Carlene Quock
EDUC 451
January 25, 2017
Annotated Bibliography
Alhassan, S. Nwaokelemeh, O., Mendoza, A., Shitole, S., Pueleo, E., Pfeiffer, K.A., & Whitt-
Glover, M.C. (2016). Feasibility and effects of Short Activity Breaks for Increasing Preschool-Age Children’s Physical Activity Levels. Journal of School Health, 86 (7), 526-533.
The authors in this study analyze the benefits of short daily physical activity of preschoolers in the United States. The portion of the journal that I will use in my inquiry is a qualitative research into short physical breaks throughout the day to enhance children’s learning. The strengths that I see in this resource is that the topic of focus is on the feasibility of the incorporation of such activities; in addition, the study emphasizes the importance of implementing daily short physical activities at the early preschool age for lasting benefits. The study highlighted that few studies before this one has focused specifically on changing children’s or teacher’s views and behavior toward short bursts of physical activity throughout the day. Although my inquiry into brain breaks is focused on elementary school aged children I find this information relevant as preschool is the introduction to a school environment. Furthermore, I can use the findings of this study as a point of ongoing reference for the perpetuating benefits of short daily physical activity in what I refer to as brain breaks throughout my inquiry research. I did not find any weaknesses in this study; however, I feel that a challenge for me would be the many acronyms that I have to constantly refer to make sense of the study.
Bobe, Gerd. (2014). Brain Breaks: Physical Activity in the Classroom for Elementary School
Children. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour. 46 (4), S141.
The article is a review of the “Brain Breaks” exercise DVD in promoting physical activity in the classroom of elementary school students. This review found that certain parts of the DVD was played more than others which were the relaxation and stretching segments and this was done at least 2-3 times per week on average. Teachers reported that the students looked forward to the brain breaks and were engaged throughout. I found only one weakness of this resource which is the short length of the article; however, the content of the short review contains very useful information that will be beneficial to my inquiry into the benefits of brain breaks for the student and teacher. I found that the information on the teachers’ preference for the relaxation segment a great transition from physical brain breaks to a more meditative or relaxation form of brain breaks that I plan to address in my inquiry research.
Hibbs, N. (2016). Incorporating daily physical activity in kindergarten children with disabilities:
Effect on classroom behavior and activity engagement (Order No. 10171360). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1826829672). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/1826829672?accountid=14656
The paper gives emphasis on the positive impacts on the overall classroom behaviors by implementing 4 short 5 minute breaks to help improve students’ classroom engagement. I completely agree with the author when she states that educators play an important role in implementing these short structured daily physical activities. The resource is beneficial to my inquiry in that it focuses on the inclusion of children with disabilities in daily physical activities within the classroom and the school setting. One of the major strengths of this article is the suggestions and practical tips on how to set an environment of inclusion for the physical engagement of students with specific disabilities who can often feel left out or have less options when it comes to daily physical activities. Another strength of the paper is the many quality resources that was used by the author to write this dissertation; moreover, I concluded that her choice in resources can lead me in the right direction for additional resources for my own inquiry. The research concluded that there is definitely a positive link between the short daily physical activities throughout the day and the classroom engagement of students with disabilities; however, the author suggests that further research One challenge that I see in using this resource is the total length of 200 pages but the quality of the thoroughness of this research seems promising as a valid resource for my inquiry.
Hinton, M. (2016). Does More Playground Time Equal Classroom Success?. Education Week
35(27), 8.
This resource takes an informal approach to the inquiry into the benefits of short daily physical activities on school aged children in the way of a blog. The strength I see for this resource and its relevance to my inquiry is that it is delivered via a great online platform called Education Weekly that allows for the sharing of current events and issues in education. Platforms like the one mentioned allows student teachers, such as myself, access to recent information on education to help us with keeping up-to-date on the innovations of education. However, this platform is not considered an academic source but I feel that it is still relevant to my inquiry because the research into the topic of my inquiry is delivered to the audience through various lenses of inquiry. In this way it benefits my inquiry research in that it gives me a variety of perspectives to work with, to compare and contrast, etc. However, I have observed a common factor among my sources in that they all come from the United States.
Perera, T., Frei, S., Frei, B., & Bobe, G. (2015). Promoting Physical Activity in Elementary
Schools: Needs Assessment and a Pilot Study of Brain Breaks. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(15), 55-64.
This resource is a study that focuses on the idea of brain breaks and how it has proven to be beneficial to students’ overall health, academic performance and classroom engagement. The study had three objectives: the first one was the assessment of the current physical activity of public schools in Oregon which found that 92% did not meet the recommendation of daily physical activity; second objective found that the teachers in the specific schools in the study were evaluated based on their preferences for increasing the physical activity amongst their students; and the third objective was a follow up survey that included an exercise DVD to help promote daily brain breaks. The study concluded that the teachers perceived that the Brain Breaks provided their students with and increased beneficial amount of daily physical activity, their concentration, and teachers intended to continue the use of Brain Breaks. I found this source completely relevant more than all the other resources in that it used the same language that I use in my inquiry in describing the short physical activities. The only weakness of the study I found was the small number of teachers that responded via the follow-up survey. Overall, I think this would provide me with accurate and useful information for my inquiry research.