My Study Findings: GoNoodle "Brain Breaks" Can Improve the Behavior of Some Students

In my action research project, I sought to answer two questions: Will starting a lesson with a “Brain Break” from the website GoNoodle reduce the frequencies of off-task behaviors during the lesson that follows? Secondly, which, if any, types of physical activities offered in GoNoodle “Brain Breaks” are most effective at reducing off-task behaviors? In order to answer these questions, I focused on three observable and common off-task behaviors: sitting inappropriately (in any way that was not taught and reinforced as an option; this included looking down or away from the teacher for 3 seconds or more), talking to the class without permission, and talking to a fellow student without permission. I developed a simple frequency count recording tool in order to track the number of each behavior per student during a lesson.

For the control, I video-recorded three afternoon writing lessons with no prior physical activity and used the observational tool for each lesson to count the frequencies of each off-task behavior for each student. I then averaged the number of each behavior per student to use as a comparison. Then for 11 weeks, I began each lesson with a “Brain Break”. In the eleventh week, I again video-recorded three lessons that followed a “Brain Break”. For each of these lessons, I choose a different type of physical activity in order to compare their effects. The three types I chose were: yoga-like stretches, high-tempo free dance and high-intensity calisthenics.

My study’s findings were very surprising. At first, when I used a t test to compare all of the students’ data from the control lessons with the data from the intervention lessons, there was no significant difference, which means that overall the “Brain Breaks” did not affect student behavior. When I compared each of the three physical activities with the control data, again there was no significant effect. However, when I used a t test to compare the frequencies of each target behavior separately, I found there was a significant reduction in sitting inappropriately, which might indicate that the “Brain Breaks” do affect some off-task behaviors. The other two behaviors were not significantly reduced.

Also, when I divided my participants by gender and ran a t test on each gender group, I found that the off-task behaviors of boys were significantly reduced but not of the girls. When I broke down the data even further by gender and by type of physical activity, I found that none of the three activities had a significant effect on female behaviors. However, for the male participants, both the high-tempo free dance and the high-intensity calisthenics had significant effects in reducing off-task behaviors. The yoga-like stretches had no significant effect on either group.

I also wanted to see if the “Brain Breaks” affected the students with greater frequencies of off-task behaviors differently than their peers. I compared the effect of the interventions only on the quartile of students with the highest numbers of off-task behaviors during the control lessons. At first, I found no significant effect. However, I noticed one student was an outlier. Her off-task behaviors were especially high during all three of the intervention lessons, which may have been for reasons unrelated to the intervention. For example, maybe she was just having a rough week. When I removed that students’ data from the group and replaced it with a student with the next highest frequency of off-task behaviors, I found a significant reduction in off-task behaviors for the group.

It would seem that some of the “Brain Breaks” can be effective in reducing the off-task behaviors of some students. In this case, the off-task behaviors of boys and of the students with the greatest frequencies of off-task behaviors were reduced. As seen in some of the studies reviewed in this blog (Gestsdottir, et al., 2014; Matthews, McClelland, Morrison, & Ponitz, 2009; McClelland, Acock & Morrison, 2006), students with higher frequencies of off-task behaviors in kindergarten are more likely to struggle academically, both in kindergarten and in later elementary years. The findings of my study suggest that “Brain Breaks” could be an effective tool for reducing off-task behaviors for this group of students, which may lead to better academic outcomes.

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend the use of “Brain Breaks” from GoNoodle for elementary teachers. These physical activities are free to access and require no teacher training. It is very user-friendly, and the activities themselves are facilitated by actors or animated characters. Most students love the “Brain Breaks” and request them. The findings of this study suggest that these activities offer more than just a fun break from instruction but also can have real benefits for some students and their learning.

A Study Examines the Connections Between Gender, Behavior and Achievement

A longitudinal study of preschool and first year students in Germany, Iceland and France sought to find out whether children’s levels of behavioral self-regulation was correlated with academic achievement (one to two years later) and whether there were significant gender differences in the abilities of student to self-regulate their behavior. This study followed 79 French students, 70 German students and 111 Icelandic students, all of whom were about five to six years old at the start of the study. The French and German students were in preschool in the first phase of the study, and the Icelandic students were in their first year of school. All of these students had attended some kind of preschool prior to the study. For the second phase of the study, in which students’ academic achievement was assessed, all of the students were in a more structured, formal school setting.

Two measures were used to assess students’ levels of behavioral self-regulation. The Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders, or HTKS, test was used to rate students’ levels of self-regulation. This test, in which students have to do the opposite of what the instructor says, assesses several elements of behavioral self-regulation: attention, short-term memory, and control of inhibitions. Student self-regulation was also determined by teacher ratings. In France, the Q-EM questionnaire was used for teacher ratings, and in Germany and Iceland, teachers rated student self-regulation using the Child Behavior Rating Scale.

The researchers used a multilevel model to determine the relationship between the HTKS test of self-regulation and achievement. They found that higher levels of behavioral self-regulation correlated with higher achievement in math in France and higher performance in word reading in Germany. However, no significant relationship was found with any of the other academic measures. Nonetheless, the teacher ratings of behavioral self-regulation were significantly related to academic achievement on all of the measures. The researchers believe that the teacher ratings offered a more valid measure of behavioral self-regulation than the HTKS test in this case because student behavior in a complex classroom setting may be different than during a structured test like the HTKS.

As far as whether there was a relationship between student gender and behavioral self-regulation, in the results from French and German students no such relationship was found. However, for Icelandic students, boys had lower scores both on the HTKS test and on teacher ratings than girls.

Researchers are not certain why this gender gap was found only in Iceland, but they speculate that the reasons may be related to the degree of structure that students had been exposed to in the different countries as well as the sample age of students. In France, students are exposed to a more structured learning environment at a younger age. Therefore, the French participants were more likely to have already practiced and developed behavioral self-regulation regardless of gender. In Iceland, however, the curriculum was more play-centered. Research on play in early childhood has found that boys engage in less organized play, whereas girls’ play tends to have more structure and promotes self-regulation. Therefore, Icelandic students that engaged more in free play are more likely to experience a gender difference in behavioral self-regulation when compared to French students that have had more exposure to a structured environment. However, this explanation does not extend to German students who also had a more unstructured learning environment but did not experience the same gender gap as Icelandic students.

Another possible explanation is that the average age of the Icelandic students was older. It could be that differences in behavioral self-regulation of the genders become more pronounced with age and that a similar correlation would be found with French and German students as they got older.

Regardless of gender, this study demonstrates a strong relationship between teacher ratings of behavioral self-regulation in all three countries and student achievement. This study has shown, once again, that young students that are better able to regulate their behavior are also more likely to succeed academically.

Gestsdottir, S., von Suchodoletz, A., Wanless, S. B., Hubert, B., Guimard, P., Birgisdottir, F., Gunzenhauser, C., & McClelland, M. (2014). Early behavioral self-regulation, academic achievement, and gender: Longitudinal findings from France, Germany, and Iceland. Applied Developmental Science, 18(2), 90-109. doi: 10.1080/10888691.2014.894870