Effects of the Inclusion of Physical Activity in Secondary School Academic Classes: the ACTIVE CLASS Study

Effects of the Inclusion of Physical Activity in Secondary School Academic Classes on Educational Indicators and Health Markers: the ACTIVE CLASS Study

Study based on the inclusion of physical activity in the secondary education classroom through active breaks and physically active learning, aimed at testing its effects on the improvement of physical activity levels, sedentary time, educational indicators, cognition and physical and psychological health markers.

The ACTIVE CLASS is a randomized controlled study coordinated by fully qualified researchers in the physical activity and sport sciences from two universities [University of Cadiz (UCA) and University of Extremadura (UEX), Spain]. This study is aimed at 7th and 8th grade students (11-13 years old), belonging to 6 schools in Spain (3 schools in Cadiz and 3 schools in Caceres). One school from each study region will be randomly assigned to one of the three intervention groups:

(i) Active breaks intervention: there will be 2 active breaks per day, 5 days a week of moderate-vigorous physical activity with a duration of 5 minutes.

(ii) Physically active learning intervention: Once a week, moderate-vigorous physical activity will be included in the academic lessons of the mathematics subject.

(iii) Control group.

The interventions will have a duration of 16 weeks. The different outcome measures (physical activity and sedentary behavior, health-related physical fitness, psychological health, academic indicators, cognition, motivational variables, dietary patterns, sociodemographic characteristics and qualitative information) will be evaluated at 3 time points:

1. Pre-intervention
2. Post-intervention
3. Retention measure (this measure will be conducted four weeks after the intervention to analyze the sustainability of the intervention program)

All measures will be assessed at each time point with the exception of qualitative information which will be assessed only in the post-intervention measure.

At the end of the intervention the researchers will determine the changes of the main outcome variables. Likewise, the main hypotheses raised will be:

1. A physically active learning intervention and active breaks will result in improved physical activity levels and decreased sedentary time.
2. A physically active learning intervention and active breaks will produce improvements in markers of physical and psychological health.
3. The inclusion of physical activity in academic classes will result in improved academic indicators and cognitive markers.
4. A physically active learning intervention and active breaks will produce improvements on motivational variables in academic classes.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adolescents who are studying 7th or 8th grade
• Adolescents with the informed consent signed by family/tutor
• Schools with at least 60 students enrolled in 7th and/or 8th grade
• Schools belonging to the regions of Cáceres and Cádiz

Exclusion Criteria:

• Adolescents who have a physical disability or health condition that could limit physical activity levels
• Schools participating in any other physical activity or health promotion program