Smart Jocks: Sports Helps Kids Classroom Performance (preview)

September 9, 2010, 10:00 am by Scientific American: Health

Despite frequent reports that regular exercise benefits the adult brain, when it comes to schoolchildren, the concept of the dumb jock persists. The star quarterback stands in stark contrast to the math-team champion. After all, the two types require seemingly disparate talents: physical prowess versus intellect. Letting kids run around or throw a ball seems, at best, tangential to the real work of learning and, at worst, a distraction from it.Parents, teachers and education policy makers have pitted athletics against academics even as they trumpet exercise as an antidote to obesity and poor health. From preschool onward, teachers encourage children to sit still rather than scamper. Many schools have cut back on physical education to make room for the three R’s. And when student scores on standardized tests become of primary importance to parents, politicians or other stakeholders in the education system, educators may feel pressured to direct students toward academic pursuits and away from athletic ones. [More] Education - Standardized test - Teacher - Child - Products and Services

Read the full article

More from Scientific American: Health

#SciAmBlogs Monday - Coelacanths, Lake Vostok, neuronal transplants, #scio12, San Diego Demonoid, and more....
Scientific American: Health : February 7, 2012, 12:10 pm
Welcome back from the weekend. Check out the new Image of the Week first! Then see what the bloggers have published lately: - Lucas Brouwers – Coelacanths

Editor's Selections: Blood Tests for Depression, the Axolotl, Dopamine, and The Bachelor
Scientific American: Health : February 7, 2012, 11:00 am
Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week. [More]

Sticky bacteria and the benefits of staying still
Scientific American: Health : February 7, 2012, 4:19 am
I’ve written before about the many ways that bacteria can move around. Considering that they’re just one cell long, micro-organisms have a whole range of ways to travel through their

The Brain is one Awesomely Complicated Piece of Meat
Scientific American: Health : February 6, 2012, 11:29 am
Image of the Week #29, February 6th, 2012: [More]

Let's Ban Research That Makes the Bird-Flu Virus and Other Pathogens Deadlier
Scientific American: Health : February 6, 2012, 7:24 am
In my classes, I often ask my students to wrestle with what I call damned-if-you-do-or-don’t dilemmas, which offer no easy solutions. Every choice would pose certain risks and violate one valued principle