School: Can better PE lessons help improve your maths?

On your marks, get set, wait! Should PE lessons change to more challenging lessons such as martial arts or dance?

A new study suggests that better quality PE lessons can result in small improvements in a student's ability to learn other subjects at school.

Researchers searched through previous studies on children's PE lessons from across the globe.

The results suggested that sports and activities that were more challenging, such as dance and martial arts, had a better effect on children's learning in other academic-based classes, mainly maths, compared to less challenging activities.

What do you like doing during PE lessons? Let us know in the comments section.

The study claims that lessons where students took dance or martial arts, those students could find it easier to learn in other lessons

The study

The team consisted of researchers from all over the world who were challenged with searching through databases of older studies. The aim was to try and find ways to improve PE lessons by looking at the number of lessons a student gets and the quality of the lesson.

They searched through data for 9000 children from 19 studies across the globe.

To get these results, researchers had to search through data from across the globe!

The results

The team found that children, mainly primary school pupils, who had better quality PE lessons, performed better in other classes.

Results indicated that school children did better in their maths classes when they'd had PE lessons which included high-intensity fitness activities or sports - for example dance and martial arts.

However, more doesn't equal better. The study highlights that it's specifically PE lessons that are more complex and have more challenging activities that make a difference, rather than simply boosting the amount of PE lessons a student has!