Did You Know That Exercising Can Make Learning Easier?
If you checked out our blog post from earlier in the month, you learned that exercising physically strengthens the part of our brains responsible for creating and storing long term memories. Scientists are discovering hidden benefits of exercise all the time. This time, we dive into a study that reveals a strong correlation between exercising in an educational setting and memorization.
Exercising and Learning
We know from last time that exercising itself can help strengthen our memory. But what happens if we exercise, while we’re learning new information? Researchers at the University of Wollongong conducted a study that explored just that.
The researchers worked with four groups of preschool children on memorizing 14 new Italian words. The groups were taught the words in the following ways:
- Children physically acted out the words as a form of exercise.
- Children exercised at the same intensity separately from learning the new vocabulary.
- Children acted out gestures while sitting down.
- Children repeated the words aloud while sitting down.
After 4 weeks of practicing their vocabulary words, each group was then quizzed on them. The children who combined exercise with vocabulary scored higher than all other groups. The group that repeated the words aloud while seated scored the lowest.
What Do These Results Mean?
To us, these results indicate that physical activity should be included more often in traditional classroom settings. It’s clear that integrating movement into a cognitive learning task can be effective due to its cognitive and physiological effects. This effectiveness increases when children exercise in groups since observing other’ movements plays a key role in forming episodic memories.
With this in mind, let’s make sure we remember the importance of exercising regularly for our bodies and our minds!
Get Stronger with MissionFit
MissionFit is dedicated to strengthening Baltimore youth through classes and an open gym. It’s our goal to encourage positive traits, like respect and teamwork, and provide children with a place to gain self-confidence and enjoy some exercise. To learn more about our classes or donate to support our mission, visit our website. Want to Support? We’re making health a possibility and a priority for Baltimore’s youth. If you want to support us, here are three easy ways to do so:
- Donate here!
- Amazon Wishlist– buy something specific that will make it easier for youth to achieve their health goals.
- You can put your online shopping to good use by donating a percentage of your purchase with AmazonSmile! To get started, sign in here, search for “MissionFit” and select us as your charity of choice.
