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.