Can improved levels of physical fitness positively impact academic performance? Are healthy children who feel well more prepared to learn? Can enough movement accelerate cognition? Are students more engaged with the teacher and subject matter in activity permissive learning environments when compared to traditional seated environments? These and many other questions have been the focus of a growing body of research in recent years. This literature review briefly examines some of the more prominent studies and progress reports that have highlighted how physical activity and improved fitness levels can help students to maximize their potential to succeed in school.

Examples abound in both the topical literature and research findings of the link between physical activity and academic progress, improved behavior, increased attendance and overall engagement with the teacher and subject matter. After conducting an extensive review of 215 published articles addressing the relationship between physical activity and academic performance, Castelli et al. (2014) concluded "this line of inquiry is growing exponentially and that valuable discoveries about children's health have implications for educational practice, public policy, and funding priorities" (p. 140). Castelli et al. (2014) included school attendance, on-task behaviors, standardized tests, attention, memory, and executive/ cognitive control when defining the term academic performance. Increased interest in this subject is timely as children are less active and more physically out of shape than ever before and as schools are simultaneously facing greater demands associated with increased academic standards (Shelton, 2009). Two out of three children are not physically active enough (Let's Move!, 2016) and "one in three kids in the United States is overweight or obese" (Castelli, Glowacki, Barcelona, Calvert, & Hwang, 2015, Introduction section, para. 1). In 2008, Prosser and Jiang reported, "The evidence demonstrates that overweight and obese children suffer the same health problems as obese adults and suffer increased morbidity during adulthood" (as cited in Shelton, 2009, p. 4). Health problems such as type 2 diabetes and childhood asthma have resulted from this rapidly developing epidemic (Ehrlich, 2008). Many schools have indicated a narrowing of the curriculum to devote more time for instruction in mathematics and reading often at the expense of other subjects such as physical education (Shelton, 2009). In the Commonwealth of Virginia, although elementary schools are required to provide daily recess, time devoted to these periods of physical activity can be extremely brief and withholding physical activity, including recess, as a disciplinary tool is not prohibited. Additionally, classroom teachers are not required to provide physical activity breaks for children (SHAPE America, 2016).

Because students spend so much time at school each day, schools have a unique role to play in creating a more active and healthy lifestyle (Castelli et al., 2015; Let's Move!, 2016). Beyond the well documented positive benefits of regular physical activity such as improved circulation and stronger muscles and bones, more school divisions seem to be embracing this brain-body connection and some have shown an interest in developing physically active classrooms and researchers have even documented the reduction in students' time off-task as well as improved attention and overall behavior particularly following a physical activity break or recess (Trost, 2009).

Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, launched a national collaborative in early 2013 to improve the health of our nation's youth by bringing education, health, government, non-profit, and private business leaders together to promote physical activity in as many of the 130,000 K-12 schools across the United States as possible, moving away from a siloed approach to combating staggering physical inactivity and obesity statistics. Since its inception, Let's Move! Active Schools has evolved by partnering with 30 prominent organizations to promote the daily goal of students accumulating 60 minutes of physical activity before, during, and after school. Currently, more than 14% of U.S. schools, mostly located in southern cities with higher percentages of students receiving free and reduced lunch and with a significant number of African-American students have enrolled in the program. In the recent 2016 publication, Let's Move! Active Schools Progress Report, several positive outcomes based on related research were highlighted including better school attendance, improved attention, behavior and test performance, and less off-task behavior.

Physical activity during the school day is listed as one of five important components of the Let's Move! Active Schools program and Korbey (2014) recently reported on the use of standing desks (see image 1 below) as a positive alternative to the "sit down and be quiet" structure of most classrooms by highlighting the findings of Mark Benden, Associate Professor at Texas A&M Health Science Center, who concluded that students (especially obese students) burned more calories, showed larger improvements in attention and were more engaged as noted by how often students looked at the teacher, were distracted by a peer, or made notes on their paperwork. The use of standing desks combined with wobble chairs, and stability balls has grown in popularity and appears to have positive anecdotal and intuitive support from teachers who are using these innovative pieces of equipment (Korbey, 2014).

In summary, after conducting a review of numerous scholarly articles, progress reports and research briefs, it is clear that the evolving association connecting physical activity and academic performance is increasingly being investigated by educational researchers and neuroscientists alike. While conducting their systematic review of relevant studies, Castelli et al. (2014) concluded the following:

Given the body of evidence suggesting that healthy children learn better, the continued rigorous study of the link between physical activity and academic performance, along with a targeted dissemination of results, must transpire for teaching and learning to be maximized (p. 140).

References

Castelli, D., Centeio, E., Hwang, J., Barcelona, J., Glowacki, E., Calvert, H., ... Nicksic, H. (2014, December). The history of physical activity and academic performance research: Informing the future. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 79(4), 119-148. Retrieved June 8, 2016, from Education Research Complete database.

Castelli, D., Glowacki, E., Barcelona, J., Calvert, H., & Hwang, J. (2015, January). Active education: Growing evidence on physical activity and academic performance research brief. Active Living Research, Retrieved June 6, 2016, from http:// activelivingresearch.org/sites/default/files/ALR_Brief_ActiveEducation_Jan2015.pdf

Ehrlich, G. (2008, October). Health = performance. American School Board Journal, 195(10), 42-44. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from Education Research Complete database.

Fiore, N. (2014, August 8). The benefits of movement in schools. Message posted to http://www.creativitypost.com/education/ the_benefits_of_movement_in_schools.

Korbey, H. (2014, October 21). How standing desks can help students focus in the classroom. Message posted to http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/10/21/how-standingdesks-can-help-students-focus-in-the-classroom/Let's Move!. (2016, March). Let's move! active schools progress report. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/ static/53b1a843e4b0dcbabf4b4b85/t/56f6ec77ab48de2c7c 1 779ab/1459101694419/LMAS+Annual+Progress+Report_Published+March+2016.pdf

SHAPE America. (2016). 2016 Shape of the nation report. Retrieved from http://www.shapeamerica.org/advocacy/ son/2016/upload/Shape-of-the-Nation-2016_web.pdf

Shelton, S. (2009). Mind games: Let's play with the evolving association between academic achievement and physical activity. The Virginia Journal, 30(1), 4-7.

Trost, S. G. (2009, Summer). Active education: Physical education, physical activity and academic performance research brief. Active Living Research, Retrieved June 10, 2016, from http:// activelivingresearch.org/liles/ALR_Brief_ActiveEducation_ Summer2009.pdf

Steve Shelton, M.S., Instructor, Physical and Health Education Teaching, Radford University

Caption: Image 1