to try himself/herself at college, what to do in this case?

To sum up, I think that all young people should have the chance to get a higher education. To take or not this chance must be up to them.

(277 words)

4. Some people believe that the best way of learning about life is by listening to the advice of family and friends. Other people believe that the best way of learning about life is through personal experience. Compare the advantages of these two different ways of learning about life. Which do you think is preferable? Use specific examples to support your preference.

From my everyday experience and observation I can stand that the best way of learning about life is through personal experience. However, some people think that it is wiser to learn about life through listening to the advice of family and friends. It does not mean I totally disagree with this way of learning. Moreover, I think that it is wise for a person to take an intermediate position because each of these ways has its own advantages. Bellow I will give my reasons to support my point of view.

From the one side, learning through one’s personal experience brings many benefits. First of all, scientists say that personal experience has greater impact on a person. I have to agree with this. Take for example children. They will not believe their parents that something can hurt them until they try it and make sure in it. Furthermore, most likely they will remember this experience longer. Second of all, people learn how to analyze their mistakes, make conclusions and next time try to avoid them. So, I think it is a great experience that makes people stronger, more self-confident and persistent. They gain more knowledge and experience that will be very helpful and valuable in the future.

From the other side, listening to the advice of family and friends brings many benefits too. Parents with great patience pass down their knowledge and experience to their children. They teach them all they know and they want their children do not make the same mistakes. In addition to those practical benefits, learning from someone’s advice is painless. For example, parents nowadays very often talk to their children about drugs. I think it is a great example when one should not try drugs in order to gain new experience. I think it is a case when children must trust their parents.

To sum up, I think it is wise to combine both of these ways to learn and try to analyze personal mistakes as well as not personal. I think together they can greatly simplify one’s life and make the way to success shorter.

(350 words)

5. With the pressures on today’s young people to succeed academically, some people believe that non-academic subjects at school (eg: physical education and cookery) should be removed from the syllabus so that children can concentrate wholly on academic subjects. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

What young people should study at school has long been the subject of intense debate and this is a question that certainly does not have one correct answer.

We need to provide young people the best possible chance of doing well at school. In traditional curriculum there is a wide variety of subjects with a mix of academic and nonacademic subjects. In this way a young person is formed with a rounded education. Non-academic subjects would include sports, cooking, woodwork and metalwork. I believe this is the best form of education. A young person should learn things other than academic subjects. Sport is particularly important. Young people have to learn to love sport so that they can be fit and healthy later in life. If not we will be raising an obese and unfit generation.

I totally understand the point of view that education is so important that students must be pushed as hard as possible to achieve their best. It sounds a good idea to only expose the students to academic subjects as then they can spend all of their school hours on studying areas that will get them into university and good jobs later in life. I just feel a more rounded education would produce a better individual. We must remember too that a lot of people, maybe even most people, aren‛t academically minded and would benefit more from a more vocationally based education. Forcing academic studies onto them would lead to failure and the student leaving school too early.

Therefore I agree that although a wholly academic curriculum would suit and benefit some young people, I believe that for most students non-academic subjects are important inclusions still in today‛s syllabuses.

(283 words)

6. In many countries, sports and exercise classes are replaced with the academic subjects. Discuss the effects of this trend.

Over the past few decades, academic subjects have become increasingly important in this fast-changing information-based society. Nowadays, there has been a growing debate as to whether it would be more effective to replace physical education classes with academic subjects. Despite the importance of sports, I highly believe that it is inevitable and more efficient to focus more on academic subjects for several reasons.

Those who argue that sports and exercise classes are needed in school base their case on the following arguments. First of all, sports are a good way to build character and develop personality. That is, there are necessary for learning about competition, cooperation, and good sportsmanship. In addition, as a majority of children these days are addicted to the Internet, they find it hard to leave their computer. Consequently, a growing number of children are becoming overweight or obese due to a lack of exercise. So, if schools foster an environment that deprives students of getting a proper physical education, it will have a long-term negative effect on children both mentally and physically.

Nevertheless, people should not ignore the fact that devoting more time and energy to academic subjects will benefit students more in the long run. The time devoted to physical education now would be better spent teaching students English. This is because speaking fluent English will give young people an advantage over other college applicants and job seekers in the near future. Besides, science will undoubtedly benefit youth more than physical education as well. The principles learned in science will provide the necessary foundation for solving and difficult problems that are sure to arise in students’ futures.

In summary, there are high hopes that educators and parents exercise wisdom in teaching young generations.

(288 words)

7. Some people think high school graduates should travel or work for a period of time instead of going directly to study at university. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

High school students face many decisions as they prepare to graduate, including what they are going to do after graduation. Some high school students go directly to college or university after graduation. Others prefer to travel or work for some time before going to university.

For those who choose to go college or university after graduation, there are advantages and disadvantages. One of the big advantages of going directly from high school to college is that you are still in the habit of studying. By going to college after graduation, you do not lose the study skills that you developed during high school. The big disadvantages, however, is that you may not be ready for college. You may not know exactly what you want to study, or you may be more interested in freedom and parties than in your courses. At that age, it is often difficult for students to take on the responsibilities of college.

There are also advantages and disadvantages to working or traveling before starting college. Working or traveling allows you a better idea of what you want to do with your life. You gain practical experience that helps you define what you want to study. You also are well prepared for the responsibilities of college or university studies. On the other hand, by the time you start college, you will probably have obligations, like a job or spouse, which keep you from focusing on studies. In addition, travelling or working before college may cause you to spend enough time out of school that you forget how to study.

The desicion of what to do after high school graduation can be a difficult one. Deciding whether to go straight into college or university or take time to work or travel is something that faces every high school student. After thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of both options, the decision should be based on what is best for you.

(322 words)

8. The student who study from the school to university get benefit less and contribute less too, than those of student who go to travel or job and get skills and experience before going high. Do you agree or disagree?

Nowadays, in our competitive world, to succeed, knowledge from school and university is not enough. Therefore, the student who study from the school to university get benefit less and contribute less too, than those of student who go to travel or job and get experience and skills before going high. There are two following reasons to prove for my opinion. I call the group of people who study from school to university is group A and the other group is group B.

Firstly, at school and university, what group A gain is almost theory, theory and theory. Of course, theory is very necessary, however, you can’t do everything with theory. You must have practicable experience. This is what group A lack very much. Although in the third of fourth year at university, group A can be apprentices in some companies, to help them approach their future jobs, they aren’t trained well because of short time. And the real job is still very strange with them. After graduating, without experience, group A can’t accomplish their work perfectly. On the other hand, it take them time and money to keep up with other experienced ones and may be scorned. Therefore, group A can contribute less than group B who have the most two important things: skills and experience.

Secondly, as group A is contribute less, they surely get less benefit. Moreover, many companies which employ people in group A have to train them from the back-ground. These companies take this cost from group A‟s salary to get rid of the fact that their employees may leave after being trained to other companies. So, less benefit is unavoidable and certain, Whereas group B are more loyal and effective workers. They also have useful experience and skills. Besides, their education is the same as or even higher than group A. As the result, group B get more benefit absolutely.

In conclusion, I think student should go to travel or job before going high. Therefore, they can’t only have basic knowledge but also skills and experience which are useful for them to get a good job and a brilliant future.

(355 words)

9. Disruptive school students have a negative influence on others. Students who are noisy and disobedient should be grouped together and taught separately. Do you agree or disagree?

There is no doubt that some students in schools behave badly and their behaviour causes difficulty for others either because it has a negative effect on the group or because ordinary students find it difficult to study with them.

One solution is to take these students away and teach them on their own. However, if we simply have them removed after one or two warnings, we are limiting their educational opportunities because it seems to me that a school which caters for difficult students is a sort of “prison” whatever name you give it and the people who go there may never recover from the experience. This can then cause problems for the wider society.

Perhaps we need to look at why the disruptive students behave badly before we separate them. Disruptive students may be very intelligent and find the classes boring because the work is too easy. Perhaps these students need extra lessons rather than separate lessons. Or perhaps the teachers are uninspiring and this results in behavioural problems so we need better teachers. On the other hand, most studentsput up with this situation rather than cause trouble, and some people argue that we have to learn to suffer bad teachers and boring situations and that students who can’t learn this lesson need to be taught separately.

So before we condemn the students to a special school, we should look at factors such as the teaching, because once the children have been separated, it is very unlikely that they will be brought back.

(254 words)

10. Some people think that universities should not provide so much theoretical knowledge but give more practical training throughout their courses. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

In the past, a majority of academics have held the opinion that universities should only offer a theoretically-based approach to teaching throughout their courses, as opposed to the more recent trend towards empirical acquisition of knowledge involving more “hands on” experience. Is this the most effective way for students to learn vital academic information while undertaking their degrees? Undoubtedly, advantages and disadvantages of both academic learning styles have to be evaluated.

Firstly, on the one hand, despite being the more traditional educational approach, learning from theory in relevant academic discourses to identify established knowledge allows us to gain a professional insight. For example, students can easily identify facts and opinions from past discourses. In addition, students acquire knowledge more easily when given relative theoretical examples to build upon. For instance, in subjects such as history or sociology, studying textbook examples allows students to unravel complex academic theories which they could expand on. Alternatively, there are some disadvantages for students.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that students could find themselves reading tedious and monotonous academic papers. For instance, university degrees involving the evaluation of numerous „long-winded‟ academic discourses provide little inspiration for students, discouraging enthusiasm. Obviously, interest can be stimulated through empirical research in class. By this I mean that „the human brain learns best by doing‟. Although time-consuming, there is no substitute for learning from making mistakes.

In conclusion, while both approaches have benefits and drawbacks in our ever- changing academic world, I honestly believe that a more practical approach promotes a stronger acquisition of academic knowledge. In spite of the comprehensive nature which theoretical teaching can possibly provide, practical learning equals more positive learning for future generations.

(281 words)

11. People attend college or university for many defferent reasons (for example, new experiences, career preparation, increased knowledge). Why do you think people attend college or university?

People attend college for a lot of different reasons. I believe that the three most common reasons are to prepare for a career, to have new experiences, and to increase their knowledge of themselves and of the world around them.

Career preparation is probably the primary reason that people attend college. These days, the job market is very competitive. Careers such as information technology will need many new workers in the near future. At college, students can learn new skills for these careers and increase their opportunities for the future.

Students also go to college to have new experiences. For many, it is their first time away from home. At college, they can meet new people from many different places. They can see what life is like in a different city. They can learn to live on their own and take care of themselves without having their family always nearby.

At college, students have the opportunity to increase their knowledge. As they decide what they want to study, pursue their studies, and interact with their classmates, they learn a lot about themselves. They also, of course, have the opportunity to learn about many subjects in their classes. In addition to the skills and knowledge related to their career, college students also have the chance to take classes in other areas. For many, this will be their last chance to study different subjects.

Colleges offer much more than career preparation. They offer the opportunity to have new experiences and to learn many kinds of things. I think all of these are reasons why people attend college.

(265 words)

People attend colleges or universities for a lot of different reasons. I believe that the three most common reasons are to prepare for a career, to have new experiences, and to increase their knowledge of themselves and the world around them.

Career preparation is becoming more and more important to young people. For many, this is the primary reason to go to college. They know that the job market is competitive. At college, they can learn new skill for careers with a lot of opportunities. This means careers, such as information technology, that are expected to need a large workforce in the coming years.

Also, students go to colleges and universities to have new experiences. This often means having the opportunity to meet people different from those in their hometowns. For most students, going to college is the first time they’ve been away from home by themselves. In additions, this is the first time they’ve had to make decisions on their own. Making these decisions increases their knowledge of themselves.

Besides looking for self-knowledge, people also attend a university or college to expand their knowledge in subjects they find interesting. For many, this will be their last chance for a long time to learn about something that doesn’t relate to their career.

I would recommend that people not be so focused on a career. They should go to college to have new experiences and learn about themselves and the world they live in.

(243 words)

12. Nowadays, education overseas has become more accessible and growing numbers of people send their offspring to study in other countries. However, this trend has its detractors. I strongly believe that the pros far outweigh the cons, and will examine both below.

One of the greatest advantages is that the children learn to be independent. Having to cook, clean, and pay bills instills this in them. Often they have to work part-time to make ends meet, and this impresses upon them the importance of work and money management.

Another important factor is that these children will be exposed to different cultures and ways of thinking. They will become more open-minded and tolerant and are likely to become more adaptable individuals.

One of the main motives for sending young people abroad to study is that it enhances their employment prospects. In my experience of living in foreign countries and speaking to various youths, it seems that a foreign education is regarded as something desirable and helpful in getting a decent job. A degree from Britain, for example, is seen as being of a higher standard than one from a developing country. Furthermore, living in a foreign country may lead to fluency in a second language, which is another selling point for prospective employers. In addition, many companies are keen to recruit people with a global outlook.

There are a few drawbacks however. For instance, without parental supervision, the new found freedom children experience may lead to harmful practices such as drug-taking and drinking. Reluctance or inability to reintegrate into their mother country is another. To sum up, it can be seen that the advantages of studying abroad for children are more numerous than the disadvantages. Of course a lot depends on the age of the child, but I believe that for most teenagers it would be a positive experience.

(266 words)

13. It has been said, “Not everything that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?

“Experience is the best teacher” is an old cliché, but I agree with it. We can learn a lot of important things from books, but the most important lessons in life come from our own experiences. Throughout the different stages of life, from primary school to university to adulthood, experience teaches us many skills we need for life.

As children in primary school, we learn facts and information from books, but that is not all we learn in school. On the playground we learn how to make friends. In our class work, we learn how it feels to succeed and what we do when we fail. We start to learn about the things we like to do and the things we don’t. We don’t learn these things from books, but from our experiences with our friends and classmates.

In our university classes, we learn a lot of information and skills we will need for our future careers, but we also learn a lot that is not in our textbooks. In our daily lives both in class and out of class, we learn to make decisions for ourselves. We learn to take on responsibilities. We learn to get along with our classmates, our roommates, and our workmates. Our successes and failures help us develop skills we will need in our adult lives. They are skills that no book can teach us.

Throughout our adulthood, experience remains a constant teacher. We may continue to read or take classes for professional development. However, our experiences at work, at home, and with our friends teach us more. The triumphs and disasters of our lives teach us how to improve our careers and also how to improve our relationships and how to be the person each one of us wants to be.

Books teach us a lot, but there is a limit to what they teach. They can give us information or show us another person’s experiences. These are valuable things, but the lessons we learn from our own experiences, from childhood through adulthood, are the most important ones we learn.

(346 words)

People are learning and practicing through their entire life. I believe that life experience and practice are the basic reasons of the humankind’s evolution. However, in my opinion, knowledge gained from books plays a very important role in the modern life.

The most obviously important advantage of books is that they hold all knowledge gained by previous generations. People write books about their discoveries and inventions, which are gained through practice and experience. This knowledge is accumulated in books that are passed from generation to generation. So, basically, people get all knowledge about the previous achievements from books, analyze it and than, according to their experience and new data, write new books. In this case, books are the holders of humankind’s experience.

For example, at old times people thought that the Earth was flat. It was concluded from observations and studying. However, the next generations, using the experience of their ancestors, proved that the Earth was round.

Personally, I think that books are very important because they are able to give people the basic and fundamental knowledge. Books store history, the important events and discoveries. Without them it is difficult and sometimes impossible to move forward, make new discoveries and inventions.

To summarize, I think a person should take basic knowledge from books because it will help him to make his own inventions, conclusions and discoveries. Only using both books and one’s experience one can move forward.

(237 words)

14. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People should read only those books that are about real events, real people, and established facts. Use specific reasons and details to support your opinion .

Some people think that fiction books have no use at all. They claim that people should read about real events that took place, real people, and established facts. I have to totally disagree with this statement. From my everyday experience and observation I can stand that fiction, miracles and fairy tails are required in our life. For several reasons, which I will mention below, I believe that fiction books play an essential role in our life.

First of all, it is kind of difficult to imagine a six year old child reading about politics or history with the real facts that are not always pleasant. I think that children need miracles and Santa Claus because the real world is too complicated for them. They are too innocent and inexperienced to know the real facts and understand what a real life is about. In addition, I am sure that making a child read only non-fiction books can result in shock.

Second of all, following this statement about refusing from reading books about fiction events we also should refuse from festivals, parades, and celebration such holidays as Halloween because most of the characters there are fictional. Moreover, comic books will disappear as well as animated films and fiction movies. The disadvantage of nonfiction lies in the facts that nothing happens to excite the mind and spirit. From the other side, fiction provides a great slope for a mind to think creatively.

In conclusion, I think that people need miracles. We can not be satisfied with only naked truth. Human kind must believe in something and this belief helps people break limits and make new inventions.

(273 words)

15. Going overseas for university study is an exciting prospect for many people. But while it may offer some advantages, it is probably better to stay home because of the difficulties a student inevitably encounters living and studying in a different culture. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

There is no doubt that going to study in a foreign country, with its different language and culture, can be a frustrating and sometimes painful experience. But while overseas study has its drawbacks, the difficulties are far outweighed by the advantages. Indeed, people who go abroad for study open themselves up to experiences that those who stay at home will never have.

The most obvious advantage to overseas university study is real-life use of a different language. While a person can study a foreign language in his or her own country, it cannot compare with constant use of the language in academic and everyday life. There is no better opportunity to improve second-language skills than living in the country in which it is spoken. Moreover, having used the language during one’s studies offers a distinct advantage when one is applying for jobs back home that require the language.

On a university campus, the foreign student is not alone in having come from far away. He or she will likely encounter many others from overseas and it is possible to make friends from all around the world. This is not only exciting on a social level, but could lead to important overseas contacts in later professional life.

Finally, living and studying abroad offers one a new and different perspective of the world and, perhaps most important, of one’s own country. Once beyond the initial shock of being in a new culture, the student slowly begins to get a meaningful understanding of the host society. On returning home, one inevitably sees one’s own country in a new, often more appreciative, light.

In conclusion, while any anxiety about going overseas for university study is certainly understandable, it is important to remember that the benefits offered by the experience make it well worthwhile.

(299 words)

16. Many students do not finish school. Why is this, and how can the problem be solved? School Drop-Outs: Problems and Solutions

Today, although most students in the UAE complete school, a large number still drop out because of family, social and work pressures. This problem requires serious action from both individuals and the government.

Most students who do not complete school do so because of family problems. Girls, especially, want to get married and start a family. Some parents are not interested in education and do not support their children in studying. Social problems are also a contributing factor. Education is compulsory but, despite this, some people do not take it seriously. Furthermore, jobs are available even if students do not have a good education. The third reason is work pressure. Some families are poor and need their children to work in order to increase the income. All these problems will create young people who do not have any skills and who will not be able to improve their lives for the family and the country.

There are several things that can be done about these problems. Parents should be encouraged to send their children to school. Schools with baby-minding facilities should be opened specially for married students. The government needs to stress the importance of education and even offer financial support to students to continue. This will encourage students to stay at school rather than start working.

In conclusion, there are several things that the government can do to allow more people to finish school. However, a number of society attitudes also have to change if the country’s young people are to achieve their full potential.

(256 words)

17. Does a university education lead to success in life?

It is very difficult to answer the claim that a person needs a university education to be successful in life because success in life means different things to different people. This essay starts by defining three different ideas of success. Following this, it looks at which types of success are dependent on a university education.

Success in life can be achieved in different ways. Many magazines and television programmes tell us that success means having a lot of money, having a fulfilling career, and being powerful. In contrast, most religious and spiritual organizations claim that success means finding spiritual happiness and being at peace with God and with yourself. Another idea of success focuses on relationships – being surrounded by people who love you and care about you, spending time with family and friends.

A university education can help you achieve some types of success, but it makes little or no difference to whether or not you are successful in other areas of life. Undoubtedly, a university education is essential if you want to have a career in a profession such as law, engineering, teaching, or medicine. However, you do not need a university degree to become a wealthy and powerful movie star, sports star or business person. In fact, a university education does not generally enable you to achieve spiritual happiness, or to have successful relationships with family and friends.

In conclusion, there are many different types of success. A university education may help you to achieve professional success in some careers. However, it will not help you to achieve success in other areas of your life such as your spiritual life or your relationships.

(275 words)

18. Education: Losing its Value

Today, it seems to be universally accepted that increased education is a good thing. Thousands of colleges and millions of students spend vast amounts of time and money chasing pieces of paper. But what is the value of these qualifications? This essay will discuss whether education has been devalued.

Supporters of education (usually teachers or educators, or those who have an interest in stopping people thinking for themselves) say that increased levels of education will open doors for students. Certificates, diplomas, and degrees are held up as a status symbol, a passport to a private club of money and power.

However, the truly powerful are not those who have taken degrees, but people who have stood back and looked at what is really important in life. They have seen opportunity and followed dreams. These people are found in every part of society. Like many brilliant people, Einstein was a weak student at math. Like many successful businessmen, Bill Gates never completed college. Like many inventive and creative people, Edison never went to school. The greatest religious teachers do not have letters after their name, but have looked into their hearts for meaning. Similarly, the world’s political leaders do not have master’s degrees or doctorates. These are the people who shaped our century, and they are too busy with real life to spend time in the paper chase.

Students in college are being sold an illusion. They are made to believe that self-understanding and society approval will come with the acquisition of a piece of paper. Instead of thinking for themselves, and finding their own personality and strengths, they are fitted like square pegs into round holes.

The role of education is to prepare masses of people to operate at low levels of ability in a very limited and restricted range of activities. Some of these activities are more challenging than perhaps the assembly lines of the past, but still the ultimate purpose is equally uninteresting. More worryingly, despite the increased level of education, people are still not genuinely expected to think for themselves. In fact, the longer years of schooling make the job of brainwashing even easier.

There is still a role for study, research, and education. However, we need to examine our emphasis on education for the sake of a piece of paper, and to learn the real meaning and revolutionary challenge of knowledge.

(395 words)

19. Education: Still Invaluable!

In the past, degrees were very unusual in my family. I remember the day my uncle graduated. We had a huge party, and for many years my mother called him “the genius” and listened to his opinion. Today, in comparison five of my brothers and sisters have degrees, and two are studying for their masters’. However, some people think that this increased access to education is devaluing degrees. In this essay, I will look at some of the arguments for and against the increased emphasis on degrees in our society.

People have several arguments against the need for degrees. They say that having so many graduates devalues a degree. People lose respect for the degree holder. It is also claimed that education has become a rat race. Graduates have to compete for jobs even after years of studying. Another point is that studying for such a long time leads to learners becoming inflexible. They know a lot about one narrow subject, but are unable to apply their skills. Employers prefer more flexible and adaptable workers.

However, I feel strongly that this move to having more qualifications is a positive development. In the past education was only for the rich and powerful. Now it is available to everyone, and this will have many advantages for the country and the individual. First of all, it is impossible to be overeducated. The more people are educated, the better the world will be, because people will be able to discuss and exchange ideas. A further point is that people with degrees have many more opportunities. They can take a wider variety of jobs and do what they enjoy doing, instead of being forced to take a job they dislike. Finally, a highly educated workforce is good for the economy of the country. It attracts foreign investment.

In conclusion, although there are undoubtedly some problems with increased levels of education, I feel strongly that the country can only progress if all its people are educated to the maximum of their ability.

(336 words)

20. It is often said that the subjects taught in schools are too academic in orientation and that it would be more useful for children to learn about practical matters such as home management, work and interpersonal skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

A criticism often heard these days is that the subjects taught in schools tend to be too academic, and contribute little to preparing a young person for the real-life tasks he or she will have to perform after graduation. They say that academic subjects are rooted in the past, and are not useful for solving modern problems. I disagree with this point of view for three reasons.

My first reason is that it is the duty of parents, not teachers, to prepare their children to deal with the practical affairs of life. The home, not the classroom, is the ideal place to learn about home management and interpersonal skills. As for work abilities and attitudes, they are best learned “on the job” and under the supervision of an experienced older worker.

My second reason is that academic subjects have withstood the test of time. They represent the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors down through the ages, and, far from being impractical, they equip us with the knowledge and confidence to make sound judgements about any problems which may crop up. In addition, academic subjects are good for training us in mental discipline, while practical subjects are weak in this regard.

My third reason is based on the saying “Man does not live by bread alone.” Schooldays devoted solely to instruction in down-to-earth practical matters would be dull indeed! Lessons in the best literature of the world, and the epoch-making scientific and geographical discoveries of the past enrich our lives and make us feel that we are part of the great family of mankind.

All in all, the teaching of academic subjects in schools is entirely appropriate. It is my firmly held view that practical subjects have no place in the classroom. On the contrary, the curriculum should be more academic!

(300 words)

21. It has been said, “Not every thing that is learned is contained in books.” Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?

“Experience is the best teacher” is an old cliché, but I agree with it. The most important, and sometimes the hardest, lessons we learn in life come from our participation in situations. You can‟ learn everything from a book.

Of course, learning from books in a formal educational setting is also valuable. It’s in schools that we learn the information we need to function in our society. We learn how to speak and write and understand mathematical equations. This is all information that we need to live in our communities and earn a living.

Nevertheless, I think that the most important lessons can’t be taught; they have to be experienced. No one can teach us how to get along with others or how to have self-respect. As we grow from children into teenagers, no one can teach us how to deal with peer pressure. As we leave adolescence behind and enter adult life, no one can teach us how to fall in love and get married.

This shouldn’t stop us from looking for guidelines along the way. Teachers and parents are valuable sources of advice when we’re young. As we enter into new stages in our lives, the advice we receive from them is very helpful because they have already bad similar experiences. But experiencing our own triumphs and disasters is really the only way to learn how to deal with life.

(232 words)

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

PPAT ® Assessment

Show that you're ready to begin teaching in a classroom and continue your professional growth

Select any step to learn more about your PPAT ® assessment journey.

Library of Examples for the PPAT Assessment

The Library of Examples is a collection of actual written responses submitted by PPAT test takers. The responses vary in writing style and presentation, but the most important factor is how well the evidence addresses the guiding prompts and rubrics.

Comparing your responses

The examples show how other candidates in your subject area responded to the guiding prompts and provide a stronger and weaker response to the same textbox. Compare your responses to determine if your work contains sufficient evidence to fully address each guiding prompt.

Remember, you should only use the examples for comparison purposes. The work you submit must be yours and yours alone. ETS uses software to scan all responses for overlap with test-taker submissions from all submission windows and from the Library of Examples. Any overlap may be investigated and your scores could be voided. See Scoring Policies .

Task 1: Knowledge of Students and the Learning Environment

Task 1 has two steps:

Step 1: Factors, Resources and Protocols
Step 2: Knowledge of Students

The following include examples for all of the textboxes in each step.

Early Childhood (zip)
Elementary Education (zip)
English Language Arts (zip)
Music (zip)
Physical Education (zip)
Science (zip)
Social Science (zip)
Special Education (zip)

Task 2: Assessment and Data Collection to Measure and Inform Student Learning

Task 2 has three steps:

Step 1: Planning the Assessment
Step 2: Administering the Assessment and Analyzing the Data
Step 3: Reflecting
Agriculture (zip)
Business & Industrial/Technical Education (zip)
Family & Consumer Science (zip)
Spanish (zip)

Task 3: Designing Instruction for Student Learning

Task 3 has four steps:

Step 1: Planning the Lesson
Step 2: The Focus Students
Step 3: Analyzing the Instruction
Step 4: Reflecting
Agriculture (zip)

Task 4: Implementing and Analyzing Instruction to Promote Student Learning

Task 4 has four steps:

Step 1: Planning
Step 2: Implementing the Plan
Step 3: Understanding the Two-Focus Students

The following include examples for all of the textboxes in each step by subject area, as well as virtual learning environment responses.

Virtual Learning Environments (zip)

Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning

Preparing to instruct, instructing, and video recording are all essential parts of Task 2. Below are videos and resources that describe best practice when it comes to video recording as it applies to edTPA. The response supports for the instruction commentary will assist in the planning, writing and self-scoring of this task.

INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY RESPONSE SUPPORTS

A pattern of evidence will assist the scorer in assigning scores; try to list time stamps for two or three segments that serve as evidence of how you met each requirement. Below is a partial example, the complete response supports are included in the referenced publication below.

Adapted with permission from the comprehensive online preparation guide. [1]

Additional Resources

Using Video to Improve Practice - TeachingChannel.org

Tips for video recording for all devices: location, record, audio, aspect ratio, steady zoom/pan, save, and back up.

Portfolio Tip and Guide - edTPA.com

This link will help you with all of your video setting and question needs as well as any ePortfolio questions you might have. It also includes links on how to compress your videos.

Exemplary Physical Education Instruction Commentary - Passedtpa.com

This document provides an example of an exemplary instruction commentary for a lacrosse learning segment.

Guide to Technology - Carthage Library

This website was created by the Carthage Library to help students with technology questions while they are completing the edTPA.

Johnson, R. A., Brummitt, N. (2021). Physical education edTPA online preparation guide . Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL.

Teacher Education

Nursing Education
Behavioral Sciences
Sign & Foreign Languages
Performing Arts
Communication
Any Skill You Teach

NEW FEATURE

The AI Assistant is Here

Meet your new teaching ally.

Developed with coaching as a priority.

CONTENT TYPE

Case Studies
Product Demos

Meet your new ally

The AI Assistant in GoReact is here.

CONTACT SALES EXPLORE GOREACT TRY FOR FREE CONTACT SALES

How to Conquer edTPA Task 2 (And Examples)

edTPA task 2 is one way for aspiring teachers to prove that they’re prepared for the classroom.

The task requires pre-service teachers to submit a video clip, instruction commentary, and transcription of inaudible segments. Gathering the evidence needed is no small feat, and many preservice teachers feel overwhelmed by task 2.

While requirements may feel overwhelming upon first glance, there’s no need to worry. Below are several tangible tips and edTPA 2 examples to help candidates complete edTPA task 2 with flying colors.

Download our Ultimate How-To Guide on edTPA Videos

edTPA Task 2 Video Clip

Video clips are the primary evidence in edTPA task 2, so they can make or break a candidate’s edTPA submission. Take candidates through these steps and the advice below to prepare them to create a successful edTPA video for task 2.

Maintain Confidentiality

Three main aspects of confidentiality should be considered when working on task 2:

Obtain Consent: Candidates need consent from students and adults who appear in their video clips. Discuss this with candidates and distribute permission forms early in the semester before it’s too late.
Maintain Privacy: Candidates should not post classroom video(s) online or with people not involved in the edTPA assessment. The video clips should only be used to submit to edTPA.
Eliminate Identifying Information: Candidates should eliminate any identifying school information from video clips. School information may be shown on classroom posters or signs, but identifying details can be blurred out.

Prepare Adequately

Ever heard the saying “Fail to plan, plan to fail?” This phrase is spot-on when it comes to edTPA videos. Help prepare your teacher candidates to record high-quality videos by going over these five steps:

Review the handbook: Remind candidates to look over their edTPA handbook to ensure that they understand the video guidelines. Check out 5 edTPA Video Requirements to Review with Candidates for more specifics on edTPA video guidelines.
Get subject specific: Implore candidates to thoroughly read their subject-specific rubrics before writing their lesson plans. Because their video is based on their lesson plans, reading the rubrics before they begin writing is key.
Gather equipment: Collect the video and audio equipment needed. Although a smartphone or laptop is adequate for recording, they may choose to use additional resources.
Practice: Practice recording the observation. Teaching in front of a camera can be nerve-wracking, but practicing will help candiates and their students look natural and confident. It’s also helpful to do a trial video to ensure that the video equipment is working properly.
Final Check: Remind candidates to confirm that the audio and picture of their video is clear before hitting the record button.

Edit and Transcribe

After recording, candidates should review their videos to make they’ve accomplished what they’ve set out to do.

Keep original footage: As they edit, never work with the original video—always make a copy and edit that file. This will protect their video from the dreaded “deleted file” incident.
Listen carefully: Remind candidates to listen to their video and note any portions where transcription may be needed for additional clarity. Add captions to segments that are not clearly audible.

Instruction Commentary

After completing the video portion, edTPA candidates are required to respond to a series of prompts. While the prompts are different for each subject, the objective is the same—the candidate must analyze their teaching.

Tell candidates to use their video submission to strengthen their argument and demonstrate their classroom management skills. To do this, they must utilize timestamps from the video to guarantee crystal-clear evidence.

By using timestamps, they can reference the exact second where a specific task was accomplished. Timestamps should be used in every response, and the evidence marked by timestamps should be elaborated on to make your argument stronger.

When responding to the prompts, instruct candidates to ask themselves, “Do I make the scorer’s job easy to identify the evidence and do I state the information clearly?” Candidates shouldn’t hold back from sharing information in their writing because it feels repetitive. They should feel like they’re repeating themselves in their responses because they’re providing evidence. Oh, and tell them to double-check they’ve addressed every part of the prompt.

Above all, tell candidates to not procrastinate! It takes time to obtain permission slips, create a lesson plan, record themselves, upload their video for review, and complete their commentary. Their experience with edTPA will likely be more enjoyable if it’s not delayed until the last minute.

edTPA task 2 doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following these tips, you can help candidates develop the confidence and skills they need to pass edTPA and take charge of the classroom. For more edTPA resources, download the Ultimate How-To Guide on edTPA Videos .

If you’re interested in more edTPA tips, check out 9 Simple Ways to Make edTPA Videos Less Daunting

Personalize Your GoReact Experience

EDTPA TASK 2 Physical Education

Word Document File

Also included in

Description

EDTPA TASK 2 Instruction Commentary Example

Questions & Answers

Tim's physical education visuals.

We're hiring
Help & FAQ
Privacy policy
Student privacy
Terms of service
Tell us what you think

Warning: The NCBI web site requires JavaScript to function. more...

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it's official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings
Browse Titles

NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment; Food and Nutrition Board; Institute of Medicine; Kohl HW III, Cook HD, editors. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2013 Oct 30.

Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School.

Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

4 Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education: Effects on Academic Performance

Key messages.

Evidence suggests that increasing physical activity and physical fitness may improve academic performance and that time in the school day dedicated to recess, physical education class, and physical activity in the classroom may also facilitate academic performance.
Available evidence suggests that mathematics and reading are the academic topics that are most influenced by physical activity. These topics depend on efficient and effective executive function, which has been linked to physical activity and physical fitness.
Executive function and brain health underlie academic performance. Basic cognitive functions related to attention and memory facilitate learning, and these functions are enhanced by physical activity and higher aerobic fitness.
Single sessions of and long-term participation in physical activity improve cognitive performance and brain health. Children who participate in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity benefit the most.
Given the importance of time on task to learning, students should be provided with frequent physical activity breaks that are developmentally appropriate.
Although presently understudied, physically active lessons offered in the classroom may increase time on task and attention to task in the classroom setting.

Although academic performance stems from a complex interaction between intellect and contextual variables, health is a vital moderating factor in a child's ability to learn. The idea that healthy children learn better is empirically supported and well accepted ( Basch, 2010 ), and multiple studies have confirmed that health benefits are associated with physical activity, including cardiovascular and muscular fitness, bone health, psychosocial outcomes, and cognitive and brain health ( Strong et al., 2005 ; see Chapter 3 ). The relationship of physical activity and physical fitness to cognitive and brain health and to academic performance is the subject of this chapter.

Given that the brain is responsible for both mental processes and physical actions of the human body, brain health is important across the life span. In adults, brain health, representing absence of disease and optimal structure and function, is measured in terms of quality of life and effective functioning in activities of daily living. In children, brain health can be measured in terms of successful development of attention, on-task behavior, memory, and academic performance in an educational setting. This chapter reviews the findings of recent research regarding the contribution of engagement in physical activity and the attainment of a health-enhancing level of physical fitness to cognitive and brain health in children. Correlational research examining the relationship among academic performance, physical fitness, and physical activity also is described. Because research in older adults has served as a model for understanding the effects of physical activity and fitness on the developing brain during childhood, the adult research is briefly discussed. The short- and long-term cognitive benefits of both a single session of and regular participation in physical activity are summarized.

Before outlining the health benefits of physical activity and fitness, it is important to note that many factors influence academic performance. Among these are socioeconomic status ( Sirin, 2005 ), parental involvement ( Fan and Chen, 2001 ), and a host of other demographic factors. A valuable predictor of student academic performance is a parent having clear expectations for the child's academic success. Attendance is another factor confirmed as having a significant impact on academic performance ( Stanca, 2006 ; Baxter et al., 2011 ). Because children must be present to learn the desired content, attendance should be measured in considering factors related to academic performance.

PHYSICAL FITNESS AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: RELATION TO ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

State-mandated academic achievement testing has had the unintended consequence of reducing opportunities for children to be physically active during the school day and beyond. In addition to a general shifting of time in school away from physical education to allow for more time on academic subjects, some children are withheld from physical education classes or recess to participate in remedial or enriched learning experiences designed to increase academic performance ( Pellegrini and Bohn, 2005 ; see Chapter 5 ). Yet little evidence supports the notion that more time allocated to subject matter will translate into better test scores. Indeed, 11 of 14 correlational studies of physical activity during the school day demonstrate a positive relationship to academic performance ( Rasberry et al., 2011 ). Overall, a rapidly growing body of work suggests that time spent engaged in physical activity is related not only to a healthier body but also to a healthier mind ( Hillman et al., 2008 ).

Children respond faster and with greater accuracy to a variety of cognitive tasks after participating in a session of physical activity ( Tomporowski, 2003 ; Budde et al., 2008 ; Hillman et al., 2009 ; Pesce et al., 2009 ; Ellemberg and St-Louis-Deschênes, 2010 ). A single bout of moderate-intensity physical activity has been found to increase neural and behavioral concomitants associated with the allocation of attention to a specific cognitive task ( Hillman et al., 2009 ; Pontifex et al., 2012 ). And when children who participated in 30 minutes of aerobic physical activity were compared with children who watched television for the same amount of time, the former children cognitively outperformed the latter ( Ellemberg and St-Louis-Desêhenes, 2010 ). Visual task switching data among 69 overweight and inactive children did not show differences between cognitive performance after treadmill walking and sitting ( Tomporowski et al., 2008b ).

When physical activity is used as a break from academic learning time, postengagement effects include better attention ( Grieco et al., 2009 ; Bartholomew and Jowers, 2011 ), increased on-task behaviors ( Mahar et al., 2006 ), and improved academic performance ( Donnelly and Lambourne, 2011 ). Comparisons between 1st-grade students housed in a classroom with stand-sit desks where the child could stand at his/her discretion and in classrooms containing traditional furniture showed that the former children were highly likely to stand, thus expending significantly more energy than those who were seated ( Benden et al., 2011 ). More important, teachers can offer physical activity breaks as part of a supplemental curriculum or simply as a way to reset student attention during a lesson ( Kibbe et al., 2011 ; see Chapter 6 ) and when provided with minimal training can efficaciously produce vigorous or moderate energy expenditure in students ( Stewart et al., 2004 ). Further, after-school physical activity programs have demonstrated the ability to improve cardiovascular endurance, and this increase in aerobic fitness has been shown to mediate improvements in academic performance ( Fredericks et al., 2006 ), as well as the allocation of neural resources underlying performance on a working memory task ( Kamijo et al., 2011 ).

Over the past three decades, several reviews and meta-analyses have described the relationship among physical fitness, physical activity, and cognition (broadly defined as all mental processes). The majority of these reviews have focused on the relationship between academic performance and physical fitness—a physiological trait commonly defined in terms of cardiorespiratory capacity (e.g., maximal oxygen consumption; see Chapter 3 ). More recently, reviews have attempted to describe the effects of an acute or single bout of physical activity, as a behavior, on academic performance. These reviews have focused on brain health in older adults ( Colcombe and Kramer, 2003 ), as well as the effects of acute physical activity on cognition in adults ( Tomporowski, 2003 ). Some have considered age as part of the analysis ( Etnier et al., 1997 , 2006 ). Reviews focusing on research conducted in children ( Sibley and Etnier, 2003 ) have examined the relationship among physical activity, participation in sports, and academic performance ( Trudeau and Shephard, 2008 , 2010 ; Singh et al., 2012 ); physical activity and mental and cognitive health ( Biddle and Asare, 2011 ); and physical activity, nutrition, and academic performance ( Burkhalter and Hillman, 2011 ). The findings of most of these reviews align with the conclusions presented in a meta-analytic review conducted by Fedewa and Ahn (2011) . The studies reviewed by Fedewa and Ahn include experimental/quasi-experimental as well as cross-sectional and correlational designs, with the experimental designs yielding the highest effect sizes. The strongest relationships were found between aerobic fitness and achievement in mathematics, followed by IQ and reading performance. The range of cognitive performance measures, participant characteristics, and types of research design all mediated the relationship among physical activity, fitness, and academic performance. With regard to physical activity interventions, which were carried out both within and beyond the school day, those involving small groups of peers (around 10 youth of a similar age) were associated with the greatest gains in academic performance.

The number of peer-reviewed publications on this topic is growing exponentially. Further evidence of the growth of this line of inquiry is its increased global presence. Positive relationships among physical activity, physical fitness, and academic performance have been found among students from the Netherlands ( Singh et al., 2012 ) and Taiwan ( Chih and Chen, 2011 ). Broadly speaking, however, many of these studies show small to moderate effects and suffer from poor research designs ( Biddle and Asare, 2011 ; Singh et al., 2012 ).

Basch (2010) conducted a comprehensive review of how children's health and health disparities influence academic performance and learning. The author's report draws on empirical evidence suggesting that education reform will be ineffective unless children's health is made a priority. Basch concludes that schools may be the only place where health inequities can be addressed and that, if children's basic health needs are not met, they will struggle to learn regardless of the effectiveness of the instructional materials used. More recently, Efrat (2011) conducted a review of physical activity, fitness, and academic performance to examine the achievement gap. He discovered that only seven studies had included socioeconomic status as a variable, despite its known relationship to education ( Sirin, 2005 ).

Physical Fitness as a Learning Outcome of Physical Education and Its Relation to Academic Performance

Achieving and maintaining a healthy level of aerobic fitness, as defined using criterion-referenced standards from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; Welk et al., 2011 ), is a desired learning outcome of physical education programming. Regular participation in physical activity also is a national learning standard for physical education, a standard intended to facilitate the establishment of habitual and meaningful engagement in physical activity ( NASPE, 2004 ). Yet although physical fitness and participation in physical activity are established as learning outcomes in all 50 states, there is little evidence to suggest that children actually achieve and maintain these standards (see Chapter 2 ).

Statewide and national datasets containing data on youth physical fitness and academic performance have increased access to student-level data on this subject ( Grissom, 2005 ; Cottrell et al., 2007 ; Carlson et al., 2008 ; Chomitz et al., 2008 ; Wittberg et al., 2010 ; Van Dusen et al., 2011 ). Early research in South Australia focused on quantifying the benefits of physical activity and physical education during the school day; the benefits noted included increased physical fitness, decreased body fat, and reduced risk for cardiovascular disease ( Dwyer et al., 1979 , 1983 ). Even today, Dwyer and colleagues are among the few scholars who regularly include in their research measures of physical activity intensity in the school environment, which is believed to be a key reason why they are able to report differentiated effects of different intensities. A longitudinal study in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada, tracked how the academic performance of children from grades 1 through 6 was related to student health, motor skills, and time spent in physical education. The researchers concluded that additional time dedicated to physical education did not inhibit academic performance ( Shephard et al., 1984 ; Shephard, 1986 ; Trudeau and Shephard, 2008 ).

Longitudinal follow-up investigating the long-term benefits of enhanced physical education experiences is encouraging but largely inconclusive. In a study examining the effects of daily physical education during elementary school on physical activity during adulthood, 720 men and women completed the Québec Health Survey ( Trudeau et al., 1999 ). Findings suggest that physical education was associated with physical activity in later life for females but not males ( Trudeau et al., 1999 ); most of the associations were significant but weak ( Trudeau et al., 2004 ). Adult body mass index (BMI) at age 34 was related to childhood BMI at ages 10-12 in females but not males ( Trudeau et al., 2001 ). Longitudinal studies such as those conducted in Sweden and Finland also suggest that physical education experiences may be related to adult engagement in physical activity ( Glenmark, 1994 ; Telama et al., 1997 ). From an academic performance perspective, longitudinal data on men who enlisted for military service imply that cardiovascular fitness at age 18 predicted cognitive performance in later life (Aberg et al., 2009), thereby supporting the idea of offering physical education and physical activity opportunities well into emerging adulthood through secondary and postsecondary education.

Castelli and colleagues (2007) investigated younger children (in 3rd and 5th grades) and the differential contributions of the various subcomponents of the Fitnessgram ® . Specifically, they examined the individual contributions of aerobic capacity, muscle strength, muscle flexibility, and body composition to performance in mathematics and reading on the Illinois Standardized Achievement Test among a sample of 259 children. Their findings corroborate those of the California Department of Education ( Grissom, 2005 ), indicating a general relationship between fitness and achievement test performance. When the individual components of the Fitnessgram were decomposed, the researchers determined that only aerobic capacity was related to test performance. Muscle strength and flexibility showed no relationship, while an inverse association of BMI with test performance was observed, such that higher BMI was associated with lower test performance. Although Baxter and colleagues (2011) confirmed the importance of attending school in relation to academic performance through the use of 4th-grade student recall, correlations with BMI were not significant.

State-mandated implementation of the coordinated school health model requires all schools in Texas to conduct annual fitness testing using the Fitnessgram among students in grades 3-12. In a special issue of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (2010), multiple articles describe the current state of physical fitness among children in Texas; confirm the associations among school performance levels, academic achievement, and physical fitness ( Welk et al., 2010 ; Zhu et al., 2010 ); and demonstrate the ability of qualified physical education teachers to administer physical fitness tests ( Zhu et al., 2010 ). Also using data from Texas schools, Van Dusen and colleagues (2011) found that cardiovascular fitness had the strongest association with academic performance, particularly in mathematics over reading. Unlike previous research, which demonstrated a steady decline in fitness by developmental stage ( Duncan et al., 2007 ), this study found that cardiovascular fitness did decrease but not significantly ( Van Dusen et al., 2011 ). Aerobic fitness, then, may be important to academic performance, as there may be a dose-response relationship ( Van Dusen et al., 2011 ).

Using a large sample of students in grades 4-8, Chomitz and colleagues (2008) found that the likelihood of passing both mathematics and English achievement tests increased with the number of fitness tests passed during physical education class, and the odds of passing the mathematics achievement tests were inversely related to higher body weight. Similar to the findings of Castelli and colleagues (2007) , socioeconomic status and demographic factors explained little of the relationship between aerobic fitness and academic performance; however, socioeconomic status may be an explanatory variable for students of low fitness ( London and Castrechini, 2011 ).

In sum, numerous cross-sectional and correlational studies demonstrate small-to-moderate positive or null associations between physical fitness ( Grissom, 2005 ; Cottrell et al., 2007 ; Edwards et al., 2009; Eveland-Sayers et al., 2009 ; Cooper et al., 2010 ; Welk et al., 2010 ; Wittberg et al., 2010 ; Zhu et al., 2010 ; Van Dusen et al., 2011 ), particularly aerobic fitness, and academic performance ( Castelli et al, 2007 ; Chomitz et al., 2008 ; Roberts et al., 2010 ; Welk et al., 2010 ; Chih and Chen, 2011 ; London and Castrechini, 2011 ; Van Dusen et al., 2011 ). Moreover, the findings may support a dose-response association, suggesting that the more components of physical fitness (e.g., cardiovascular endurance, strength, muscle endurance) considered acceptable for the specific age and gender that are present, the greater the likelihood of successful academic performance. From a public health and policy standpoint, the conclusions these findings support are limited by few causal inferences, a lack of data confirmation, and inadequate reliability because the data were often collected by nonresearchers or through self-report methods. It may also be noted that this research includes no known longitudinal studies and few randomized controlled trials (examples are included later in this chapter in the discussion of the developing brain).

Physical Activity, Physical Education, and Academic Performance

In contrast with the correlational data presented above for physical fitness, more information is needed on the direct effects of participation in physical activity programming and physical education classes on academic performance.

In a meta-analysis, Sibley and Etnier (2003) found a positive relationship between physical activity and cognition in school-age youth (aged 4-18), suggesting that physical activity, as well as physical fitness, may be related to cognitive outcomes during development. Participation in physical activity was related to cognitive performance in eight measurement categories (perceptual skills, IQ, achievement, verbal tests, mathematics tests, memory, developmental level/academic readiness, and “other”), with results indicating a beneficial relationship of physical activity to all cognitive outcomes except memory ( Sibley and Etnier, 2003 ). Since that meta-analysis, however, several papers have reported robust relationships between aerobic fitness and different aspects of memory in children (e.g., Chaddock et al., 2010a , 2011 ; Kamijo et al., 2011 ; Monti et al., 2012 ). Regardless, the comprehensive review of Sibley and Etnier (2003) was important because it helped bring attention to an emerging literature suggesting that physical activity may benefit cognitive development even as it also demonstrated the need for further study to better understand the multifaceted relationship between physical activity and cognitive and brain health.

The regular engagement in physical activity achieved during physical education programming can also be related to academic performance, especially when the class is taught by a physical education teacher. The Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids (SPARK) study examined the effects of a 2-year health-related physical education program on academic performance in children ( Sallis et al., 1999 ). In an experimental design, seven elementary schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a specialist condition in which certified physical education teachers delivered the SPARK curriculum, (2) a trained-teacher condition in which classroom teachers implemented the curriculum, and (3) a control condition in which classroom teachers implemented the local physical education curriculum. No significant differences by condition were found for mathematics testing; however, reading scores were significantly higher in the specialist condition relative to the control condition ( Sallis et al., 1999 ), while language scores were significantly lower in the specialist condition than in the other two conditions. The authors conclude that spending time in physical education with a specialist did not have a negative effect on academic performance. Shortcomings of this research include the amount of data loss from pre- to posttest, the use of results of 2nd-grade testing that exceeded the national average in performance as baseline data, and the use of norm-referenced rather than criterion-based testing.

In seminal research conducted by Gabbard and Barton (1979) , six different conditions of physical activity (no activity; 20, 30, 40, and 50 minutes; and posttest no activity) were completed by 106 2nd graders during physical education. Each physical activity session was followed by 5 minutes of rest and the completion of 36 math problems. The authors found a potential threshold effect whereby only the 50-minute condition improved mathematical performance, with no differences by gender.

A longitudinal study of the kindergarten class of 1998–1999, using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, investigated the association between enrollment in physical education and academic achievement ( Carlson et al., 2008 ). Higher amounts of physical education were correlated with better academic performance in mathematics among females, but this finding did not hold true for males.

Ahamed and colleagues (2007) found in a cluster randomized trial that, after 16 months of a classroom-based physical activity intervention, there was no significant difference between the treatment and control groups in performance on the standardized Cognitive Abilities Test, Third Edition (CAT-3). Others have found, however, that coordinative exercise ( Budde et al., 2008 ) or bouts of vigorous physical activity during free time ( Coe et al., 2006 ) contribute to higher levels of academic performance. Specifically, Coe and colleagues examined the association of enrollment in physical education and self-reported vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity outside school with performance in core academic courses and on the Terra Nova Standardized Achievement Test among more than 200 6th-grade students. Their findings indicate that academic performance was unaffected by enrollment in physical education classes, which were found to average only 19 minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity. When time spent engaged in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity outside of school was considered, however, a significant positive relation to academic performance emerged, with more time engaged in vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity being related to better grades but not test scores ( Coe et al., 2006 ).

Studies of participation in sports and academic achievement have found positive associations ( Mechanic and Hansell, 1987 ; Dexter, 1999 ; Crosnoe, 2002 ; Eitle and Eitle, 2002 ; Stephens and Schaben, 2002 ; Eitle, 2005 ; Miller et al., 2005 ; Fox et al., 2010 ; Ruiz et al., 2010 ); higher grade point averages (GPAs) in season than out of season ( Silliker and Quirk, 1997 ); a negative association between cheerleading and science performance ( Hanson and Kraus, 1998 ); and weak and negative associations between the amount of time spent participating in sports and performance in English-language class among 13-, 14-, and 16-year-old students ( Daley and Ryan, 2000 ). Other studies, however, have found no association between participation in sports and academic performance ( Fisher et al., 1996 ). The findings of these studies need to be interpreted with caution as many of their designs failed to account for the level of participation by individuals in the sport (e.g., amount of playing time, type and intensity of physical activity engagement by sport). Further, it is unclear whether policies required students to have higher GPAs to be eligible for participation. Offering sports opportunities is well justified regardless of the cognitive benefits, however, given that adolescents may be less likely to engage in risky behaviors when involved in sports or other extracurricular activities ( Page et al., 1998 ; Elder et al., 2000 ; Taliaferro et al., 2010 ), that participation in sports increases physical fitness, and that affiliation with sports enhances school connectedness.

Although a consensus on the relationship of physical activity to academic achievement has not been reached, the vast majority of available evidence suggests the relationship is either positive or neutral. The meta-analytic review by Fedewa and Ahn (2011) suggests that interventions entailing aerobic physical activity have the greatest impact on academic performance; however, all types of physical activity, except those involving flexibility alone, contribute to enhanced academic performance, as do interventions that use small groups (about 10 students) rather than individuals or large groups. Regardless of the strength of the findings, the literature indicates that time spent engaged in physical activity is beneficial to children because it has not been found to detract from academic performance, and in fact can improve overall health and function ( Sallis et al., 1999 ; Hillman et al., 2008 ; Tomporowski et al., 2008a ; Trudeau and Shephard, 2008 ; Rasberry et al., 2011 ).

Single Bouts of Physical Activity

Beyond formal physical education, evidence suggests that multi-component approaches are a viable means of providing physical activity opportunities for children across the school curriculum (see also Chapter 6 ). Although health-related fitness lessons taught by certified physical education teachers result in greater student fitness gains relative to such lessons taught by other teachers ( Sallis et al., 1999 ), non-physical education teachers are capable of providing opportunities to be physically active within the classroom ( Kibbe et al., 2011 ). Single sessions or bouts of physical activity have independent merit, offering immediate benefits that can enhance the learning experience. Studies have found that single bouts of physical activity result in improved attention ( Hillman et al., 2003 , 2009 ; Pontifex et al., 2012 ), better working memory ( Pontifex et al., 2009 ), and increased academic learning time and reduced off-task behaviors ( Mahar et al., 2006 ; Bartholomew and Jowers, 2011 ). Yet single bouts of physical activity have differential effects, as very vigorous exercise has been associated with cognitive fatigue and even cognitive decline in adults ( Tomporowski, 2003 ). As seen in Figure 4-1 , high levels of effort, arousal, or activation can influence perception, decision making, response preparation, and actual response. For discussion of the underlying constructs and differential effects of single bouts of physical activity on cognitive performance, see Tomporowski (2003) .

Information processing: Diagram of a simplified version of Sanders's (1983) cognitive-energetic model of human information processing (adapted from Jones and Hardy, 1989). SOURCE: Tomporowski, 2003. Reprinted with permission.

For children, classrooms are busy places where they must distinguish relevant information from distractions that emerge from many different sources occurring simultaneously. A student must listen to the teacher, adhere to classroom procedures, focus on a specific task, hold and retain information, and make connections between novel information and previous experiences. Hillman and colleagues (2009) demonstrated that a single bout of moderate-intensity walking (60 percent of maximum heart rate) resulted in significant improvements in performance on a task requiring attentional inhibition (e.g., the ability to focus on a single task). These findings were accompanied by changes in neuroelectric measures underlying the allocation of attention (see Figure 4-2 ) and significant improvements on the reading subtest of the Wide Range Achievement Test. No such effects were observed following a similar duration of quiet rest. These findings were later replicated and extended to demonstrate benefits for both mathematics and reading performance in healthy children and those diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( Pontifex et al., 2013 ). Further replications of these findings demonstrated that a single bout of moderate-intensity exercise using a treadmill improved performance on a task of attention and inhibition, but similar benefits were not derived from moderate-intensity exercise that involved exergaming ( O'Leary et al., 2011 ). It was also found that such benefits were derived following cessation of, but not during, the bout of exercise ( Drollette et al., 2012 ). The applications of such empirical findings within the school setting remain unclear.

Effects of a single session of exercise in preadolescent children. SOURCE: Hillman et al., 2009. Reprinted with permission.

A randomized controlled trial entitled Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC) used cluster randomization among 24 schools to examine the effects of physically active classroom lessons on BMI and academic achievement ( Donnelly et al., 2009 ). The academically oriented physical activities were intended to be of vigorous or moderate intensity (3–6 metabolic equivalents [METs]) and to last approximately 10 minutes and were specifically designed to supplement content in mathematics, language arts, geography, history, spelling, science, and health. The study followed 665 boys and 677 girls for 3 years as they rose from 2nd or 3rd to 4th or 5th grades. Changes in academic achievement, fitness, and blood screening were considered secondary outcomes. During a 3-year period, students who engaged in physically active lessons, on average, improved their academic achievement by 6 percent, while the control groups exhibited a 1 percent decrease. In students who experienced at least 75 minutes of PAAC lessons per week, BMI remained stable (see Figure 4-3 ).

Change in academic scores from baseline after physically active classroom lessons in elementary schools in northeast Kansas (2003–2006). NOTE: All differences between the Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC) group ( N = 117) and control (more...)

It is important to note that cognitive tasks completed before, during, and after physical activity show varying effects, but the effects were always positive compared with sedentary behavior. In a study carried out by Drollette and colleagues (2012) , 36 preadolescent children completed two cognitive tasks—a flanker task to assess attention and inhibition and a spatial nback task to assess working memory—before, during, and after seated rest and treadmill walking conditions. The children sat or walked on different days for an average of 19 minutes. The results suggest that the physical activity enhanced cognitive performance for the attention task but not for the task requiring working memory. Accordingly, although more research is needed, the authors suggest that the acute effects of exercise may be selective to certain cognitive processes (i.e., attentional inhibition) while unrelated to others (e.g., working memory). Indeed, data collected using a task-switching paradigm (i.e., a task designed to assess multitasking and requiring the scheduling of attention to multiple aspects of the environment) among 69 overweight and inactive children did not show differences in cognitive performance following acute bouts of treadmill walking or sitting ( Tomporowski et al., 2008b ). Thus, findings to date indicate a robust relationship of acute exercise to transient improvements in attention but appear inconsistent for other aspects of cognition.

Academic Learning Time and On- and Off-Task Behaviors

Excessive time on task, inattention to task, off-task behavior, and delinquency are important considerations in the learning environment given the importance of academic learning time to academic performance. These behaviors are observable and of concern to teachers as they detract from the learning environment. Systematic observation by trained observers may yield important insight regarding the effects of short physical activity breaks on these behaviors. Indeed, systematic observations of student behavior have been used as an alternative means of measuring academic performance ( Mahar et al., 2006 ; Grieco et al., 2009 ).

After the development of classroom-based physical activities, called Energizers, teachers were trained in how to implement such activities in their lessons at least twice per week ( Mahar et al., 2006 ). Measurements of baseline physical activity and on-task behaviors were collected in two 3rd-grade and two 4th-grade classes, using pedometers and direct observation. The intervention included 243 students, while 108 served as controls by not engaging in the activities. A subgroup of 62 3rd and 4th graders was observed for on-task behavior in the classroom following the physical activity. Children who participated in Energizers took more steps during the school day than those who did not; they also increased their on-task behaviors by more than 20 percent over baseline measures.

A systematic review of a similar in-class, academically oriented, physical activity plan—Take 10!—was conducted to identify the effects of its implementation after it had been in use for 10 years ( Kibbe et al., 2011 ). The findings suggest that children who experienced Take 10! in the classroom engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity (6.16 to 6.42 METs) and had lower BMIs than those who did not. Further, children in the Take 10! classrooms had better fluid intelligence ( Reed et al., 2010 ) and higher academic achievement scores ( Donnelly et al., 2009 ).

Some have expressed concern that introducing physical activity into the classroom setting may be distracting to students. Yet in one study it was sedentary students who demonstrated a decrease in time on task, while active students returned to the same level of on-task behavior after an active learning task ( Grieco et al., 2009 ). Among the 97 3rd-grade students in this study, a small but nonsignificant increase in on-task behaviors was seen immediately following these active lessons. Additionally, these improvements were not mediated by BMI.

In sum, although presently understudied, physically active lessons may increase time on task and attention to task in the classroom setting. Given the complexity of the typical classroom, the strategy of including content-specific lessons that incorporate physical activity may be justified.

It is recommended that every child have 20 minutes of recess each day and that this time be outdoors whenever possible, in a safe activity ( NASPE, 2006 ). Consistent engagement in recess can help students refine social skills, learn social mediation skills surrounding fair play, obtain additional minutes of vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity that contribute toward the recommend 60 minutes or more per day, and have an opportunity to express their imagination through free play ( Pellegrini and Bohn, 2005 ; see also Chapter 6 ). When children participate in recess before lunch, additional benefits accrue, such as less food waste, increased incidence of appropriate behavior in the cafeteria during lunch, and greater student readiness to learn upon returning to the classroom after lunch ( Getlinger et al., 1996 ; Wechsler et al., 2001 ).

To examine the effects of engagement in physical activity during recess on classroom behavior, Barros and colleagues (2009) examined data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study on 10,000 8- to 9-year-old children. Teachers provided the number of minutes of recess as well as a ranking of classroom behavior (ranging from “misbehaves frequently” to “behaves exceptionally well”). Results indicate that children who had at least 15 minutes of recess were more likely to exhibit appropriate behavior in the classroom ( Barros et al., 2009 ). In another study, 43 4th-grade students were randomly assigned to 1 or no days of recess to examine the effects on classroom behavior ( Jarrett et al., 1998 ). The researchers concluded that on-task behavior was better among the children who had recess. A moderate effect size (= 0.51) was observed. In a series of studies examining kindergartners' attention to task following a 20-minute recess, increased time on task was observed during learning centers and story reading ( Pellegrini et al., 1995 ). Despite these positive findings centered on improved attention, it is important to note that few of these studies actually measured the intensity of the physical activity during recess.

From a slightly different perspective, survey data from 547 Virginia elementary school principals suggest that time dedicated to student participation in physical education, art, and music did not negatively influence academic performance ( Wilkins et al., 2003 ). Thus, the strategy of reducing time spent in physical education to increase academic performance may not have the desired effect. The evidence on in-school physical activity supports the provision of physical activity breaks during the school day as a way to increase fluid intelligence, time on task, and attention. However, it remains unclear what portion of these effects can be attributed to a break from academic time and what portion is a direct result of the specific demands/characteristics of the physical activity.

THE DEVELOPING bRAIN, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND BRAIN HEALTH

The study of brain health has grown beyond simply measuring behavioral outcomes such as task performance and reaction time (e.g., cognitive processing speed). New technology has emerged that has allowed scientists to understand the impact of lifestyle factors on the brain from the body systems level down to the molecular level. A greater understanding of the cognitive components that subserve academic performance and may be amenable to intervention has thereby been gained. Research conducted in both laboratory and field settings has helped define this line of inquiry and identify some preliminary underlying mechanisms.

The Evidence Base on the Relationship of Physical Activity to Brain Health and Cognition in Older Adults

Despite the current focus on the relationship of physical activity to cognitive development, the evidence base is larger on the association of physical activity with brain health and cognition during aging. Much can be learned about how physical activity affects childhood cognition and scholastic achievement through this work. Despite earlier investigations into the relationship of physical activity to cognitive aging (see Etnier et al., 1997 , for a review), the field was shaped by the findings of Kramer and colleagues (1999) , who examined the effects of aerobic fitness training on older adults using a randomized controlled design. Specifically, 124 older adults aged 60 and 75 were randomly assigned to a 6-month intervention of either walking (i.e., aerobic training) or flexibility (i.e., nonaerobic) training. The walking group but not the flexibility group showed improved cognitive performance, measured as a shorter response time to the presented stimulus. Results from a series of tasks that tapped different aspects of cognitive control indicated that engagement in physical activity is a beneficial means of combating cognitive aging ( Kramer et al., 1999 ).

Cognitive control, or executive control, is involved in the selection, scheduling, and coordination of computational processes underlying perception, memory, and goal-directed action. These processes allow for the optimization of behavioral interactions within the environment through flexible modulation of the ability to control attention ( MacDonald et al., 2000 ; Botvinick et al., 2001 ). Core cognitive processes that make up cognitive control or executive control include inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility ( Diamond, 2006 ), processes mediated by networks that involve the prefrontal cortex. Inhibition (or inhibitory control) refers to the ability to override a strong internal or external pull so as to act appropriately within the demands imposed by the environment ( Davidson et al., 2006 ). For example, one exerts inhibitory control when one stops speaking when the teacher begins lecturing. Working memory refers to the ability to represent information mentally, manipulate stored information, and act on the information ( Davidson et al., 2006 ). In solving a difficult mathematical problem, for example, one must often remember the remainder. Finally, cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to switch perspectives, focus attention, and adapt behavior quickly and flexibly for the purposes of goal-directed action ( Blair et al., 2005 ; Davidson et al., 2006 ; Diamond, 2006 ). For example, one must shift attention from the teacher who is teaching a lesson to one's notes to write down information for later study.

Based on their earlier findings on changes in cognitive control induced by aerobic training, Colcombe and Kramer (2003) conducted a meta-analysis to examine the relationship between aerobic training and cognition in older adults aged 55-80 using data from 18 randomized controlled exercise interventions. Their findings suggest that aerobic training is associated with general cognitive benefits that are selectively and disproportionately greater for tasks or task components requiring greater amounts of cognitive control. A second and more recent meta-analysis ( Smith et al., 2010 ) corroborates the findings of Colcombe and Kramer, indicating that aerobic exercise is related to attention, processing speed, memory, and cognitive control; however, it should be noted that smaller effect sizes were observed, likely a result of the studies included in the respective meta-analyses. In older adults, then, aerobic training selectively improves cognition.

Hillman and colleagues (2006) examined the relationship between physical activity and inhibition (one aspect of cognitive control) using a computer-based stimulus-response protocol in 241 individuals aged 15-71. Their results indicate that greater amounts of physical activity are related to decreased response speed across task conditions requiring variable amounts of inhibition, suggesting a generalized relationship between physical activity and response speed. In addition, the authors found physical activity to be related to better accuracy across conditions in older adults, while no such relationship was observed for younger adults. Of interest, this relationship was disproportionately larger for the condition requiring greater amounts of inhibition in the older adults, suggesting that physical activity has both a general and selective association with task performance ( Hillman et al., 2006 ).

With advances in neuroimaging techniques, understanding of the effects of physical activity and aerobic fitness on brain structure and function has advanced rapidly over the past decade. In particular, a series of studies ( Colcombe et al., 2003 , 2004 , 2006 ; Kramer and Erickson, 2007 ; Hillman et al., 2008 ) of older individuals has been conducted to elucidate the relation of aerobic fitness to the brain and cognition. Normal aging results in the loss of brain tissue ( Colcombe et al., 2003 ), with markedly larger loss evidenced in the frontal, temporal, and parietal regions ( Raz, 2000 ). Thus cognitive functions subserved by these brain regions (such as those involved in cognitive control and aspects of memory) are expected to decay more dramatically than other aspects of cognition.

Colcombe and colleagues (2003) investigated the relationship of aerobic fitness to gray and white matter tissue loss using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 55 healthy older adults aged 55-79. They observed robust age-related decreases in tissue density in the frontal, temporal, and parietal regions using voxel-based morphometry, a technique used to assess brain volume. Reductions in the amount of tissue loss in these regions were observed as a function of fitness. Given that the brain structures most affected by aging also demonstrated the greatest fitness-related sparing, these initial findings provide a biological basis for fitness-related benefits to brain health during aging.

In a second study, Colcombe and colleagues (2006) examined the effects of aerobic fitness training on brain structure using a randomized controlled design with 59 sedentary healthy adults aged 60-79. The treatment group received a 6-month aerobic exercise (i.e., walking) intervention, while the control group received a stretching and toning intervention that did not include aerobic exercise. Results indicated that gray and white matter brain volume increased for those who received the aerobic fitness training intervention. No such results were observed for those assigned to the stretching and toning group. Specifically, those assigned to the aerobic training intervention demonstrated increased gray matter in the frontal lobes, including the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, the supplementary motor area, the middle frontal gyrus, the dorsolateral region of the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the left superior temporal lobe. White matter volume changes also were evidenced following the aerobic fitness intervention, with increases in white matter tracts being observed within the anterior third of the corpus callosum. These brain regions are important for cognition, as they have been implicated in the cognitive control of attention and memory processes. These findings suggest that aerobic training not only spares age-related loss of brain structures but also may in fact enhance the structural health of specific brain regions.

In addition to the structural changes noted above, research has investigated the relationship between aerobic fitness and changes in brain function. That is, aerobic fitness training has also been observed to induce changes in patterns of functional activation. Functional MRI (fMRI) measures, which make it possible to image activity in the brain while an individual is performing a cognitive task, have revealed that aerobic training induces changes in patterns of functional activation. This approach involves inferring changes in neuronal activity from alteration in blood flow or metabolic activity in the brain. In a seminal paper, Colcombe and colleagues (2004) examined the relationship of aerobic fitness to brain function and cognition across two studies with older adults. In the first study, 41 older adult participants (mean age ~66) were divided into higher- and lower-fit groups based on their performance on a maximal exercise test. In the second study, 29 participants (aged 58-77) were recruited and randomly assigned to either a fitness training (i.e., walking) or control (i.e., stretching and toning) intervention. In both studies, participants were given a task requiring variable amounts of attention and inhibition. Results indicated that fitness (study 1) and fitness training (study 2) were related to greater activation in the middle frontal gyrus and superior parietal cortex; these regions of the brain are involved in attentional control and inhibitory functioning, processes entailed in the regulation of attention and action. These changes in neural activation were related to significant improvements in performance on the cognitive control task of attention and inhibition.

Taken together, the findings across studies suggest that an increase in aerobic fitness, derived from physical activity, is related to improvements in the integrity of brain structure and function and may underlie improvements in cognition across tasks requiring cognitive control. Although developmental differences exist, the general paradigm of this research can be applied to early stages of the life span, and some early attempts to do so have been made, as described below. Given the focus of this chapter on childhood cognition, it should be noted that this section has provided only a brief and arguably narrow look at the research on physical activity and cognitive aging. Considerable work has detailed the relationship of physical activity to other aspects of adult cognition using behavioral and neuroimaging tools (e.g., Boecker, 2011 ). The interested reader is referred to a number of review papers and meta-analyses describing the relationship of physical activity to various aspects of cognitive and brain health ( Etnier et al., 1997 ; Colcombe and Kramer, 2003 ; Tomporowski, 2003 ; Thomas et al., 2012 ).

Child Development, Brain Structure, and Function

Certain aspects of development have been linked with experience, indicating an intricate interplay between genetic programming and environmental influences. Gray matter, and the organization of synaptic connections in particular, appears to be at least partially dependent on experience (NRC/IOM, 2000; Taylor, 2006 ), with the brain exhibiting a remarkable ability to reorganize itself in response to input from sensory systems, other cortical systems, or insult ( Huttenlocher and Dabholkar, 1997 ). During typical development, experience shapes the pruning process through the strengthening of neural networks that support relevant thoughts and actions and the elimination of unnecessary or redundant connections. Accordingly, the brain responds to experience in an adaptive or “plastic” manner, resulting in the efficient and effective adoption of thoughts, skills, and actions relevant to one's interactions within one's environmental surroundings. Examples of neural plasticity in response to unique environmental interaction have been demonstrated in human neuroimaging studies of participation in music ( Elbert et al., 1995 ; Chan et al., 1998 ; Münte et al., 2001 ) and sports ( Hatfield and Hillman, 2001 ; Aglioti et al., 2008 ), thus supporting the educational practice of providing music education and opportunities for physical activity to children.

Effects of Regular Engagement in Physical Activity and Physical Fitness on Brain Structure

Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have rapidly advanced understanding of the role physical activity and aerobic fitness may have in brain structure. In children a growing body of correlational research suggests differential brain structure related to aerobic fitness. Chaddock and colleagues (2010a , b ) showed a relationship among aerobic fitness, brain volume, and aspects of cognition and memory. Specifically, Chaddock and colleagues (2010a) assigned 9- to 10-year-old preadolescent children to lower- and higher-fitness groups as a function of their scores on a maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2 max) test, which is considered the gold-standard measure of aerobic fitness. They observed larger bilateral hippocampal volume in higher-fit children using MRI, as well as better performance on a task of relational memory. It is important to note that relational memory has been shown to be mediated by the hippocampus ( Cohen and Eichenbaum, 1993 ; Cohen et al., 1999 ). Further, no differences emerged for a task condition requiring item memory, which is supported by structures outside the hippocampus, suggesting selectivity among the aspects of memory that benefit from higher amounts of fitness. Lastly, hippocampal volume was positively related to performance on the relational memory task but not the item memory task, and bilateral hippocampal volume was observed to mediate the relationship between fitness and relational memory ( Chaddock et al., 2010a ). Such findings are consistent with behavioral measures of relational memory in children ( Chaddock et al., 2011 ) and neuroimaging findings in older adults ( Erickson et al., 2009 , 2011 ) and support the robust nonhuman animal literature demonstrating the effects of exercise on cell proliferation ( Van Praag et al., 1999 ) and survival ( Neeper et al., 1995 ) in the hippocampus.

In a second investigation ( Chaddock et al., 2010b ), higher- and lower-fit children (aged 9-10) underwent an MRI to determine whether structural differences might be found that relate to performance on a cognitive control task that taps attention and inhibition. The authors observed differential findings in the basal ganglia, a subcortical structure involved in the interplay of cognition and willed action. Specifically, higher-fit children exhibited greater volume in the dorsal striatum (i.e., caudate nucleus, putamen, globus pallidus) relative to lower-fit children, while no differences were observed in the ventral striatum. Such findings are not surprising given the role of the dorsal striatum in cognitive control and response resolution ( Casey et al., 2008 ; Aron et al., 2009 ), as well as the growing body of research in children and adults indicating that higher levels of fitness are associated with better control of attention, memory, and cognition ( Colcombe and Kramer, 2003 ; Hillman et al., 2008 ; Chang and Etnier, 2009 ). Chaddock and colleagues (2010b) further observed that higher-fit children exhibited increased inhibitory control and response resolution and that higher basal ganglia volume was related to better task performance. These findings indicate that the dorsal striatum is involved in these aspects of higher-order cognition and that fitness may influence cognitive control during preadolescent development. It should be noted that both studies described above were correlational in nature, leaving open the possibility that other factors related to fitness and/or the maturation of subcortical structures may account for the observed group differences.

Effects of Regular Engagement in Physical Activity and Physical Fitness on Brain Function

Other research has attempted to characterize fitness-related differences in brain function using fMRI and event-related brain potentials (ERPs), which are neuroelectric indices of functional brain activation in the electro-encephalographic time series. To date, few randomized controlled interventions have been conducted. Notably, Davis and colleagues (2011) conducted one such intervention lasting approximately 14 weeks that randomized 20 sedentary overweight preadolescent children into an after-school physical activity intervention or a nonactivity control group. The fMRI data collected during an antisaccade task, which requires inhibitory control, indicated increased bilateral activation of the prefrontal cortex and decreased bilateral activation of the posterior parietal cortex following the physical activity intervention relative to the control group. Such findings illustrate some of the neural substrates influenced by participation in physical activity. Two additional correlational studies ( Voss et al., 2011 ; Chaddock et al., 2012 ) compared higher- and lower-fit preadolescent children and found differential brain activation and superior task performance as a function of fitness. That is, Chaddock and colleagues (2012) observed increased activation in prefrontal and parietal brain regions during early task blocks and decreased activation during later task blocks in higher-fit relative to lower-fit children. Given that higher-fit children outperformed lower-fit children on the aspects of the task requiring the greatest amount of cognitive control, the authors reason that the higher-fit children were more capable of adapting neural activity to meet the demands imposed by tasks that tapped higher-order cognitive processes such as inhibition and goal maintenance. Voss and colleagues (2011) used a similar task to vary cognitive control requirements and found that higher-fit children outperformed their lower-fit counterparts and that such differences became more pronounced during task conditions requiring the upregulation of control. Further, several differences emerged across various brain regions that together make up the network associated with cognitive control. Collectively, these differences suggest that higher-fit children are more efficient in the allocation of resources in support of cognitive control operations.

Other imaging research has examined the neuroelectric system (i.e., ERPs) to investigate which cognitive processes occurring between stimulus engagement and response execution are influenced by fitness. Several studies ( Hillman et al., 2005 , 2009 ; Pontifex et al., 2011 ) have examined the P3 component of the stimulus-locked ERP and demonstrated that higher-fit children have larger-amplitude and shorter-latency ERPs relative to their lower-fit peers. Classical theory suggests that P3 relates to neuronal activity associated with revision of the mental representation of the previous event within the stimulus environment ( Donchin, 1981 ). P3 amplitude reflects the allocation of attentional resources when working memory is updated ( Donchin and Coles, 1988 ) such that P3 is sensitive to the amount of attentional resources allocated to a stimulus ( Polich, 1997 ; Polich and Heine, 2007 ). P3 latency generally is considered to represent stimulus evaluation and classification speed ( Kutas et al., 1977 ; Duncan-Johnson, 1981 ) and thus may be considered a measure of stimulus detection and evaluation time ( Magliero et al., 1984 ; Ila and Polich, 1999 ). Therefore the above findings suggest that higher-fit children allocate greater attentional resources and have faster cognitive processing speed relative to lower-fit children ( Hillman et al., 2005 , 2009 ), with additional research suggesting that higher-fit children also exhibit greater flexibility in the allocation of attentional resources, as indexed by greater modulation of P3 amplitude across tasks that vary in the amount of cognitive control required ( Pontifex et al., 2011 ). Given that higher-fit children also demonstrate better performance on cognitive control tasks, the P3 component appears to reflect the effectiveness of a subset of cognitive systems that support willed action ( Hillman et al., 2009 ; Pontifex et al., 2011 ).

Two ERP studies ( Hillman et al., 2009 ; Pontifex et al., 2011 ) have focused on aspects of cognition involved in action monitoring. That is, the error-related negativity (ERN) component was investigated in higher- and lower-fit children to determine whether differences in evaluation and regulation of cognitive control operations were influenced by fitness level. The ERN component is observed in response-locked ERP averages. It is often elicited by errors of commission during task performance and is believed to represent either the detection of errors during task performance ( Gehring et al., 1993 ; Holroyd and Coles, 2002 ) or more generally the detection of response conflict ( Botvinick et al., 2001 ; Yeung et al., 2004 ), which may be engendered by errors in response production. Several studies have reported that higher-fit children exhibit smaller ERN amplitude during rapid-response tasks (i.e., instructions emphasizing speed of responding; Hillman et al., 2009 ) and more flexibility in the allocation of these resources during tasks entailing variable cognitive control demands, as evidenced by changes in ERN amplitude for higher-fit children and no modulation of ERN in lower-fit children ( Pontifex et al., 2011 ). Collectively, this pattern of results suggests that children with lower levels of fitness allocate fewer attentional resources during stimulus engagement (P3 amplitude) and exhibit slower cognitive processing speed (P3 latency) but increased activation of neural resources involved in the monitoring of their actions (ERN amplitude). Alternatively, higher-fit children allocate greater resources to environmental stimuli and demonstrate less reliance on action monitoring (increasing resource allocation only to meet the demands of the task). Under more demanding task conditions, the strategy of lower-fit children appears to fail since they perform more poorly under conditions requiring the upregulation of cognitive control.

Finally, only one randomized controlled trial published to date has used ERPs to assess neurocognitive function in children. Kamijo and colleagues (2011) studied performance on a working memory task before and after a 9-month physical activity intervention compared with a wait-list control group. They observed better performance following the physical activity intervention during task conditions that required the upregulation of working memory relative to the task condition requiring lesser amounts of working memory. Further, increased activation of the contingent negative variation (CNV), an ERP component reflecting cognitive and motor preparation, was observed at posttest over frontal scalp sites in the physical activity intervention group. No differences in performance or brain activation were noted for the wait-list control group. These findings suggest an increase in cognitive preparation processes in support of a more effective working memory network resulting from prolonged participation in physical activity. For children in a school setting, regular participation in physical activity as part of an after-school program is particularly beneficial for tasks that require the use of working memory.

Adiposity and Risk for Metabolic Syndrome as It Relates to Cognitive Health

A related and emerging literature that has recently been popularized investigates the relationship of adiposity to cognitive and brain health and academic performance. Several reports ( Datar et al., 2004 ; Datar and Sturm, 2006 ; Judge and Jahns, 2007 ; Gable et al., 2012 ) on this relationship are based on large-scale datasets derived from the Early Child Longitudinal Study. Further, nonhuman animal research has been used to elucidate the relationships between health indices and cognitive and brain health (see Figure 4-4 for an overview of these relationships). Collectively, these studies observed poorer future academic performance among children who entered school overweight or moved from a healthy weight to overweight during the course of development. Corroborating evidence for a negative relationship between adiposity and academic performance may be found in smaller but more tightly controlled studies. As noted above, Castelli and colleagues (2007) observed poorer performance on the mathematics and reading portions of the Illinois Standardized Achievement Test in 3rd- and 5th-grade students as a function of higher BMI, and Donnelly and colleagues (2009) used a cluster randomized trial to demonstrate that physical activity in the classroom decreased BMI and improved academic achievement among pre-adolescent children.

Relationships between health indices and cognitive and brain health. NOTE: AD = Alzheimer's disease; PD = Parkinson's disease. SOURCE: Cotman et al., 2007. Reprinted with permission.

Recently published reports describe the relationship between adiposity and cognitive and brain health to advance understanding of the basic cognitive processes and neural substrates that may underlie the adiposity-achievement relationship. Bolstered by findings in adult populations (e.g., Debette et al., 2010 ; Raji et al., 2010 ; Carnell et al., 2011 ), researchers have begun to publish data on preadolescent populations indicating differences in brain function and cognitive performance related to adiposity (however, see Gunstad et al., 2008 , for an instance in which adiposity was unrelated to cognitive outcomes). Specifically, Kamijo and colleagues (2012a) examined the relationship of weight status to cognitive control and academic achievement in 126 children aged 7-9. The children completed a battery of cognitive control tasks, and their body composition was assessed using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). The authors found that higher BMI and greater amounts of fat mass (particularly in the midsection) were related to poorer performance on cognitive control tasks involving inhibition, as well as lower academic achievement. In follow-up studies, Kamijo and colleagues (2012b) investigated whether neural markers of the relationship between adiposity and cognition may be found through examination of ERP data. These studies compared healthy-weight and obese children and found a differential distribution of the P3 potential (i.e., less frontally distributed) and larger N2 amplitude, as well as smaller ERN magnitude, in obese children during task conditions that required greater amounts of inhibitory control ( Kamijo et al., 2012c ). Taken together, the above results suggest that obesity is associated with less effective neural processes during stimulus capture and response execution. As a result, obese children perform tasks more slowly ( Kamijo et al., 2012a ) and are less accurate ( Kamijo et al., 2012b , c ) in response to tasks requiring variable amounts of cognitive control. Although these data are correlational, they provide a basis for further study using other neuroimaging tools (e.g., MRI, fMRI), as well as a rationale for the design and implementation of randomized controlled studies that would allow for causal interpretation of the relationship of adiposity to cognitive and brain health. The next decade should provide a great deal of information on this relationship.

LIMITATIONS

Despite the promising findings described in this chapter, it should be noted that the study of the relationship of childhood physical activity, aerobic fitness, and adiposity to cognitive and brain health and academic performance is in its early stages. Accordingly, most studies have used designs that afford correlation rather than causation. To date, in fact, only two randomized controlled trials ( Davis et al., 2011 ; Kamijo et al., 2011 ) on this relationship have been published. However, several others are currently ongoing, and it was necessary to provide evidence through correlational studies before investing the effort, time, and funding required for more demanding causal studies. Given that the evidence base in this area has grown exponentially in the past 10 years through correlational studies and that causal evidence has accumulated through adult and nonhuman animal studies, the next step will be to increase the amount of causal evidence available on school-age children.

Accomplishing this will require further consideration of demographic factors that may moderate the physical activity–cognition relationship. For instance, socioeconomic status has a unique relationship with physical activity ( Estabrooks et al., 2003 ) and cognitive control ( Mezzacappa, 2004 ). Although many studies have attempted to control for socioeconomic status (see Hillman et al., 2009 ; Kamijo et al., 2011 , 2012a , b , c ; Pontifex et al., 2011 ), further inquiry into its relationship with physical activity, adiposity, and cognition is warranted to determine whether it may serve as a potential mediator or moderator for the observed relationships. A second demographic factor that warrants further consideration is gender. Most authors have failed to describe gender differences when reporting on the physical activity–cognition literature. However, studies of adiposity and cognition have suggested that such a relationship may exist (see Datar and Sturm, 2006 ). Additionally, further consideration of age is warranted. Most studies have examined a relatively narrow age range, consisting of a few years. Such an approach often is necessary because of maturation and the need to develop comprehensive assessment tools that suit the various stages of development. However, this approach has yielded little understanding of how the physical activity–cognition relationship may change throughout the course of maturation.

Finally, although a number of studies have described the relationship of physical activity, fitness, and adiposity to standardized measures of academic performance, few attempts have been made to observe the relationship within the context of the educational environment. Standardized tests, although necessary to gauge knowledge, may not be the most sensitive measures for (the process of) learning. Future research will need to do a better job of translating promising laboratory findings to the real world to determine the value of this relationship in ecologically valid settings.

From an authentic and practical to a mechanistic perspective, physically active and aerobically fit children consistently outperform their inactive and unfit peers academically on both a short- and a long-term basis. Time spent engaged in physical activity is related not only to a healthier body but also to enriched cognitive development and lifelong brain health. Collectively, the findings across the body of literature in this area suggest that increases in aerobic fitness, derived from physical activity, are related to improvements in the integrity of brain structure and function that underlie academic performance. The strongest relationships have been found between aerobic fitness and performance in mathematics, reading, and English. For children in a school setting, regular participation in physical activity is particularly beneficial with respect to tasks that require working memory and problem solving. These findings are corroborated by the results of both authentic correlational studies and experimental randomized controlled trials. Overall, the benefits of additional time dedicated to physical education and other physical activity opportunities before, during, and after school outweigh the benefits of exclusive utilization of school time for academic learning, as physical activity opportunities offered across the curriculum do not inhibit academic performance.

Both habitual and single bouts of physical activity contribute to enhanced academic performance. Findings indicate a robust relationship of acute exercise to increased attention, with evidence emerging for a relationship between participation in physical activity and disciplinary behaviors, time on task, and academic performance. Specifically, higher-fit children allocate greater resources to a given task and demonstrate less reliance on environmental cues or teacher prompting.

Åberg MA, Pedersen NL, Torén K, Svartengren M, Bäckstrand B, Johnsson T, Cooper-Kuhn CM, Åberg ND, Nilsson M, Kuhn HG. Cardiovascular fitness is associated with cognition in young adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2009; 106 (49):20906–20911. [ PMC free article : PMC2785721 ] [ PubMed : 19948959 ]
Aglioti SM, Cesari P, Romani M, Urgesi C. Action anticipation and motor resonance in elite basketball players. Nature Neuroscience. 2008; 11 (9):1109–1116. [ PubMed : 19160510 ]
Ahamed Y, Macdonald H, Reed K, Naylor PJ, Liu-Ambrose T, McKay H. School-based physical activity does not compromise children's academic performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2007; 39 (2):371–376. [ PubMed : 17277603 ]
Aron A, Poldrack R, Wise S. Cognition: Basal ganglia role. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. 2009; 2 :1069–1077.
Barros RM, Silver EJ, Stein REK. School recess and group classroom behavior. Pediatrics. 2009; 123 (2):431–436. [ PubMed : 19171606 ]
Bartholomew JB, Jowers EM. Physically active academic lessons in elementary children. Preventive Medicine. 2011; 52 (Suppl 1):S51–S54. [ PMC free article : PMC3116963 ] [ PubMed : 21281672 ]
Basch C. Healthier children are better learners: A missing link in school reforms to close the achievement gap. 2010. [October 11, 2011]. http://www .equitycampaign .org/i/a/document /12557_EquityMattersVol6_Web03082010 .pdf . [ PubMed : 21923870 ]
Baxter SD, Royer JA, Hardin JW, Guinn CH, Devlin CM. The relationship of school absenteeism with body mass index, academic achievement, and socioeconomic status among fourth grade children. Journal of School Health. 2011; 81 (7):417–423. [ PMC free article : PMC3972016 ] [ PubMed : 21668882 ]
Benden ME, Blake JJ, Wendel ML, Huber JC Jr. The impact of stand-biased desks in classrooms on calorie expenditure in children. American Journal of Public Health. 2011; 101 (8):1433–1436. [ PMC free article : PMC3134494 ] [ PubMed : 21421945 ]
Biddle SJ, Asare M. Physical activity and mental health in children and adolescents: A review of reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2011; 45 (11):886–895. [ PubMed : 21807669 ]
Blair C, Zelazo PD, Greenberg MT. The measurement of executive function in early childhood. Developmental Neuropsychology. 2005; 28 (2):561–571. [ PubMed : 16144427 ]
Boecker H. On the emerging role of neuroimaging in determining functional and structural brain integrity induced by physical exercise: Impact for predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine. EPMA Journal. 2011; 2 (3):277–285. [ PMC free article : PMC3405390 ] [ PubMed : 23199163 ]
Botvinick MM, Braver TS, Barch DM, Carter CS, Cohen JD. Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review. 2001; 108 (3):624. [ PubMed : 11488380 ]
Budde H, Voelcker-Rehage C, S-Pietrabyk Kendziorra, Ribeiro P, Tidow G. Acute coordinative exercise improves attentional performance in adolescents. Neuroscience Letters. 2008; 441 (2):219–223. [ PubMed : 18602754 ]
Burkhalter TM, Hillman CH. A narrative review of physical activity, nutrition, and obesity to cognition and scholastic performance across the human lifespan. Advances in Nutrition. 2011; 2 (2):201S–206S. [ PMC free article : PMC3065760 ] [ PubMed : 22332052 ]
Carlson SA, Fulton JE, Lee SM, Maynard LM, Brown DR, Kohl HW III, Dietz WH. Physical education and academic achievement in elementary school: Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Public Health. 2008; 98 (4):721–727. [ PMC free article : PMC2377002 ] [ PubMed : 18309127 ]
Carnell S, Gibson C, Benson L, Ochner C, Geliebter A. Neuroimaging and obesity: Current knowledge and future directions. Obesity Reviews. 2011; 13 (1):43–56. [ PMC free article : PMC3241905 ] [ PubMed : 21902800 ]
Casey B, Jones RM, Hare TA. The adolescent brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2008; 1124 (1):111–126. [ PMC free article : PMC2475802 ] [ PubMed : 18400927 ]
Castelli DM, Hillman CH, Buck SM, Erwin HE. Physical fitness and academic achievement in third- and fifth-grade students. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2007; 29 (2):239–252. [ PubMed : 17568069 ]
Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, Kim JS, Voss MW, VanPatter M, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Konkel A, Hillman CH. A neuroimaging investigation of the association between aerobic fitness, hippocampal volume, and memory performance in preadolescent children. Brain Research. 2010a; 1358 :172–183. [ PMC free article : PMC3953557 ] [ PubMed : 20735996 ]
Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, VanPatter M, Voss MW, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Hillman CH, Kramer AF. Basal ganglia volume is associated with aerobic fitness in preadolescent children. Developmental Neuroscience. 2010b; 32 (3):249–256. [ PMC free article : PMC3696376 ] [ PubMed : 20693803 ]
Chaddock L, Hillman CH, Buck SM, Cohen NJ. Aerobic fitness and executive control of relational memory in preadolescent children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2011; 43 (2):344. [ PubMed : 20508533 ]
Chaddock L, Erickson KI, Prakash RS, Voss MW, VanPatter M, Pontifex MB, Hillman CH, Kramer AF. A functional MRI investigation of the association between childhood aerobic fitness and neurocognitive control. Biological Psychology. 2012; 89 (1):260–268. [ PubMed : 22061423 ]
Chan AS, Ho YC, Cheung MC. Music training improves verbal memory. Nature. 1998; 396 (6707):128. [ PubMed : 9823892 ]
Chang YK, Etnier JL. Effects of an acute bout of localized resistance exercise on cognitive performance in middle-aged adults: A randomized controlled trial study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2009; 10 (1):19–24.
Chih CH, Chen JF. The relationship between physical education performance, fitness tests, and academic achievement in elementary school. International Journal of Sport and Society. 2011; 2 (1):65–73.
Chomitz VR, Slining MM, McGowan RJ, Mitchell SE, Dawson GF, Hacker KA. Is there a relationship between physical fitness and academic achievement? Positive results from public school children in the northeastern United States. Journal of School Health. 2008; 79 (1):30–37. [ PubMed : 19149783 ]
Coe DP, Pivarnik JM, Womack CJ, Reeves MJ, Malina RM. Effect of physical education and activity levels on academic achievement in children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2006; 38 (8):1515–1519. [ PubMed : 16888468 ]
Cohen NJ, Eichenbaum H. Memory, amnesia, and the hippocampal system. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1993.
Cohen NJ, Ryan J, Hunt C, Romine L, Wszalek T, Nash C. Hippocampal system and declarative (relational) memory: Summarizing the data from functional neuroimaging studies. Hippocampus. 1999; 9 (1):83–98. [ PubMed : 10088903 ]
Colcombe SJ, Kramer AF. Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults a meta-analytic study. Psychological Science. 2003; 14 (2):125–130. [ PubMed : 12661673 ]
Colcombe SJ, Erickson KI, Raz N, Webb AG, Cohen NJ, McAuley E, Kramer AF. Aerobic fitness reduces brain tissue loss in aging humans. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. 2003; 58 (2):M176–M180. [ PubMed : 12586857 ]
Colcombe SJ, Kramer AF, Erickson KI, Scalf P, McAuley E, Cohen NJ, Webb A, Jerome GJ, Marquez DX, Elavsky S. Cardiovascular fitness, cortical plasticity, and aging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2004; 101 (9):3316–3321. [ PMC free article : PMC373255 ] [ PubMed : 14978288 ]
Colcombe SJ, Erickson KI, Scalf PE, Kim JS, Prakash R, McAuley E, Elavsky S, Marquez DX, Hu L, Kramer AF. Aerobic exercise training increases brain volume in aging humans. Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. 2006; 61 (11):1166–1170. [ PubMed : 17167157 ]
Cooper K, Everett D, Kloster J, Meredith MD, Rathbone M, Read K. Preface: Texas statewide assessment of youth fitness. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 2010; 81 (3):ii. [ PubMed : 21049831 ]
Cotman CW, Berchtold NC, Christie LA. Exercise builds brain health: Key roles of growth factor cascades and inflammation. Trends in Neurosciences. 2007; 30 (9):464–472. [ PubMed : 17765329 ]
Cottrell LA, Northrup K, Wittberg R. The extended relationship between child cardiovascular risks and academic performance measures. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007; 15 (12):3170–3177. [ PubMed : 18198328 ]
Crosnoe R. Academic and health-related trajectories in high school: The intersection of gender and athletics. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 2002; 43 :317–335. [ PubMed : 12467256 ]
Daley AJ, Ryan J. Academic performance and participation in physical activity by secondary school adolescents. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2000; 91 (2):531–534. [ PubMed : 11065314 ]
Datar A, Sturm R. Physical education in elementary school and body mass index: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Journal Information. 2004; 94 (9):1501–1509. [ PMC free article : PMC1448481 ] [ PubMed : 15333302 ]
Datar A, Sturm R. Childhood overweight and elementary school outcomes. International Journal of Obesity. 2006; 30 (9):1449–1460. [ PubMed : 16534518 ]
Datar A, Sturm R, Magnabosco JL. Childhood overweight and academic performance: National study of kindergartners and first-graders. Obesity Research. 2004; 12 (1):58–68. [ PubMed : 14742843 ]
Davidson MC, Amso D, Anderson LC, Diamond A. Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years: Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. Neuropsychologia. 2006; 44 (11):2037. [ PMC free article : PMC1513793 ] [ PubMed : 16580701 ]
Davis CL, Tomporowski PD, McDowell JE, Austin BP, Miller PH, Yanasak NE, Allison JD, Naglieri JA. Exercise improves executive function and achievement and alters brain activation in overweight children: A randomized, controlled trial. Health Psychology. 2011; 30 (1):91–98. [ PMC free article : PMC3057917 ] [ PubMed : 21299297 ]
Dawson P, Guare R. Executive skills in children and adolescents: A practical guide to assessment and intervention. New York: Guilford Press; 2004. pp. 2–8.
Debette S, Beiser A, Hoffmann U, DeCarli C, O'Donnell CJ, Massaro JM, Au R, Himali JJ, Wolf PA, Fox CS, Seshadri S. Visceral fat is associated with lower brain volume in healthy middle-aged adults. Annals of Neurology. 2010; 68 :136–144. [ PMC free article : PMC2933649 ] [ PubMed : 20695006 ]
Dexter TT. Relationships between sport knowledge, sport performance and academic ability: Empirical evidence from GCSE physical education. Journal of Sports Sciences. 1999; 17 (4):283–295. [ PubMed : 10373038 ]
Diamond A. The early development of executive functions. In: Bialystok E, Craik FIM, editors. In Lifespan cognition: Mechanisms of change. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006. pp. 70–95.
Donchin E. Surprise! … surprise. Psychophysiology. 1981; 18 (5):493–513. [ PubMed : 7280146 ]
Donchin E, Coles MGH. Is the P300 component a manifestation of context updating. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1988; 11 (03):357–374.
Donnelly JE, Lambourne K. Classroom-based physical activity, cognition, and academic achievement. Preventive Medicine. 2011; 52 (Suppl 1):S36–S42. [ PubMed : 21281666 ]
Donnelly JE, Greene JL, Gibson CA, Smith BK, Washburn RA, Sullivan DK, DuBose K, Mayo MS, Schmelzle KH, Ryan JJ. Physical Activity Across the Curriculum (PAAC): A randomized controlled trial to promote physical activity and diminish overweight and obesity in elementary school children. Preventive Medicine. 2009; 49 (4):336–341. [ PMC free article : PMC2766439 ] [ PubMed : 19665037 ]
Drollette ES, Shishido T, Pontifex MB, Hillman CH. Maintenance of cognitive control during and after walking in preadolescent children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2012; 44 (10):2017–2024. [ PubMed : 22525770 ]
Duncan SC, Duncan TE, Strycker LA, Chaumeton NR. A cohort-sequential latent growth model of physical activity from ages 12 to 17 years. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2007; 33 (1):80–89. [ PMC free article : PMC2729662 ] [ PubMed : 17291173 ]
Duncan-Johnson CC. P3 latency: A new metric of information processing. Psychophysiology. 1981; 18 :207–215. [ PubMed : 7291436 ]
Dwyer T, Coonan W, Worsley A, Leitch D. An assessment of the effects of two physical activity programmes on coronary heart disease risk factors in primary school children. Community Health Studies. 1979; 3 (3):196–202.
Dwyer T, Coonan WE, Leitch DR, Hetzel BS, Baghurst R. An investigation of the effects of daily physical activity on the health of primary school students in south Australia. International Journal of Epidemiology. 1983; 12 (3):308–313. [ PubMed : 6629620 ]
Edwards JU, Mauch L, Winkleman MR. Relationship of nutrition and physical activity behaviors and fitness measures to academic performance for sixth graders in a Midwest city school district. Journal of School Health. 2011; 81 :65–73. [ PubMed : 21223273 ]
Efrat M. The relationship between low-income and minority children's physical activity and academic-related outcomes: A review of the literature. Health Education and Behavior. 2011; 38 (5):441–451. [ PubMed : 21285376 ]
Eitle TM. Do gender and race matter? Explaining the relationship between sports participation and achievement. Sociological Spectrum. 2005; 25 (2):177–195.
Eitle TM, Eitle DJ. Sociology of Education. 2002. Race, cultural capital, and the educational effects of participation in sports; pp. 123–146.
Elbert T, Pantev C, Wienbruch C, Rockstroh B, Taub E. Increased cortical representation of the fingers of the left hand in string players. Science. 1995; 270 (5234):305–307. [ PubMed : 7569982 ]
Elder C, Leaver-Dunn D, Wang MQ, Nagy S, Green L. Organized group activity as a protective factor against adolescent substance use. American Journal of Health Behavior. 2000; 24 (2):108–113.
Ellemberg D, St-Louis-Deschênes M. The effect of acute physical exercise on cognitive function during development. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2010; 11 (2):122–126.
Erickson KI, Prakash RS, Voss MW, Chaddock L, Hu L, Morris KS, White SM, Wójcicki TR, McAuley E, Kramer AF. Aerobic fitness is associated with hippocampal volume in elderly humans. Hippocampus. 2009; 19 (10):1030–1039. [ PMC free article : PMC3072565 ] [ PubMed : 19123237 ]
Erickson KI, Voss MW, Prakash RS, Basak C, Szabo A, Chaddock L, Kim JS, Heo S, Alves H, White SM. Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011; 108 (7):3017–3022. [ PMC free article : PMC3041121 ] [ PubMed : 21282661 ]
Ericsson KA, Charness N. Expert performance: Its structure and acquisition. American Psychologist. 1994; 49 (8):725.
Estabrooks AP, Lee RE, Gyurcsik NC. Resources for physical activity participation: Does availability and accessibility differ by neighborhood socioeconomic status. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2003; 25 (2):100–104. [ PubMed : 12704011 ]
Etnier JL, Salazar W, Landers DM, Petruzzello SJ, Han M, Nowell P. The influence of physical fitness and exercise upon cognitive functioning: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 1997; 19 (3):249–277.
Etnier JL, Nowell PM, Landers DM, Sibley BA. A meta-regression to examine the relationship between aerobic fitness and cognitive performance. Brain Research Reviews. 2006; 52 (1):119–130. [ PubMed : 16490256 ]
Eveland-Sayers BM, Farley RS, Fuller DK, Morgan DW, Caputo JL. Physical fitness and academic achievement in elementary school children. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. 2009; 6 (1):99. [ PubMed : 19211963 ]
Fan X, Chen M. Parental involvement and students' academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review. 2001; 13 (1):1–22.
Fedewa AL, Ahn S. The effects of physical activity and physical fitness on children's achievement and cognitive outcomes: A meta-analysis. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 2011; 82 (3):521–535. [ PubMed : 21957711 ]
Fisher M, Juszczak L, Friedman SB. Sports participation in an urban high school: Academic and psychologic correlates. Journal of Adolescent Health. 1996; 18 (5):329–334. [ PubMed : 9156545 ]
Fox CK, Barr-Anderson D, D-Neumark Sztainer, Wall M. Physical activity and sports team participation: Associations with academic outcomes in middle school and high school students. Journal of School Health. 2010; 80 (1):31–37. [ PubMed : 20051088 ]
Fredericks CR, Kokot SJ, Krog S. Using a developmental movement programme to enhance academic skills in grade 1 learners. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation. 2006; 28 (1):29–42.
Gabbard C, Barton J. Effects of physical activity on mathematical computation among young children. Journal of Psychology. 1979; 103 :287–288.
Gable S, Krull JL, Chang Y. Boys' and girls' weight status and math performance from kindergarten entry through fifth grade: A mediated analysis. Child Development. 2012; 83 (5):1822–1839. [ PubMed : 22694240 ]
Gehring WJ, Goss B, Coles MG, Meyer DE, Donchin E. A neural system for error detection and compensation. Psychological Science. 1993; 4 (6):385–390.
Getlinger MJ, Laughlin V, Bell E, Akre C, Arjmandi BH. Food waste is reduced when elementary-school children have recess before lunch. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 1996; 96 (9):906. [ PubMed : 8784336 ]
Glenmark B. Skeletal muscle fiber types, physical performance, physical activity and attitude to physical activity in women and men: A follow-up from age 16-27. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica Supplementum. 1994; 623 :1–47. [ PubMed : 7942046 ]
Grieco LA, Jowers EM, Bartholomew JB. Physically active academic lessons and time on task: The moderating effect of body mass index. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2009; 41 (10):1921–1926. [ PubMed : 19727020 ]
Grissom JB. Physical fitness and academic achievement. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online. 2005; 8 (1):11–25.
Gunstad J, Spitznagel MB, Paul RH, Cohen RA, Kohn M, Luyster FS, Clark R, Williams LM, Gordon E. Body mass index and neuropsychological function in healthy children and adolescents. Appetite. 2008; 5 (2):246–51. [ PubMed : 17761359 ]
Hanson SL, Kraus RS. Women, sports, and science: Do female athletes have an advantage. Sociology of Education. 1998; 71 :93–110.
Hatfield BD, Hillman CH. The psychophysiology of sport: A mechanistic understanding of the psychology of superior performance. In: Singer RN, Hausenblas HA, Janelle C, editors. In The handbook of research on sport psychology. 2nd. New York: John Wiley; 2001. pp. 362–386.
Hillman CH, Snook EM, Jerome GJ. Acute cardiovascular exercise and executive control function. International Journal of Psychophysiology. 2003; 48 (3):307–314. [ PubMed : 12798990 ]
Hillman CH, Castelli DM, Buck SM. Aerobic fitness and neurocognitive function in healthy preadolescent children. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2005; 37 (11):1967. [ PubMed : 16286868 ]
Hillman CH, Motl RW, Pontifex MB, Posthuma D, Stubbe JH, Boomsma DI, De Geus EJC. Physical activity and cognitive function in a cross-section of younger and older community-dwelling individuals. Health Psychology. 2006; 25 (6):678. [ PubMed : 17100496 ]
Hillman CH, Erickson KI, Kramer AF. Be smart, exercise your heart: Exercise effects on brain and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2008; 9 (1):58–65. [ PubMed : 18094706 ]
Hillman CH, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Castelli DM, Hall EE, Kramer AF. The effect of acute treadmill walking on cognitive control and academic achievement in preadolescent children. Neuroscience. 2009; 159 (3):1044. [ PMC free article : PMC2667807 ] [ PubMed : 19356688 ]
Holroyd CB, Coles MG. The neural basis of human error processing: Reinforcement learning, dopamine, and the error-related negativity. Psychological Review. 2002; 109 (4):679. [ PubMed : 12374324 ]
Huttenlocher PR, Dabholkar AS. Regional differences in synaptogenesis in human cerebral cortex. Journal of Comparative Neurology. 1997; 387 (2):167–178. [ PubMed : 9336221 ]
Ila AB, Polich J. P300 and response time from a manual Stroop task. Clinical Neurophysiology. 1999; 110 (2):367–373. [ PubMed : 10210626 ]
Jarrett OS, Maxwell DM, Dickerson C, Hoge P, Davies G, Yetley A. Impact of recess on classroom behavior: Group effects and individual differences. Journal of Educational Research. 1998; 92 (2):121–126.
Jones JG, Hardy L. Stress and cognitive functioning in sport. Journal of Sports Sciences. 1989; 7 (1):41–63. [ PubMed : 2659817 ]
Judge S, Jahns L. Association of overweight with academic performance and social and behavioral problems: An update from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study. Journal of School Health. 2007; 77 :672–678. [ PubMed : 18076412 ]
Kamijo K, Pontifex MB, O'Leary KC, Scudder MR, Wu CT, Castelli DM, Hillman CH. The effects of an afterschool physical activity program on working memory in preadolescent children. Developmental Science. 2011; 14 (5):1046–1058. [ PMC free article : PMC3177170 ] [ PubMed : 21884320 ]
Kamijo K, Khan NA, Pontifex MB, Scudder MR, Drollette ES, Raine LB, Evans EM, Castelli DM, Hillman CH. The relation of adiposity to cognitive control and scholastic achievement in preadolescent children. Obesity. 2012a; 20 (12):2406–2411. [ PMC free article : PMC3414677 ] [ PubMed : 22546743 ]
Kamijo K, Pontifex MB, Khan NA, Raine LB, Scudder MR, Drollette ES, Evans EM, Castelli DM, Hillman CH. The association of childhood obesity to neuroelectric indices of inhibition. Psychophysiology. 2012b; 49 (10):1361–1371. [ PubMed : 22913478 ]
Kamijo K, Pontifex MB, Khan NA, Raine LB, Scudder MR, Drollette ES, Evans EM, Castelli DM, Hillman CH. Cerebral Cortex. 2012c. [October 4, 2013]. The negative association of childhood obesity to the cognitive control of action monitoring. Epub ahead of print, November 11. cercor .oxfordjournals .org/content/early/2012/11/09/cercor .bhs349.long . [ PMC free article : PMC3920765 ] [ PubMed : 23146965 ]
Kibbe DL, Hackett J, Hurley M, McFarland A, Schubert KG, Schultz A, Harris S. Ten years of TAKE 10! ® : Integrating physical activity with academic concepts in elementary school classrooms. Preventive Medicine. 2011; 52 (Suppl):S43–S50. [ PubMed : 21281670 ]
Kramer AF, Erickson KI. Capitalizing on cortical plasticity: Influence of physical activity on cognition and brain function. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2007; 11 (8):342–348. [ PubMed : 17629545 ]
Kramer AF, Hahn S, Cohen NJ, Banich MT, McAuley E, Harrison CR, Chason J, Vakil E, Bardell L, Boileau RA. Ageing, fitness and neurocognitive function. Nature. 1999; 400 (6743):418–419. [ PubMed : 10440369 ]
Kutas M, McCarthy G, Donchin E. Augmenting mental chronometry: The P300 as a measure of stimulus evaluation time. Science. 1977; 197 (4305):792–795. [ PubMed : 887923 ]
London RA, Castrechini S. A longitudinal examination of the link between youth physical fitness and academic achievement. Journal of School Health. 2011; 81 (7):400–408. [ PubMed : 21668880 ]
MacDonald AW, Cohen JD, Stenger VA, Carter CS. Dissociating the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex in cognitive control. Science. 2000; 288 (5472):1835–1838. [ PubMed : 10846167 ]
Magliero A, Bashore TR, Coles MG, Donchin E. On the dependence of P300 latency on stimulus evaluation processes. Psychophysiology. 1984; 21 (2):171–186. [ PubMed : 6728983 ]
Mahar MT, Murphy SK, Rowe DA, Golden J, Shields AT, Raedeke TD. Effects of a classroom-based program on physical activity and on-task behavior. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2006; 38 (12):2086. [ PubMed : 17146314 ]
Mechanic D, Hansell S. Adolescent competence, psychological well-being, and self-assessed physical health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 1987; 28 (4):364–374. [ PubMed : 3429806 ]
Mezzacappa E. Alerting, orienting, and executive attention: Developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates in an epidemiological sample of young, urban children. Child Development. 2004; 75 (5):1373–1386. [ PubMed : 15369520 ]
Miller KE, Melnick MJ, Barnes GM, Farrell MP, Sabo D. Untangling the links among the athletic involvement, gender, race, and adolescent academic outcomes. Sociology of Sport. 2005; 22 (2):178–193. [ PMC free article : PMC1343519 ] [ PubMed : 16467902 ]
Monti JM, Hillman CH, Cohen NJ. Aerobic fitness enhances relational memory in preadolescent children: The FITKids randomized control trial. Hippocampus. 2012; 22 (9):1876–1882. [ PMC free article : PMC3404196 ] [ PubMed : 22522428 ]
Münte TF, Kohlmetz C, Nager W, Altenmüller E. Superior auditory spatial tuning in conductors. Nature. 2001; 409 (6820):580. [ PubMed : 11214309 ]
NASPE (National Association for Sport and Physical Education). Moving into the future: National Physical Education Content Standards. 2nd. Reston, VA: NASPE; 2004.
NASPE. Recess for elementary school students. 2006. [December 1, 2012]. http://www .aahperd.org /naspe/standards/upload /recess-for-elementary-school-students-2006.pdf .
Neeper SA, Gomez-Pinilla F, Choi J, Cotman C. Exercise and brain neuro-trophins. Nature. 1995; 373 (6510):109. [ PubMed : 7816089 ]
NRC (National Research Council)/IOM (Institute of Medicine). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2000. [ PubMed : 25077268 ]
O'Leary KC, Pontifex MB, Scudder MR, Brown ML, Hillman CH. The effects of single bouts of aerobic exercise, exergaming, and videogame play on cognitive control. Clinical Neurophysiology. 2011; 122 (8):1518–1525. [ PubMed : 21353635 ]
Page RM, Hammermeister J, Scanlan A, Gilbert L. Is school sports participation a protective factor against adolescent health risk behaviors. Journal of Health Education. 1998; 29 (3):186–192.
Pellegrini AD, Bohn CM. The role of recess in children's cognitive performance and school adjustment. Educational Researcher. 2005; 34 (1):13–19.
Pellegrini AD, Huberty PD, Jones I. The effects of recess timing on children's playground and classroom behaviors. American Educational Research Journal. 1995; 32 (4):845–864.
Pesce C, Crova C, Cereatti L, Casella R, Bellucci M. Physical activity and mental performance in preadolescents: Effects of acute exercise on free-recall memory. Mental Health and Physical Activity. 2009; 2 (1):16–22.
Polich J. EEG and ERP assessment of normal aging. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology/Evoked Potentials Section. 1997; 104 (3):244–256. [ PubMed : 9186239 ]
Polich J, Heine MR. P300 topography and modality effects from a single-stimulus paradigm. Psychophysiology. 2007; 33 (6):747–752. [ PubMed : 8961797 ]
Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Johnson CR, Chaddock L, Voss MW, Cohen NJ, Kramer AF, Hillman CH. Cardiorespiratory fitness and the flexible modulation of cognitive control in preadolescent children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2011; 23 (6):1332–1345. [ PubMed : 20521857 ]
Pontifex MB, Scudder MR, Drollette ES, Hillman CH. Fit and vigilant: The relationship between sedentary behavior and failures in sustained attention during preadolescence. Neuropsychology. 2012; 26 (4):407–413. [ PMC free article : PMC3390762 ] [ PubMed : 22746307 ]
Pontifex MB, Saliba BJ, Raine LB, Picchietti DL, Hillman CH. Exercise improves behavioral, neurophysiologic, and scholastic performance in children with ADHD. Journal of Pediatrics. 2013; 162 :543–551. [ PMC free article : PMC3556380 ] [ PubMed : 23084704 ]
Raji CA, Ho AJ, Parikshak NN, Becker JT, Lopez OL, Kuller LH, Hua X, Leow AD, Toga AW, Thompson PM. Brain structure and obesity. Human Brain Mapping. 2010; 31 (3):353–364. [ PMC free article : PMC2826530 ] [ PubMed : 19662657 ]
Rasberry CN, Lee SM, Robin L, Laris BA, Russell LA, Coyle KK, Nihiser AJ. The association between school-based physical activity, including physical education, and academic performance: A systematic review of the literature. Preventive Medicine. 2011; 52 (Suppl 1):S10–S20. [ PubMed : 21291905 ]
Raz N. Aging of the brain and its impact on cognitive performance: Integration of structural and functional findings. In: Craik FM, Salthouse TA, editors. In The handbook of aging and cognition. Vol. 2. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2000. pp. 1–90.
Reed JA, Einstein G, Hahn E, Hooker SP, Gross VP, Kravitz J. Examining the impact of integrating physical activity on fluid intelligence and academic performance in an elementary school setting: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. 2010; 7 (3):343–351. [ PubMed : 20551490 ]
Ruiz JR, Ortega FB, Castillo R, Martin-Matillas M, Kwak L, Vicente-Rodriguez G, Noriega J, Tercedor P, Sjostrom M, Moreno LA. Journal of Pediatrics. 2010; 157 (6):917–922. [ PubMed : 20673915 ]
Sallis JF, McKenzie TL, Kolody B, Lewis M, Marshall S, Rosengard P. Effects of health-related physical education on academic achievement: Project SPARK. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 1999; 70 (2):127–134. [ PubMed : 10380244 ]
Sanders A. Towards a model of stress and human performance. Acta Psychologica. 1983; 53 (1):61–97. [ PubMed : 6869047 ]
Shephard RJ. Habitual physical activity and academic performance. Nutrition Reviews. 1986; 54 (4):S32–S36. [ PubMed : 8700451 ]
Shephard RJ, Volle M, Lavallee H, LaBarre R, Jequier J, Rajic M. In Children and Sport. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag; 1984. Required physical activity and academic grades: A controlled study; pp. 58–63.
Sibley BA, Etnier JL. The relationship between physical activity and cognition in children: A meta-analysis. Pediatric Exercise Science. 2003; 15 :243–256.
Silliker SA, Quirk JT. The effect of extracurricular activity participation on the academic performance of male and female high school students. School Counselor. 1997; 44 (4):288–293.
Singh A, Uijtdewilligen L, Twisk JWR, van Mechelen W, Chinapaw MJM. Physical activity and performance at school: A systematic review of the literature including a methodological quality assessment. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 2012; 166 (1):49–55. [ PubMed : 22213750 ]
Sirin SR. Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of Educational Research. 2005; 75 (3):417–453.
Smith PJ, Blumenthal JA, Hoffman BM, Cooper H, Strauman TA, Welsh-Bohmer K, Browndyke JN, Sherwood A. Aerobic exercise and neuro-cognitive performance: A meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2010; 72 (3):239–252. [ PMC free article : PMC2897704 ] [ PubMed : 20223924 ]
Stanca L. The effects of attendance on academic performance: Panel data evidence for introductory microeconomics. Journal of Economic Education. 2006; 37 (3):251–266.
Stephens LJ, Schaben LA. The effect of interscholastic sports participation on academic achievement of middle level school activities. National Association of Secondary School Principals Bulletin. 2002; 86 :34–42.
Stewart JA, Dennison DA, Kohl HW III, Doyle JA. Exercise level and energy expenditure in the TAKE 10! ® in-class physical activity program. Journal of School Health. 2004; 74 (10):397–400. [ PubMed : 15724566 ]
Strong WB, Malina RM, Blimkie CJ, Daniels SR, Dishman RK, Gutin B, Hergenroeder AC, Must A, Nixon PA, Pivarnik JM, Rowland T, Trost S, Trudeau F. Evidence based physical activity for school-age youth. Journal of Pediatrics. 2005; 146 (6):732–737. [ PubMed : 15973308 ]
Taliaferro LA, Rienzo BA, Donovan KA. Relationships between youth sport participation and selected health risk behaviors from 1999 to 2007. Journal of School Health. 2010; 80 (8):399–410. [ PubMed : 20618623 ]
Taylor MJ. Neural bases of cognitive development. In: Bialystok E, Craik FIM, editors. In Lifespan cognition: Mechanisms of change. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2006. pp. 15–26.
Telama R, Yang X, Laakso L, Viikari J. Physical activity in childhood and adolescence as predictor of physical activity in young adulthood. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 1997; 13 (4):317–323. [ PubMed : 9236971 ]
Thomas AG, Dennis A, Bandettini PA, Johansen-Berg H. The effects of aerobic activity on brain structure. Frontiers in Psychology. 2012; 3 :1–9. [ PMC free article : PMC3311131 ] [ PubMed : 22470361 ]
Tomporowski PD. Effects of acute bouts of exercise on cognition. Acta Psychologica. 2003; 112 (3):297–324. [ PubMed : 12595152 ]
Tomporowski PD, Davis CL, Miller PH, Naglieri JA. Exercise and children's intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review. 2008a; 20 (2):111–131. [ PMC free article : PMC2748863 ] [ PubMed : 19777141 ]
Tomporowski PD, Davis CL, Lambourne K, Gregoskis M, Tkacz J. Task switching in overweight children: Effects of acute exercise and age. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2008b; 30 (5):497–511. [ PMC free article : PMC2705951 ] [ PubMed : 18971509 ]
Trudeau F, Shephard RJ. Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2008; 5 [ PMC free article : PMC2329661 ] [ PubMed : 18298849 ]
Trudeau F, Shephard RJ. Relationships of physical activity to brain health and the academic performance of school children. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 2010; 4 :138–150.
Trudeau F, Laurencelle L, Tremblay J, Rajic M, Shephard R. Daily primary school physical education: Effects on physical activity during adult life. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 1999; 31 (1):111. [ PubMed : 9927018 ]
Trudeau F, Shephard RJ, Arsenault F, Laurencelle L. Changes in adiposity and body mass index from late childhood to adult life in the Trois-Rivières study. American Journal of Human Biology. 2001; 13 (3):349–355. [ PubMed : 11460900 ]
Trudeau F, Laurencelle L, Shephard RJ. Tracking of physical activity from childhood to adulthood. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2004; 36 (11):1937. [ PubMed : 15514510 ]
Van Dusen DP, Kelder SH, Kohl HW III, Ranjit N, Perry CL. Associations of physical fitness and academic performance among schoolchildren. Journal of School Health. 2011; 81 (12):733–740. [ PubMed : 22070504 ]
Van Praag H, Kempermann G, Gage FH. Running increases cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult mouse dentate gyrus. Nature Neuroscience. 1999; 2 (3):266–270. [ PubMed : 10195220 ]
Voss MW, Chaddock L, Kim JS, VanPatter M, Pontifex MB, Raine LB, Cohen NJ, Hillman CH, Kramer AF. Aerobic fitness is associated with greater efficiency of the network underlying cognitive control in preadolescent children. Neuroscience. 2011; 199 :166–176. [ PMC free article : PMC3237764 ] [ PubMed : 22027235 ]
Wechsler H, Brener ND, Kuester S, Miller C. Food service and food and beverage available at school: Results from the School Health Policies and Programs Study. Journal of School Health. 2001; 71 (7):313–324. [ PubMed : 11586874 ]
Welk GJ, Jackson AW, Morrow J, James R, Haskell WH, Meredith MD, Cooper KH. The association of health-related fitness with indicators of academic performance in Texas schools. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 2010; 81 (Suppl 2):16S–23S. [ PubMed : 21049834 ]
Welk GJ, Going SB, Morrow JR, Meredith MD. Development of new criterion-referenced fitness standards in the Fitnessgram ® program. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2011; 41 (2):6. [ PubMed : 21961614 ]
Wilkins J, Graham G, Parker S, Westfall S, Fraser R, Tembo M. Time in the arts and physical education and school achievement. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 2003; 35 (6):721–734.
Wittberg R, Cottrell LA, Davis CL, Northrup KL. Aerobic fitness thresholds associated with fifth grade academic achievement. American Journal of Health Education. 2010; 41 (5):284–291.
Yeung N, Botvinick MM, Cohen JD. The neural basis of error detection: Conflict monitoring and the error-related negativity. Psychological Review. 2004; 111 (4):931. [ PubMed : 15482068 ]
Zhu W, Welk GJ, Meredith MD, Boiarskaia EA. A survey of physical education programs and policies in Texas schools. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 2010; 81 (Suppl 2):42S–52S. [ PubMed : 21049837 ]
Cite this Page Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment; Food and Nutrition Board; Institute of Medicine; Kohl HW III, Cook HD, editors. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2013 Oct 30. 4, Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education: Effects on Academic Performance.
PDF version of this title (4.4M)

In this Page

Related information.

PMC PubMed Central citations
PubMed Links to PubMed

Recent Activity

Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education: Effects on Academic Performa... Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education: Effects on Academic Performance - Educating the Student Body

Your browsing activity is empty.

Activity recording is turned off.

Turn recording back on

Connect with NLM

National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20894

Web Policies FOIA HHS Vulnerability Disclosure

Help Accessibility Careers

What to Expect from the Physical Education edTPA

Teacher Prep Programs and States that have Implemented the edTPA

There are currently 523 educator preparation programs in 34 states (including the District of Columbia) currently participating in the edTPA.

The following states have statewide policies in place requiring a state-approved performance assessment as part of program completion or for state licensure:

Washington (21 participating institutions)
Oregon (17 participating institutions)
Minnesota (31 participating institutions)
Wisconsin (41 participating institutions)
New York (107 participating institutions)
Connecticut (2 participating institutions)
Tennessee (13 participating institutions)
Georgia (60 participating institutions)
Hawaii (4 participating institutions)

The following states are taking steps toward implementation:

Massachusetts

The following states have at least one teacher preparation program either participating or trying out edTPA:

South Carolina
North Carolina
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Rhode Island

K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment: An Overview

The purpose of the edTPA K-12 Physical Education assessment is to measure a teacher’s readiness to teach physical education at the K-12 level. The assessment was designed with a focus on the principles from research and theory and based on the findings that successful teachers:

Are able to understand student needs and apply knowledge that reflects this understanding
Are able to develop a knowledge of content standards and subject-specific pedagogy related to physical education subject matter
Can take into consideration the research and theory of how students learn
Can take into consideration and analyze the evidence that concerns instruction on student learning

Students are evaluated on five components of the teaching practice through this physical education assessment:

Instruction
Analyzing teaching
Academic language

K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment: Breaking it Down

The edTPA K-12 Physical Education assessment encourages the implementation of three tasks:

Planning for Assessment and Instruction

Assessing Student Learning

Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning

Students are required to plan three to five consecutive physical education lessons (referred to as learning segments), with the length of the learning segment depending on how frequently and how long the class is taught.

Each task consists of a number of planning rubrics to guide the teacher in completing the assessment:

This task includes (among others):

Providing relevant context information
Identifying a segment to plan, teach, and analyze student learning
Psychomotor
Affective learning domains related to movement patterns, health-enhancing fitness, and/or performance concepts

Rubric 1: Planning for Developing Competencies in Physical Education

Rubric 2: Planning to Support Varied Student Learning Needs

Rubric 3: Using Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching and Learning

Rubric 4: Identifying and Supporting Language Demands

Rubric 5: Planning Assessments to Monitor and Support Student Learning

Obtaining required permission for video recording of students
Identifying lessons from the learning segment in Task 1
Choosing lessons to show interaction with students
Focusing students as to represent a range of psychomotor competencies within the class

Rubric 6: Learning Environment

Rubric 7: Engaging Students in Learning

Rubric 8: Strengthening Student Competencies through Active Monitoring

Rubric 9: Subject-Specific Pedagogy

Rubric 10: Analyzing Teaching Effectiveness

Selecting one formal, performance-based assessment from the learning segment chosen to evaluate students’ competencies in cognitive, psychomotor, and/or affective domains related to performance concepts, health-enhancing fitness, and/or movement patterns
Reviewing the class results to identify quantitative and qualitative patterns of learning within and across learners in the class
Using video clips to illustrate patterns in student learning

Rubric 11: Analysis of Student Learning

Rubric 12: Providing Feedback to Guide Learning

Rubric 13: Student Use of Feedback

Rubric 14: Analyzing Students’ Language Use and Physical Education Learning

Rubric 15: Using Assessment to Inform Instruction

K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment: Setting it in Motion

To complete the edTPA K-12 Physical Education assessment, students must successfully complete these steps:

Select one physical education class for the assessment
Provide the appropriate context information in the form of a template
Identify a learning segment to plan, teach, and analyze
Identify a central focus that will be addressed, along with the content standards and objectives, in the learning segment
Select language demands required by the task and write a lesson plan for each lesson in the learning segment; lesson plans should include:

a) State-adopted physical education content standards or AAHPERD/NASPE standards

b) Learning objectives that are associated with the content standards across all domains

c) Informal and formal assessments (that include evaluation criteria, types of assessments, and what is being assessed)

d) Instructional strategies and learning tasks

e) Instructional materials, equipment, and resources

Submit original lesson plans
Select and submit key instructional materials
Submit copies of all written assessments

PE Teacher Resources
PE Teacher Careers
PE Teacher Degrees
PE Teacher Requirements
PE Teacher Salaries

Move Your Way® Toolkit for Schools

This toolkit is for anyone working to encourage physical activity in a school setting — like physical education and health education teachers, classroom teachers, coaches, after-school program leaders, and school administrators. Others promoting student health and well-being — like school nurses and parent teacher associations (PTAs) — can also use the information in this toolkit to support their work.

Want to learn about the Move Your Way campaign? Check out this short video !

Browse this toolkit to:

Learn how physical activity benefits students — at school and beyond

Make a plan to get students moving, step into action , share move your way materials with parents and caregivers.

Kids and teens need movement to grow healthy and strong. Regular physical activity strengthens muscles and bones, helps prevent health problems like diabetes and heart disease, and reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Physical activity also has clear benefits for life at school. For example, students who are physically active tend to:

Have better grades
Miss fewer school days
Have better focus in class

Beyond that, physical activity in schools can help support school connectedness — students’ belief that peers and adults in the school support, value, and care about their well-being. School connectedness can make it less likely that students engage in risky behaviors like substance use and help improve students’ mental and physical health and well-being.

Browse CDC Healthy Schools’ Physical Education and Physical Activity webpage for facts, figures, and frameworks.
Learn about School Connectedness and how to promote it.
Check out these 10 Actionable Tips to Support Youth Mental Health Through Sports [PDF - 2.2 MB] .

MYW Dosage Graphic that reads: "How much physical activity do kids and teens need?" with additional information about the specific aerobic and muscle strengthening requirements.

Whether you’re starting a school-wide physical activity initiative or you just want to provide students, parents, and caregivers with educational materials — it helps to make a plan. That way, you can be sure everybody is on the same page and working toward a clearly defined goal. Use these tips to plan your physical activity project:

Set clear, achievable goals. What are you trying to achieve with your efforts? It helps to be specific — instead of “Get students to be more active,” set clearly defined goals like “Get students to move for at least 10 minutes each day during recess.”
Build support within your school. Who in your school community can support your physical activity project? Consider involving school leadership, PTA representatives, or other teachers.
Involve students. Try to include students of all ages in the planning process — they can add an important perspective and voice. Students can also serve as “ambassadors” to promote physical activity and model healthy behaviors for their peers.
Keep accessibility top of mind. Make sure your physical activity project or initiative is accessible to everyone in the school community. For example, do you need to adapt activities to work for students with movement limitations or non-verbal communication styles? Or choose playground equipment suitable for students who use mobility devices?
Find partners in your community. Don’t forget about the larger community outside of school — are there organizations or individuals who can support your physical activity efforts? Think local health departments, hospitals, or community organizations. Also consider partnerships that might help you better engage all students, like an organization that could donate adaptive equipment. Use this National Youth Sports Strategy (NYSS) Champions directory to find organizations in your area that focus on youth with disabilities.
Evaluate your progress. When trying a new strategy, it’s important to assess what’s working well — and what isn’t. Check in with school leadership and other teachers regularly: Have they noticed a difference in students’ activity levels? What problems are they experiencing? You can also use more formal evaluation measures like surveys.

Want to learn more about planning a community-wide physical activity campaign? Check out the Move Your Way Community Playbook .

Move Your Way in the field: Building community partnerships

Move Your Way campaign pilot community Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) partnered with the student wellness club at a local elementary school to plan and host a Move Your Way event for students. Students collaborated with their physical education teacher to create lesson plans focused on the Physical Activity Guidelines. After the student-led lesson, all students were encouraged to get active outside. Parents, faculty, and staff joined the students as they walked, ran, or skipped laps around the school. SNHD attended the event, offered more information about the campaign, and distributed Move Your Way materials to families.

Now that you’ve made a plan, it’s time to put it into action. Try the strategies below to get students moving throughout the school day and beyond. And use Move Your Way’s engaging materials in English and Spanish to support your efforts!

Around school

Kids and teens spend a big chunk of their time at school — that’s why creating a school environment that encourages physical activity is so important. Start with these simple tips:

Show the benefits of getting active at a glance. Print the “60 Minutes” Poster for Kids and hang it in hallways, classrooms, and the gym.
Focus on fun. Getting physically active is a great way to build some play into the school day and enhance learning. Whether it’s playing active games or having a classroom dance party — just have fun with it!

In the classroom

Try these strategies to encourage physical activity in the classroom:

Take movement breaks. Getting up and moving together can get antsy students back on track and reduce disruptive behaviors. Try arm circles, jumping jacks, or running in place — and consider incorporating yoga and other mindfulness activities to help improve students’ focus and lower anxiety and stress.
Add activity to academics. Why not use movement to practice and reinforce academic lessons? For example, play a round of “beach ball spelling” — where students take turns calling out the letters of a word as they throw a beach ball to one another. Or you can set up movement-based learning stations so students can stand and walk around the classroom while completing tasks.
Get smart about getting active. Use the Fact Sheet for Kids to teach students the what, how, and why of physical activity — and send home a copy of the Fact Sheet for Parents .
Make a pledge. Print the Move Your Way Pledge Sheet and have students write down how they plan to get active. Then hang students’ pledge sheets up in the classroom. At the end of the week, ask students to share their experiences: Did they meet their physical activity goals? If not, how can the school community support them?
Check out CDC Healthy Schools’ Classroom Physical Activity webpage for additional resources and strategies.
For more movement break ideas and printable cards, download this CDC fact sheet [PDF - 4.1 MB] .

Recess is an opportunity for students to have unstructured playtime with their friends — and you can use this time to encourage them to get creative and have fun while getting active. Try these tips:

Call on young artists. Use chalk or paint to draw game boards or areas for activities like hopscotch on sidewalks or blacktops. This is also a great way to engage older students in creating something for their peers.
Promote active play. Offer a variety of games and activities so each child can find something they enjoy. And you don’t have to plan every activity yourself — let kids design and lead their own games to help them build leadership and social skills. If your budget allows, consider investing in play equipment like jump ropes, playground balls, or bean bag toss games to support different ways to play.
Plan for bad weather days. Identify indoor spaces where students can get moving when it’s raining or too cold or hot to spend recess outside — like the gym, empty classrooms, or a spacious hallway. You might have to create a schedule to avoid overcrowding.
Get your community involved. Ask local businesses to donate new or gently used adaptive play equipment — or partner with nearby community centers, YMCAs, or gyms to provide access to indoor activity spaces.
Check out CDC Healthy Schools’ Recess webpage to learn about strategies and policies for recess planning.
Get more tips for Active Outdoor Recess and Active Indoor Recess .
Use this Painted Play Spaces Playbook [PDF – 1.2 KB] as a guide to add colorful game designs to outdoor play areas.
Looking for games that don’t require equipment? Check out this Game Library for ideas.

Avoid using physical activity to discipline students

Kids and teens are much more likely to get moving if they have positive associations with physical activity. That’s why it’s important not to use physical activity as a punishment (like having kids run laps) or take away opportunities for getting active (like not allowing students to go to recess).

During school events

Take advantage of school events — like open houses and back-to-school festivities — to educate parents, caregivers, and people in the community about the benefits of physical activity. Try these tips:

Set up shop. Decorate a table or booth with the Move Your Way posters for parents — and use them as conversation starters to talk with people about physical activity. You can also hand out the Fact Sheet for Kids and the Fact Sheet for Parents .
Engage local partners. Local health departments, hospitals, or community organizations with a physical activity focus may be willing to set up a table and share educational materials — and even hand out goodies like water bottles, jump ropes, or balls.
Show (and tell). If you have multimedia equipment available, consider streaming the Move Your Way videos for families during the event.
Get moving together. Incorporating movement breaks or active games into events can help parents and caregivers remember the joy of physical activity. Need inspiration? Watch this video showcasing accessible exercises.
Create a challenge! Many kids love a bit of friendly competition — and they love getting their adults involved. Set up a sack race, obstacle course, or a scavenger hunt and have kids compete against parents, caregivers, or teachers.

Use the Move Your Way teen video challenge to engage older students

Most young kids naturally want to move, but encouraging older middle school or high school students to get active can be tough. If you’re looking for a way to engage older students, consider a multimedia classroom project — like the Move Your Way teen video challenge!

The Tips for Creating Your Own Move Your Way ® Teen Video Fact Sheet [PDF - 805 KB] has everything teens need to get started, and they can watch the Move When You Can and Try Something Different videos for inspiration. Consider making it an assignment or an extra credit activity. Or make it a raffle — students who create a video get the chance to win a prize!

Want to learn more about making physical activity accessible for youth with disabilities?

Explore the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability’s educator webpage .

Interested in customizing materials for your school? You can swap out photos or add your school’s logo to Move Your Way materials through the  CDC State and Community Health Media Center. If you have questions about using Move Your Way materials, want to create your own, or would like help implementing physical activity strategies in your school, please contact ODPHP.

One of the best ways to encourage physical activity outside school is to get families moving together. Getting active as a family not only helps kids and teens stay healthy — it also means everyone gets to reap the benefits of physical activity. The Move Your Way campaign has lots of resources to help families find activities that fit their lives and create healthy, sustainable routines. Try the strategies below to support parents and caregivers in getting the family active.

Hand out educational materials

You can print these materials and send them home with students — or hand them out at school events.

The Fact Sheet for Parents helps parents and caregivers understand what kinds of activity kids and teens need to stay healthy and offers tips for helping kids get active.
The Sports Fact Sheet for Parents helps parents and caregivers understand the benefits kids and teens can get from playing sports and offers tips to help them get their kids involved.
With the Pledge Sheet , parents can be role models for their kids by showing how they’ll get active and making a commitment to move more.

Promote physical activity in your newsletter, email, or blog

Use or adapt the content below to promote physical activity in your email outreach, newsletter, or blog.

Subject: Get tips to get your kids moving

Body copy: It’s no secret that kids and teens need regular physical activity — it makes their bodies grow strong, it helps them stay at a healthy weight, and it can even help them focus better in the classroom.

How much is enough? Kids and teens need at least 60 minutes of physical activity throughout the day. That includes a mix of heart-pumping movement like running, dancing, or jumping rope, plus activities that strengthen muscles and bones — like playing sports or climbing at the playground. Use this interactive tool to help you fit more activity into your kids’ day.

But the best way to encourage kids and teens to get active? Get the whole family moving so everyone can enjoy the benefits of physical activity!

Check out the Move Your Way campaign for actionable tips and resources to add more physical activity to your family’s routine.

Promote Physical Activity Through Social Media

Use Move Your Way sample messages, graphics, and GIFs to promote physical activity on your own or your school’s social media channels. You can adapt the messages to fit your needs!

Add Move Your Way to your website

Want to make Move Your Way part of your website? Download the Move Your Way web badges and widget for an easy way to add physical activity resources to your site.

With the Move Your Way Activity Planner web badge and widget , school staff, parents, caregivers, and other adults can use an interactive tool to help them build their own personalized weekly activity plan.
The Move Your Way Parent Interactive Graphic web badge links parents and caregivers to an interactive tool they can use to see how kids can fit in 60 minutes of activity a day.

The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.

Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by ODPHP or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.

You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.

COMMENTS

IELTS Essay # 1243
Model Answer 1: [Agreement] In recent years, the number of overweight people has been increasing rapidly, causing pressures on the healthcare system. Some people believe that one of the best ways to tackle this issue is by introducing more physical education lessons in the school syllabus. I completely agree with this viewpoint.
Essay 211
GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 211. You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. ... I think that it should not be compulsory. This is because the physical education course consists of fitness training, games and sports that could potentially inflict severe injury. In addition to this, pupils who do not possess athletic ability may not ...
Essay 272
GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 272. You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: Some people say that physical education classes are an important part of a child's education. Others believe that it is more important to focus on academics during school time. Discuss both these views, and give your opinion.
PDF TASK 2: INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY
It includes a combination of whole group instruction as well as small group discussion and guidance during independent practice time. In the first clip, the class participates in the lesson through guided instruction. In the second clip, students work with their partner to construct the staircase using unifix cubes.
IELTS essay, topic: Some people think that sport in schools is a waste
This is a model response to a Writing Task 2 topic from High Scorer's Choice IELTS Practice Tests book series (reprinted with permission). This answer is likely to score IELTS Band 9. ... Physical education was introduced into schools to promote a healthy lifestyle by exposing students to different types of sport and ensuring that those who are ...
IELTS Essay # 1426
Model Answer 1: [Discussing both views + Opinion: Physical classes are important] The debate regarding the significance of physical education in a child's academic curriculum continues to evoke divergent opinions. This essay will attempt to explore both perspectives, albeit firmly advocating that physical education classes constitute an ...
Task 2 essay questions about education
Home » IELTS writing task 2 questions » Education essay topics for writing task 2 IELTS. Take a look at these sample Task 2 essay questions about education for your IELTS exam. For an introduction on how to start IELTS writing task 2 click here. Some people think that a person improves intellectual skills better when doing group activities.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Physical Education
Here is an IELTS Writing Task 2 question that came up in the exam in June 2022: Many schools offer some type of physical education classes to their students. Why is physical education important? Should physical education classes be required or optional?
Physical Education
Physical education is the foundation of a Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program. 1, 2 It is an academic subject characterized by a planned, sequential K-12 curriculum (course of study) that is based on the national standards for physical education. 2-4 Physical education provides cognitive content and instruction designed to develop motor skills, knowledge, and behaviors for ...
IELTS Writing Task 2
Nobody can argue that the acquisition of knowledge is more fun and easier with computers. The mere activity of touching and exploring this device constitutes an enjoyable task for a kid. This, accompanied with the relaxing attitude and software interactivity, usually conduce to a better grasping of new knowledge. At a higher educational level; the availability of digital books, simulator and ...
Library of Task Examples for the PPAT Assessment
Task 1 has two steps: Step 1: Factors, Resources and Protocols; Step 2: Knowledge of Students; The following include examples for all of the textboxes in each step. Art (zip) Early Childhood (zip) Elementary Education (zip) English Language Arts (zip) Math (zip) Music (zip) Physical Education (zip) Science (zip) Social Science (zip) Special ...
edTPA PE Resources
Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning. Preparing to instruct, instructing, and video recording are all essential parts of Task 2. Below are videos and resources that describe best practice when it comes to video recording as it applies to edTPA. The response supports for the instruction commentary will assist in the planning, writing ...
How to Conquer edTPA Task 2 (And Examples)
Video clips are the primary evidence in edTPA task 2, so they can make or break a candidate's edTPA submission. Take candidates through these steps and the advice below to prepare them to create a successful edTPA video for task 2. Maintain Confidentiality. Three main aspects of confidentiality should be considered when working on task 2:
EDTPA TASK 2 Physical Education by Tim's Physical Education Visuals
EDTPA Physical Education Package Deal. EDTPA Physical Education Example (Bundle)Context of Learning, Task 1 Planning Commentary, Task 2 Instruction Commentary, Task 3 Assessment Commentary, Student Work Samples (focus students) with feedback, Fitness Unit Plan with detailed lessons aligned with PE Standards, Assessment activities includ. 8.
Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education: Effects on Academic
Beyond formal physical education, ... Measurements of baseline physical activity and on-task behaviors were collected in two 3rd-grade and two 4th-grade classes, using pedometers and direct observation. The intervention included 243 students, while 108 served as controls by not engaging in the activities. A subgroup of 62 3rd and 4th graders ...
Instant Activities(Elementary K-5)
Instant Activities(Elementary K-5) Instant Activities. (Elementary K-5) Created by Aaron Hart, Jim DeLine, Josh Enders, Brandon Herwick, Lynn, Hefele, Jenna Knapp, Nick Kline, Andy Pickett, Andrea Hart, RD, Dan Tennessen, Nichole Wilder. Physical educators know and understand the need to get students active and engaged as soon as they enter the ...
Edtpa Task 2 .docx
Physical Education Task 2: Instruction Commentary teacher had a pair of students demonstrate the drop set technique to explain the concept and gave the students a chance to learn actively at a slow pace. The teacher checked for understanding at minute 3:29-4:06.
Inclusive School Physical Education and Physical Activity
However, 52% of schools exempted students with cognitive disability, and 86% exempted students with long-term physical and medical disability from physical education. Both percentages increased between 2000 and 2014. 9. More information and data can be found in CDC's research brief, Inclusion in School Physical Education and Physical Activity ...
Instruction Commentary.doc
Physical Education Task 2: Instruction Commentary TASK 2: INSTRUCTION COMMENTARY Respond to the prompts below (no more than 2 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt.Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored. You may insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting ...
K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment
The purpose of the edTPA K-12 Physical Education assessment is to measure a teacher's readiness to teach physical education at the K-12 level. The assessment was designed with a focus on the principles from research and theory and based on the findings that successful teachers: Are able to understand student needs and apply knowledge that ...
PDF Life Skills and Physical Education
ADAPTED CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT (ACAPS) - LIFE SKILLS AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION 3 1.2 Background to curriculum adaptation and differentiation The right of every child to access quality education is enshrined in South Africa's Constitution. In 2001, the Minister of Education launched Education White Paper 6,
Physical Education and Physical Activity
Schools are in a unique position to help students attain the nationally recommended 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. 1 Regular physical activity in childhood and adolescence is important for promoting lifelong health and well-being and preventing various health conditions. 1-3 To learn more about benefits of physical activity, physical activity behaviors of ...
Move Your Way® Toolkit for Schools
Move Your Way® Toolkit for Schools. This toolkit is for anyone working to encourage physical activity in a school setting — like physical education and health education teachers, classroom teachers, coaches, after-school program leaders, and school administrators. Others promoting student health and well-being — like school nurses and ...
Preserving VMSDEP Task Force
The Preserving VMSDEP Task Force's first meeting will be held on June 10th at the Virginia War Memorial from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. You can read more about the Task Force here. Our Governor and Secretary-level leaders share the commitment to address a better way forward for this program. The Department of Veterans Services will provide updates ...

Essay 272 – Physical education classes are an important part of a child’s education

Some people say that physical education classes are an important part of a child’s education. Others believe that it is more important to focus on academics during school time.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Privacy Overview

IELTS essay, topic: Some people think that sport in schools is a waste of time and resources, while others believe it is a vital part of education (opinion)

Related posts:

6 thoughts on “IELTS essay, topic: Some people think that sport in schools is a waste of time and resources, while others believe it is a vital part of education (opinion)”

Leave a Reply

IELTS Mentor "IELTS Preparation & Sample Answer"

Nav view search

IELTS Writing Task 2/ Essay Topics with sample answer.

IELTS Materials

Useful Links

Education essay topics for IELTS writing task 2

IELTS Writing Task 2: Physical Education

Related Posts

IELTS Writing Task 2: Homelessness

Recent Posts

english-practice.net

english-exercises.net

englishpracticetest.net

Cambridge Practice Test

Listening Practice Test

Practice Reading Test

Speaking Practice Test

Vocabulary Words

Writing Practice Test

General Reading Tests

IELTS Writing Task 2 – Topic: EDUCATION

Sample Answer 1

Sample Answer 2

Sample Answer

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Library of Examples for the PPAT Assessment

Comparing your responses

Task 1: Knowledge of Students and the Learning Environment

Task 2: Assessment and Data Collection to Measure and Inform Student Learning

Task 3: Designing Instruction for Student Learning

Task 4: Implementing and Analyzing Instruction to Promote Student Learning

Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning

Additional Resources

The AI Assistant is Here

Meet your new ally

How to Conquer edTPA Task 2 (And Examples)

edTPA Task 2 Video Clip

Maintain Confidentiality

Prepare Adequately

Edit and Transcribe

Instruction Commentary

Personalize Your GoReact Experience

EDTPA TASK 2 Physical Education

Also included in

Description

Questions & Answers

Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School.

4 Physical Activity, Fitness, and Physical Education: Effects on Academic Performance

Physical Fitness as a Learning Outcome of Physical Education and Its Relation to Academic Performance

Physical Activity, Physical Education, and Academic Performance

Single Bouts of Physical Activity

Academic Learning Time and On- and Off-Task Behaviors

The Evidence Base on the Relationship of Physical Activity to Brain Health and Cognition in Older Adults

Child Development, Brain Structure, and Function

Effects of Regular Engagement in Physical Activity and Physical Fitness on Brain Structure

Effects of Regular Engagement in Physical Activity and Physical Fitness on Brain Function

Adiposity and Risk for Metabolic Syndrome as It Relates to Cognitive Health

In this Page

Recent Activity

What to Expect from the Physical Education edTPA

Teacher Prep Programs and States that have Implemented the edTPA

K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment: An Overview

K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment: Breaking it Down

K-12 Physical Education Teacher Performance Assessment: Setting it in Motion

Move Your Way® Toolkit for Schools

Learn how physical activity benefits students — at school and beyond

Move Your Way in the field: Building community partnerships

Around school

In the classroom

Avoid using physical activity to discipline students

During school events

Use the Move Your Way teen video challenge to engage older students