Martin & Murtagh, 2015

Limerick, Ireland

N = 28, M = 14, F = 14;

Age = 8 - 9 years;

1 teacher, age = 33 years

Evaluates the effects of a behaviour change intervention, which encourages the integration of physical activity into the teaching of academic lessons, on physical activity levels of students.

Two active intervention lessons (one English and one Mathematics) lasting an average of 18 min (5.5% of the school day)

5 days

Accelerometers, Toy Box (adapted from Androutsos et al., 2014 )

The teacher and students were very satisfied with the programme. Therefore, changing teacher behavior towards using physically active teaching methods is a promising way of increasing children’s physical activity levels.

de Greeff et al., 2016a

Netherlands

N = 388; Age = 8.1 ± 0.7 years;

EG = 181;

CG = 195;

Investigate effects of physically active academic lessons on body mass index (BMI) and physical fitness in primary school children

Physically active academic lessons for 22 weeks

22 weeks

Test Eurofit (Adam et al., 1988)

Positive effects on BMI in third-grade children, but had no effects on cardiovascular and muscular fitness.

de Greeff et al., 2016b

Netherlands

N = 499, M = 226, F = 273;

Age = 8.1 ± 0.7 years;

EG = 249;

CG = 250;

Investigate the effects of physically active academic lessons on cardiovascular fitness, muscular

fitness and executive functions

Physically active academic lessons for 2 consecutive school years, 22 weeks per year, three times a week, with a duration of 20 - 30 min per lesson

2 years

Test Eurofit

(Adam et al., 1988)

Golden Stroop (Strauss, Sherman, & Spreen, 2006) , Digit span backward and Visual span backward

(Wechsler, 1987) , M-WCST

(Cianchetti, Corona, & Foscoliano, 2007)

Larger improvement in speed-coordination and a lower improvement in static strength for the intervention group compared with the control group.

No significant change in executive functions.

Schmidt, Benzing, & Kamer, 2016

Bern, Switzerland

N = 92;

Age = 11.77 ± 0.41 years

Disentangle the separate and/or combined effects of physical exertion and cognitive engagement induced by physical activity breaks on primary school children’s attention

4 experimental conditions: 1) combo group (physical activity with high cognitive demands), 2) cognition group (sedentary with high cognitive demands), 3) physical group (physical activity with

low cognitive demands), and 4) control group (sedentary with low cognitive demands)

3 weeks

D2-R test (Brickenkamp & Zillmer, 1998) ;

PANSAS-C short version, (Ebesutani et al., 2012) ; Borg Scale (Borg, 1998)

Positive affect during the interventions mediated the effect between cognitive engagement and focused attention as well as between cognitive engagement and processing speed. Cognitive engagement was the crucial factor leading to increased focused attention and enhanced processing speed.