#Exerciseandlearning

A brief, classroom-friendly burst of high-intensity exercise — nine minutes of high-knee marching, jumping jacks, lunges and squats performed as 30-second activity/30-second rest intervals — improved children’s scores on a standardized verbal comprehension test and reduced brain signals linked to fixation on mistakes, according to a new pilot study. (Psychology of Sport & Exercise abstract) (Newsmax report). The findings suggest a low-cost, low-disruption strategy that Thai teachers could embed in classrooms to sharpen attention before high-stakes testing.

Groundbreaking study reveals brief classroom movement breaks improve verbal comprehension and reduce anxiety-related brain patterns

In Thailand’s intensely competitive educational environment, where O-NET scores determine student futures and school reputations, teachers constantly seek advantages that might boost academic performance. New research from the University of North Carolina provides a surprisingly simple solution: nine minutes of classroom-friendly exercise before testing can significantly improve student performance while reducing brain patterns associated with test anxiety.

A simple 9-minute movement break before tests may improve Thai students’ verbal comprehension and reduce anxiety-related brain patterns, new research suggests. The study, conducted with children aged 9-12, found that brief in-class high-intensity intervals improved performance on verbal tasks while decreasing neural signals linked to worry over mistakes.

Researchers from a leading university conducted six bodyweight exercises—such as high-knee marching, jumping jacks, air squats, and lunges—for 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, in a typical classroom setting with no equipment. After the movement, students completed verbal comprehension tests while EEG monitored brain activity. Results showed faster, more accurate responses and lower error-related negativity, a brain marker associated with attentional lapses and anxiety during testing.