Review of Interventions in Physical Activity for the Improvement of Executive Functions and Academic Performance in Kindergarten

Abstract

Recent research has shown that continued physical activity (PA) has benefits on academic performance in students at different stages, the kindergarten stage being the least studied one. The aim of this research was to study and synthesise the existing relation between PA practice and the improvement of executive functions and academic performance in kindergarten, giving an overview of the current state of the question. To do so, a systematic review was carried out, focusing on identifying the general characteristics and effectiveness of intervention programmes conducted in this educational context. For the development of the study, a search of scientific literature was carried out in the Web of Science (WOS), Scopus and Proquest databases. "Physical activity", "academic achievement"and "preschool"were used simultaneously as key terms, "and"and "or"as Boolean operators, and a valid sample of a total of 18 scientific articles was set for the qualitative synthesis of this study. The results of the study indicate that there is a positive association between the integration of PA in the classroom and the improvement of executive functions and academic results, regardless of the curriculum content studied and the type of PA used. Thus, integrating PA into the classroom (as physically active lessons or active breaks) can be an important strategy to improve early literacy and curriculum content learning, while achieving PA levels close to the daily recommended levels.