2024-04-25 17:01:12
“It’s impossible to stay focused on a task for 80 minutes straight without becoming mentally distracted and losing focus. But giving students a short break and getting them moving for a few minutes can help them refocus on the lesson and hopefully become more productive. I know this from my own experience. » said in a press release, Scott M. Hayes, professor of psychology at Ohio State University (Scott M. Hayes).
Those who lived through Soviet times probably remember physical education sessions in schools and industrial gymnastics in enterprises, which were widely used in the Soviet Union to improve productivity, relieve fatigue and prevent health problems among schoolchildren and employees. Such exercise breaks might last from two to three to five to ten minutes and included simple exercises such as head tilts, body rotations, and walking in place.
However, according to Hayes, he was inspired not by Soviet practice, but by a study of his colleagues, in which they spoke regarding the positive experience of using physical education breaks during one of the video lectures. The professor decided to go further and test the method in face-to-face classes throughout the academic semester.
The “test subjects” were students in four of Hayes’ psychology courses, making a total of 223 students. One or two five-minute exercise breaks were scheduled during each of the 80-minute lectures, in front of an audience of 20 to 93 people.
Before the experiment began, Hayes divided the students into small groups and asked each to create five-minute sets of exercises, which were then used during physical education minutes. The instructors were themselves students. According to the professor, he deliberately involved the teachers so that they would absorb the idea and become more interested in the process.
As the teacher admitted, at first the physical education minutes were a little awkward, but then the students got used to them and got the hang of it. Some of the exercises included were jumping jacks, back presses, and stretches. Hayes previously evaluated them for feasibility and safety. A group of students even got creative and created a set simulating apple picking in an orchard. During the exercises, you had to stand up and bend over, as if you were picking fruit from a tree and placing it in a basket.
In an anonymous follow-up survey conducted at the end of the semester, students responded positively to practice breaks, noting that they helped improve attention and motivation and generally made classes more engaging. Students also said they would like more physical education classes.
At work, published In the magazine Frontiers of sport and active lifeHayes did not examine whether the technique affected student performance, because such a study would require comparing different groups of students with different teachers and different class schedules.
Nevertheless, the results of the experiment showed that breaks for physical education certainly have a positive effect and that the technique can be used in face-to-face classes at universities. In addition, additional physical activity will benefit the health of students who spend most of the day in a sitting position, the dangers of which doctors constantly point out. They say.
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