Trial reportPreventive medicine2018
Active learning improves on-task behaviors in 4th grade children.
Trial report in Preventive medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- School-related sedentary behaviours and indicators of health and well-being among children and youth: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Pooled it
- Does Learning Through Movement Improve Academic Performance in Primary Schoolchildren? A Systematic Review.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Pooled it
- School-based physical activity programs for promoting physical activity and fitness in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Less is more: Qualitative insights into physically active learning in secondary math education.PloS one · 2025Trial
- The Effect of the Brain Breaks Physical Activity Program on Task Focus, Attentional Control, and Academic Achievement in 4th Grade Elementary School Students.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Associations of Perceived School and Year Group Climate with Mental Health Among Children Aged 7-to-11 Years.Child indicators research · 2025Article
- ACTIVE YOU: Teacher Attributes and Attitudes Predicting Physical Activity Promotion.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Article
- Understanding shifts in students' academic motivation across a school year: the role of teachers' motivating styles and need-based experiences.European journal of psychology of education = Journal europeen de psychologie de l'education · 2022Article
- A collaborative approach to adopting/adapting guidelines. The Australian 24-hour movement guidelines for children (5-12 years) and young people (13-17 years): An integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Article
- Active School Breaks and Students' Attention: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Brain sciences · 2021Review
- Predictors of on-task Behaviors: Evaluating Student-level Characteristics.Health behavior and policy review · 2021Article
- Lessons Learned from a Physically Active Learning Intervention: Texas I-CAN!Translational journal of the American College of Sports Medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
While increased opportunities for physical activity (PA) are a critical, public health need for children, school-based interventions often place teachers in the position to choose between PA and time spent on academic lessons. Active learning is designed to overcome this by combining PA with academic material. Moreover, teachers are likely to be more responsive to change in academic-related outcomes than in PA. This study utilizes a large, cluster randomized control trial in which student attention, or time on task (TOT) and accelerometer-based PA is assessed in conjunction with active learning. Participants were 2716 children (46% male, 46% white) from 28 elementary schools in Central Texas that were assigned to either: 1) active learning (math n = 10; spelling n = 9); or 2) traditional, sedentary academic lessons (n = 9). PA was measured with accelerometers. TOT was measured through a momentary time sampling protocol. A series of three-level (student, classroom, school) regression models estimated the effect of the intervention. The intervention lead to significantly increased TOT. Moreover, the dose of PA (steps) during the intervention was positively associated with the increase in TOT. In contrast, a greater dose of PA was associated with reduced TOT for students in control schools. Race, gender, and SES did not moderate these effects. Planned PA - as a part of an active, academic lesson - positively impacted TOT. In contrast, a traditional, sedentary lesson was associated with lower TOT. This differential impact offers intriguing possibilities to better understand the relationship between PA and academic performance.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.