Infusing Physical Activities Into the Classroom: Effects on Preschool Children's Geography Learning

In this intervention study, we investigated the effects of physical activities that were integrated into a geography task on preschool children's learning performance and enjoyment. Eight childcare centers with 87 four‐to‐five‐year‐old children were randomly assigned across an integrated physical activity condition, an unintegrated physical activity condition, and a control condition without physical activity. Children learned the names and a typical animal from each of the six continents using a floor‐mounted world map with soft toy animals. Both learning conditions with physical activities showed higher performance than the learning condition without physical activities on an immediate retention test, and on a delayed retention test administered five weeks later. In addition, children in the physical activity conditions (integrated and nonintegrated) enjoyed their learning method the most. Infusing task‐relevant physical activities into the classroom and the learning task is discussed as a promising way to improve children's learning, enjoyment, and health.     

Predicting academic achievement of Greek secondary school Students from family background and California Psychological Inventory scores

Family background data and California Psychological Inventory (CPI) protocols were obtained from 1643 Greek students (825 males, 818 females), from 19 schools in upper, above average, below average, and lower socioeconomic districts of the City of Athens. Students were enrolled in Grades 8 and 9 (gymnasio) or 10 through 12 (likio). Background variables, individual CPI scales, and a combination of six CPI scales developed earlier to forecast high school academic achievement in the United States were related to the scholastic performance of the Greek students. For all 1643 students, the optimum linear combination of three family background variables correlated .29 with grades, whereas the previously defined CPI equation had a correlation of .38. Similar results were observed in subsamples defined by sex and school level. It was concluded that the CPI measures showed sufficient validity in this cross-cultural application to warrant further research at higher educational levels, and in special subgroups such as the intellectually gifted or mathematically precocious.