TITLE:
Active Breaks and Motor Competencies Development in Primary School: A Systematic Review
AUTHORS:
Dario Colella, Domenico Monacis, Pierpaolo Limone
KEYWORDS:
Active Breaks, Primary School, Physical Activity, Academic Performance, Ex-ecutive Functions
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.10 No.3,
August
6,
2020
ABSTRACT: The integration of physical activity into the school day is a key aspect
for the promotion of “comprehensive school physical activity programs”. The
proposal of physical activity breaks, known
as “Active Breaks” may provide an opportunity to extend the practice of
motor activity during curricular hours, alternating too many sedentary moments
with short-term physical activity. The aim
was to determine the effectiveness of Active Breaks use on motor performance,
cognitive engagement and psychological correlates of primary school children.
The PRISMA protocol was used to conduct a systematic review of EBSCOhost,
PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 16 articles met inclusion criteria (Active Breaks
based Intervention, a quantitative-qualitative analysis between factors
included, participants aged 4 to 12 years). Studies based on extracurricular
activities, literature reviews, lectures, monographs, dissertations and similar documents were excluded. Results
evidence: 1) moderate impact of active breaks in increasing MVPA physical
activity levels; 2) low efficacy about cardiorespiratory fitness improvement,
and BMI management; 3) moderate improvement in cognitive engagement, positive
attitude towards physical activity, perceived self-efficacy and behavior in the classroom. The integration of Active Breaks
during the school day contributes to reconsider the pedagogical and
didactic impact of the bodily-motor experiences.
However, future researches on a rational application and intervention strategies are necessary to
evaluate impact and efficacy on didactic process.