Schulz 1

Raelee Schulz

ENG 1101

Zachary Gregory

1 December, 2018

Physical Activity and Physical Education Can Positively Affect Academic Performance

Can physical activity and physical education make you smarter? Scientists and

Psychologists have been studying the effects of physical education and physical activity for

years. Scientists have discovered that physical activity and education can have positive effects

mostly in academic performance and how the students perform in the classroom. There has also

been reports of less students dropping out if they do sports. The results were consistent

throughout the ages of the students. They studied students from elementary school to division

one colleges. Most of the articles I found do not have all positive outcomes but the ratio of

positive to negative is big. There were different factors that went into the studies such as

motivation, subject, sports, and background.

As a student athlete myself, sometimes I find it hard to balance school and sports.

Sometimes the amount of time I have committed to sports can interfere with my school work. In

the online article, OPINION: High school sports have become overwhelming for students, Vince

Caruso, states his opinion on how high school sports are mentally and physically demanding.

This puts a lot of stress on the students as they have to prepare for tryouts, practice almost every

day of the week, and perform in the game. As all this is happening, student athletes want to

outdo their peers. Student athletes have a lot of commitment to school and sports; it can be

overwhelming to balance and choose which one the student athlete wants to focus on.
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Sports require hard work and motivation to be able to be successful. Student athletes have

to balance sport and school. Luckily, studies have shown that there is a positive relationship

between playing sports and how well the students perform in the classroom. Physical activity and

physical education can teach people a lot more than commitment and motivation. It has been

proven to help academic performance. In the article , Physical Education, School Physical

Activity, School Sports and Academic Performance, it explains that in middle-school aged

students it can have a negative effect for some students in English, however the author reported

that only two students had negative outcomes. François Trudeau states in the article, “In 6,923

grade 6 New Brunswick children (age 11 years), PA showed a weak inverse association with

academic achievement, but a positive association with self-esteem. [28] A study on 232 English

boys and girls (13–16 years old) found no relationship between self-reported PA and GPA.

Moreover, in children aged 13, 14, or 16 years, the duration of PA was negatively correlated with

marks for English (r = -0.29 to -0.30). [29] To our knowledge, these are the only 2 studies to

observe negative associations between PA (but not PE) and academic achievement.”(5). The

author states all of the effects that happened and out of the 6,923 studied, only two had negative

outcomes. This article focuses on physical activity, not physical education. The overall effect of

the study was that there was a positive correlation between physical activity and academic

achievement. Physical activity also helped boost students self- esteem constantly throughout the

study.

In the article , The association between school-based physical activity, including physical

education, and academic performance: a systematic review of the literature, the author explains

how most of the student had at least one positive outcome of the study. The author states,

“Twenty-two of the studies (69%) reported at least one positive outcome as part of their primary
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findings. Only three studies reported negative outcomes.”(Rasberry). In this article and the

previous one, they both address that there were some negative effects that some of the students

studied had. They also address that there were more positive than negative outcomes throughout

their findings. This helps suggest that there is a correlation between physical activity and

physical education on academic performance.

In the article, Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: Helping All Students

Achieve 60 Minutes of Physical Activity Each Day, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation &

Dance, is about how 60 minutes of physical activity can help the students in multiple ways. The

author states “However, between grade 8 and 12, the school drop-out rate for adolescents of both

sexes is reduced by sport participation. ” (13). By participating in a sport it has been proven to

reduce the rate of students dropping out. This leads to further education which makes the student

have better academic performance than those who dropped out.

College students were also studied on the relationship between academic performance

and physical activity. The Factor Structure and Reliability of the Student Athletes' Motivation

toward Sports and Academics Questionnaire, In this article they studied 236 student-athletes in

the Midwest. All of the students were part of a division 1 school.”The literature supports that

female athletes have less difficulty balancing academic and athletic tasks, and therefore perform

better academically than their male counterparts (Simons et al., 1999; Watt & Moore, 2001).

This is likely because female athletes are more willing and able than other groups of athletes

to transfer the skills that they use to be successful in the athletic domain, such as effort

and time on task, to the academic domain, perhaps because there are fewer opportunities

for females to play at the professional level .”(Gaston-Gayles ). They wanted to study the

relationship between motivation and academic and athletic successes. They studied several
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factors throughout the study. First, the author studied the motivation that the students had and

figured out the “alpha”. After the study the authors have determined that sports can have a

greater positive effect on female student athletes. For the student to be able to achieve

academically and physically, they need to be motivated, academic advisors are a big help when it

comes to being on track with everything. In the article, a factor that was studied was the reasons

for academic failures; whether it was not studying, anxiety, or lack of effort. The author has

charts and diagrams that helps the reader understand each students results.

Scientists and Psychologists have studied the relationship between physical activity and

education and how it relates to academic performance. There were several factors that were

considered when they studied the student athletes. These factors could lead to negative outcomes

on the studies of the correlation between sports and academic performance. Their studies have

proven that physical activity and physical education can indeed boost academic performance.

Even though there was some negative results through the studies, it has been proven that physical

activity and physical education can positively affect academic performance throughout the ages

of students.

Works Cited

Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs: Helping All Students Achieve 60 Minutes of

Physical Activity Each Day, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 84:9, 9-15,

DOI: 10.1080/07303084.2013.838105
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Gaston-Gayles, Joy L. "The Factor Structure and Reliability of the Student Athletes' Motivation

toward Sports and Academics Questionnaire (SAMSAQ)." Journal of College Student

Development, vol. 46 no. 3, 2005, pp. 317-327. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/csd.2005.0025

“OPINION: High School Sports Have Become Overwhelming for Students.” The Bradford, 27

Nov. 2015, whsbradford.org/opinion-hs-sports-overwhelming/.

Rasberry, Catherine N., et al. "The association between school-based physical activity, including

physical education, and academic performance: a systematic review of the literature." Preventive

medicine 52 (2011): S10-S20.

Trudeau, François, and Roy J. Shephard. "Physical education, school physical activity, school

sports and academic performance." International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical

Activity 5.1 (2008): 10.