Schools across the United States have begun trying a unique method for keeping kids focused on school work and increasing their fitness all at once. Ten-minute movement activities are being incorporated into academic exercises, like jumping rope while shouting out multiplication tables, or marching around a classroom to the rhythm of a poem.
Teachers in the schools trying these new methods say that not only do the exercises help wake kids up in the sluggish post-lunch afternoons, but they boost the attention of kids who struggle with just that. Movement seems to help kids stay on task, who ordinarily have trouble doing so.
While my own common sense detector tells me that this just seems right, doctors like John Ratey, a psychiatrist at Harvard University, can give us details like these:
"[With exercise] you're seeing an increase in neurotransmitters … dopamine and serotonin, norepinephrine. These are hormones related to mood regulation, to attention. And, in general, help the brain be in a better state of equilibrium."
Teachers, meanwhile, say most kids enjoy the movement-oriented lessons, though a few resist. These days, when recess is being cut in schools left and right, slipping a little activity into dull memorization lessons like multiplication tables seems like a fair way to adjust the sit/move balance a bit.
image: npr.org
