This study tested the hypothesis that daily physical activity improves the executive function and academic achievement of 9- to 11-year-old children. The quasi-experimental, pretest–posttest design included 60 eligible fourth and fifth grade students (51.7% female, 98% Hispanic; 10.26 years of age). Twenty-five students elected to participate in school day, zero-hour (1 hour before school starts) physical activity program for 8 weeks. The 35 students who did not sign up for the program served as the control group as masked data provided by the school. Standardized measures, Adele Diamond flanker task and the Wide Range Achievement Test 4, assessed executive function and academic achievement, respectively. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to determine differences between groups on executive function and academic achievement. There were no observable benefits from daily physical activity on executive function and academic achievement. Convenience sampling and voluntary attendance potentially limited the effect of exercise on performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc804873 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | O’Brien, Caroline Clark |
| Contributors | Tunks, Jeanne L., Holub, Shayla, Morrow, James R., Subramaniam, Karthigeyan, Weiller, Karen |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | iv, 28 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, O’Brien, Caroline Clark, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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