General intelligence was associated with academic achievement but not fitness in adolescents after one year

Meta-analysis of a moderate-to-vigorous physical activity intervention for academic achievement in children and adolescents

BACKGROUND

To analyze the intervention effect of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on the academic performance of children and adolescents.

METHODS

Experimental studies on the effects of MVPA on the academic performance of children and adolescents were comprehensively searched in Web of Science, China Knowledge Network and other databases, and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool was used to assess the quality of the literature, and the Meta-analysis was performed by Review Manager 5.3.

RESULTS

1) A total of 11 high-quality literature were included, including 4552 subjects; 2) MVPA had a positive effect on the academic performance of children and adolescents (SMD=0.24; 95 %CI:0.13, 0.35, P<0.0001), with differences in the effect of different subjects, and the mathematics has the best effect (SMD=0.23; 95 %CI:0.11, 0.34, P≤0.0001), followed by reading (SMD=0.24; 95 % CI:0.02, 0.46, P<0.05), and the comprehensive achievement intervention effect was not significant (SMD=0.33; 95 % CI:-0.15, 0.80, P=0.18); 3) MVPA has the greatest impact on children aged 9-11 years (SMD=0.30; 95 %CI:0.06, 0.54, P<0.05); 4) The optimal dose of intervention for MVPA is a long cycle of 30-60 minutes per session(SMD=0.34; 95 %CI:0.12, 0.56, P<0.01), 2 times per week(SMD=0.28; 95 %CI:0.2, 0.35, P<0.001); 5) The effect of literature publication bias detection was positive.

CONCLUSION

1) MVPA has a moderate effect on promoting academic achievement in children and adolescents, with younger age groups often benefiting more than older adolescents due to age-related cognitive plasticity; 2) MVPA has limited intervention effect on the performance of other subjects, which leads to the unsatisfactory effect of the intervention on the comprehensive performance; 3) Attention should be paid to the fine control of the intensity of the physical activity to guarantee individual MVPA participation to promote the academic achievement of children and adolescents; 4) Long-term participation, 30-60 minutes per session, 2-3 times per week of MVPA has been shown to be an effective intervention dose to enhance academic performance.

The mediating effect of geospatial thinking on the relationship between family capital and academic achievement in geography

Purpose

Family environment has the major impact on children's academic development. The aim of this study was to research the relationship between family capital and academic achievement in geography. Further, geospatial thinking, as a form of spatial thinking focusing on the scale of the geographical environment, is closely related to family environment and academic achievement in geography. Thus, the study was more specifically to apply a mediation model to explore the potential mediating role of geospatial thinking.

Methods

A total of 1,037 upper-secondary-school students in Western China were surveyed using t the Family Capital Questionnaire and the Geospatial Thinking Test Questionnaire. SPSS (version 26.0) was used for descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis. The PROCESS plug-in (version 4.0) was used to test the mediating effect of geospatial thinking.

Results

(1) The correlation analysis showed that family capital has a positive effect on academic achievement in geography and is related to geospatial thinking. Moreover, geospatial thinking exerts a positive effect on academic achievement in geography. (2) The results of mediation analysis indicated that geospatial thinking plays mediating and buffering roles in the relationship between family capital and academic achievement in geography after controlling for family residence and gender. The direct and indirect effects accounted for 75.32% and 24.68% of the total effect, respectively.

Conclusion

The results indicated that family capital not only affected academic achievement in geography directly but also indirectly through geospatial thinking. This finding provides some ideas for the development of geography education, which suggests that geography educators need to pay more attention to the influence of the family environment on students' geography learning in curriculum design and teaching processes. Also, the mediating role of geospatial thinking further uncovers the mechanisms underlying the academic achievement in geography. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on both students' family capital and geospatial thinking in the process of geography learning, and carry out more geospatial thinking training to improve academic achievement in geography.

School life satisfaction and peer connectedness of intellectually gifted adolescents in France: Is there a labeling effect?

Intellectual giftedness is commonly associated with a high level of intellectual functioning, an identification process whereby individuals are labeled as gifted, and adjustments in schools such as grade skipping. During adolescence, all these factors are prone to reduce peer connectedness and school life satisfaction. The aim of the present study was to disentangle the effects of these factors in a sample of 492 sixth and 10th graders. We identified three subsamples based on different characteristics associated with giftedness: students previously identified as gifted (n = 66), students who scored in the top 10% on a general intelligence test (n = 49), and students who had skipped a grade (n = 57). Comparative analysis showed that none of these subsamples differed from their respective control groups on school life satisfaction. Students labeled as gifted reported a lower level of peer connectedness, and the latter's contribution to school life satisfaction was significantly stronger within this subsample. These results underscore the importance of social integration for adolescents identified as intellectually gifted and exclude grade skipping as a risk factor. Moreover, high intellectual level does not seem to impact either school life satisfaction or peer connectedness.

Association of Physical Fitness with Intelligence and Academic Achievement in Adolescents

Physical fitness, intelligence and academic achievement are being studied from a multidisciplinary perspective. In this line, studies to advance our understanding of intelligence and academic achievement could be relevant for designing school-based programs. Our study analyzed the relationship between components of physical fitness including cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and flexibility and general intelligence and academic achievement in adolescents. We recruited 403 adolescents (53.6% boys) with a mean age of 13.7 ± 1.2 years from a secondary school in Spain with a medium socioeconomic status, during the 2015/2016 school year. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by the 20-m shuttle run, muscular strength with the standing long jump test and flexibility with the sit-and-reach test. General intelligence was measured by both the D48 and the Raven tests. School grades were used to determine academic achievement. Linear regression analyses showed that cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with intelligence in both the D48 (all β ≥ 0.184, p ≤ 0.016) and the Raven tests (all β ≥ 0.183, p ≤ 0.024). Muscular strength, flexibility and overall fitness were not associated with intelligence (all β ≤ 0.122, p ≥ 0.139). Cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and flexibility were positively associated with academic achievement (all β ≥ 0.089, p ≤ 0.038), except muscular strength, which was not significantly associated with Spanish language or mathematics, (all β ≤ 0.050, p ≥ 0.200). Overall, cardiorespiratory fitness was positively associated with intelligence and academic achievement.