The Benefits of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Preadolescent Children's Learning in a Virtual Classroom

Purpose: Today's children are increasingly inactive, with >50% not meeting the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity (PA). Recent reports suggest scores in reading and mathematics have also declined. Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that can be used to simulate real-world scenarios, like classroom learning. This study investigated whether a single dose of walking benefits learning in a VR classroom (measured via quiz performance).

Method: Forty-seven children (15 females, 9.64 [0.12] y) completed 2, randomized and counterbalanced 20-minute interventions on separate days: acute PA (walking) and seated rest (control), followed by a stationary educational lesson in a distracting VR classroom. Children then completed a quiz on the lesson.

Results: Children had higher quiz performance following PA (z-score = 0.16 [0.13]) compared with following rest (z-score = -0.18 (0.14); F1,45 = 6.17, P = .017), indicating that PA enhanced learning. Children with average intelligence quotient had quiz performance that was higher after PA (z-score = 0.04 [0.20]) compared with after rest (z-score = -0.60 [0.19]), t(22) = 3.34, P = .003. Higher intelligence quotient children did not demonstrate differences in quiz performance after PA compared with after rest.

Conclusions: Learning in a VR classroom may be improved following acute PA, particularly for children with average intelligence quotient. These findings support public health guidelines promoting PA across the day.