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Teaching Rhythm and Dance In Physical Education

Dance is a polarizing subject in the world of physical education: some teachers love to teach it, other teachers can't even imagine themselves teaching it.

Regardless of your personal comfort level with the activity, I believe dance should be a part of every student's physical education experience.

Despite it not being a part of every family's traditions, dance is a part of our collective human experience. As a key component of many cultures, dance has been used throughout our history to share stories, celebrate as communities, and express ourselves as individuals.

That said, I get it: dancing in front of others can be scary. Our needs for self-preservation and social acceptance often get in the way of our desire to move and express ourselves as freely as possible. Because of this, dance gets labelled, stereotyped, and looked down upon.

However, refusing to embrace our desire to dance – a desire that is baked into our social DNA as humans – is a strategy based in fear. Even worse, it's a fear-based strategy that has the potential to rob us of some of the happiest moments in our lives:

🪩 Going our dancing with friends.

💒 Dancing at your wedding with your parents, family, and spouse.

👨‍👧‍👦 Dancing with your kids in your kitchen while cooking supper.

So, how can we – as physical educators – prevent this fear of dancing from taking root in our students hearts?

We teach them to love dancing, as early and often as possible.

In the rest of this post, I'd like to share some ideas and resources that can help you break down dance education, focus on its individual parts, and grow your confidence from there. These are tools that I've developed throughout my teaching career as well as some that I'm currently exploring with fellow #PhysEdU community members .

This post was built around the following learning targets:

🎯 I know the difference between beats and rhythms.

🎯 I understand the importance of support musicality when teaching dance.

🎯 I can use the Rhythm Challenge Cards to build a foundation for dance musicality.

Let's dive in!

Learning About Dance in Physical Education

This whole post started based on a conversation I had with a fellow #PhysEdU community member on how to teach dance in elementary PE.

After digging through my curriculum documents, I found resources that I had created for my grade two dance unit.

The unit was built on the following grade-level outcomes:

🏁 Performs a teacher and/or student-designed rhythmic activity with correct response to simple rhythms (S1.E5.2) 🏁 Identifies physical activities that provide self-expression (S5.E3.2)

Based on those outcomes, I designed the following student-friendly learning goals (a.k.a. unit-level learning targets):

⛳️ I can move my body to the rhythm of the music. ⛳️ I can express myself through dance.

Based on these learning goals, I created the following Learning Roadmap:

Helping students learn how to recognize and move to different beats and rhythms was definitely outside of my wheelhouse when I was teaching this unit... especially considering that I had a hard time differentiating/defining the two myself! 

One resource I used to help students make sense of these two concepts was Beat Sheets. 

A Beat Sheet is a sheet on which different movements/actions are presented in a 4x4 grid. The idea is that these sheets can help students

8️⃣ Break music down into 8-counts (i.e. two bars of music) 👀 Visualize how actions within a choreography are synchronized to the beat. 🕺 Perform actions/movements to the beat and rhythm of a song.

I had first learned about Beat Sheets on Twitter (although I cannot remember the exact source, I'm pretty sure it was through  Captain Pete's account ). Here's what my original Beat Sheets looked like:

Needless to say, these were a first attempt. After sharing these on #PhysEdU, I couldn't stop thinking about how Beat Sheets could be made better. By "better", I mean:

• Help students understand – through a visual tool – the difference between beat and rhythm.
• Help students make sense of dance musicality (more on that later).
• Help students learn the difference between different note values (whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth notes)

To create something like this, I was going to have to deepen my content knowledge (which is always a good thing). Here's what I've learned and what's come out of that learning so far.

Making Sense of Beats and Rhythms

The first step along this quest was to make sure that I actually knew what I was talking about in regard to beat and rhythm.

🥁  The beat is the unchanging pulse that music is built upon . It sets the pacing, timing, or tempo of any given musical piece that you are listening to.

🎼  The rhythm is the pattern in which musical notes flow.  A musical piece's rhythm can change throughout a song, speeding up and slowing down while the beat remains constant.

To help you better understand this (and how to teach it) here is an excellent example of a music lesson that breaks down the difference between beat and rhythm:

https://youtu.be/R1KxJyr5hDo

Side Note: This lesson is also a great example of how to use learning targets effectively.

If you'd like to try this activity out with your students, I recreated the tracking sheets that the teacher uses in the video.  You can access those here . Be sure to  check out this blog post as well : it seems to be the original source of the tracking sheets and links to additional activity ideas and resources for this kind of lesson.

Recognizing Note Values & Time Signatures

Ok, so this part might seem like a bit much, but it makes more sense if I tell you that I dove into this after learning more about dance musicality (I'm presenting my learning out of order here).

If  rhythm is the pattern in which musical notes flow , then I would have to have a basic level of knowledge in regard to musical notes. I should probably mention that I had no idea how to even begin reading sheet music until I started digging here: I don't play any instruments and I only have my once-a-week elementary school music class to my name. I now have what I think is a first-couple-weeks-of-the-school-year, kindergarten-level understanding of musical notes, and that's enough to give me the confidence I need to move forward.

I found that these two videos from RIAM Exams ( as well as this blog post ) broke it all down in plain terms that I could wrap my head around:

https://youtu.be/mlZVQbFW0JA

https://youtu.be/qfdHrkqkaTw

So, why would I – as a PE teacher – take the time to gain some basic knowledge about music theory? Because doing so is going to help me:

• Identify the beat of the song.
• Identify the rhythm of the music.
• Help my students do the same.

Again, deepening your content knowledge is always a worthwhile endeavor. It helps spark ideas, puts you in a better position to find different ways of presenting materials, and allows you to teach with much more confidence.

Oh, and it will improve my ability to help my students develop  dance musicality .

Building Dance Musicality

Musicality seems to be a challenging word to define. From what I've learned,  dance musicality refers to the way each individual dancer  understands ,  experiences , and  expresses  music .

In her blog post on the topic , Nichelle Suzanne shares that musicality has two main components:

• Musical Receptivity:  "One's ability to receive, comprehend, be sensitive to, and have a working knowledge of musical concepts like rhythm, tempo, phrasing, and even mood."
• Musical Creativity (Musical Artistry) : "The ability to connect with accompanying music, interpret it, or phrase and add movement dynamics that relate to music even in the absence of accompaniment, in a way that is unique or interesting."

With this definition and components in mind, you can see how  having a basic understanding of musical structures serves as a building block of dance musicality . This is why I spent so much time trying to learn as much as I could about musical theory.

Let's break musicality down a little further.

https://youtu.be/5zX7mOYjooM

🧠  Understanding Music: Using 8-Counts

An 8-count is an important tool that allows dancers to measure, map, and discuss music. 8-counts also help dancers plan their movements and design choreographies.

Again, understanding bars, time signatures, and note values helps us recognize musical structures and patterns which  puts us in a better position to play around with the music .

The Steezy video above is a good introduction to 8-counts (and can serve as a bridge from what we've learned so far about musical theory and where will be going in dance).

Here's another video in which viewers get to follow along as the Steezy crew plays around with 8-counts:

https://youtu.be/eHqiwNCSKEE

❤️  Experiencing Music: Developing One's Dance Vocabulary

In many ways, dance is a form of language: 

Instead of words, we have movements. 

Instead of phrases, we have sequences.

Just as in language, fluency also plays an important role in dance. Ultimately, competent dancers have something to say and are able to say it with as little friction as possible.

One of the building blocks of fluency is a broad vocabulary. To help students develop their dance vocabulary, consider the following progression:

• Free Play Dance : Allowing students to move their bodies however they like to various musical styles, structures, and rhythms.
• Imagination-Driven Dance : Providing prompts that guide dance movements while still providing room for creativity (e.g. "Can you dance like a mouse? Can you dance like an elephant?")
• Explorative Dance : Providing specific movements while allowing dancers to explore various ways of performing them (see  Melanie Levenberg 's  DANCEPL3Y session video below for a great example of how this can be approached).
• Teacher-Led Dance : Following a choreography that is provided by the teacher (or a  Just Dance  video on YouTube).
• Creative Dance : Designing your own choreography that includes movements and sequences that dancers have acquired and/or developed throughout their dance journey.

https://youtu.be/_mRwAhdSKh0

To get the most out of this progression, here are a few things to consider:

• Expose students to a broad variety of musical styles.
• Help students experience a broad variety of dance styles.
• Encourage students to be mindful of the various movements they observe/perform along the way.
• Encourage students to discuss music, compare music, and explore music as much as possible.

✨ Expressing Music: Pairing Movement, Energy, Style, and Texture.

Finally, dancing comes down to having something to say and saying it through movement.

We dance to express joy. We dance to express confidence. We dance to express vulnerability, power, attitude, and so much more. 

As we dance, the way we move our body expresses different emotions, ideas, or even stories.

Our ability to  dance with clarity  (i.e. clearly communicating what we want to say through dance) will be empowered or limited by our understanding of music, our personal dance vocabulary, and our understanding of other dance concepts such as textures.

https://youtu.be/T7o-PT0_Pvg

My Updated Beat Sheets

"Joey... what the heck. Wasn't this a post about Beat Sheets!?"

It is! I just wanted to make sure that we had a solid understanding of how these sheets fit into dance education and why I've designed them this way.

As I mentioned a thousand words ago, these updated Beat Sheets (which I'm now calling Rhythm Challenge Cards) were designed with the following goals in mind:

🥁 Help students differentiate between beat and rhythm. 🎶 Support students' understanding of music structure. 🕺 Support dance musicality.

That said, here's what I've come up with:

These Rhythm Challenge Cards do a little bit more than my original ones.

Each tile represents one beat (count) within two bars of music (8-count).

On each tile, students will have a clear visual of the movement to be performed within that beat, the note value for that beat, and the count number.

The example above is the simplest version of these sheets:  one movement per beat for eight counts, with each beat having a quarter note value. But what do we do for beats that have a slower note value (e.g. half note, dotted half notes, or whole notes)? That's what the markers between each tile are for. 

First off, notice how the notes on each tile's staff have changed to represent the updated note values. The time signature has remained the same (4/4: four beats per bar with each beat being set as a quarter note), but the number of notes per bar has changed.

Also, for movements that count for two beats (half note values), the  minim symbol (representing two counts) between the two beat tiles is highlighted and the second tile's movement space is left blank (to represent the movement has been carried over).

Ok, but what about faster note values, like eighth or sixteenth counts?

Again, the notation has been updated. As for the movements, additional movements have been added to the beat tile (similar to the bees in the video lesson I shared earlier).

For beat tiles with multiple actions, I also added a visual ampersand (the "&" symbol) to help students remember to count that beat as "1 AND" and not "1, 2" (so the entire bar reads "1 AND 2, 3 AND 4").

Dance and music go hand in hand.

If dance is the way that we physically express the way we feel music, than it makes sense for physical education teachers to help their students make sense of how music is structured as they explore dance.

Plus, developing a deeper understanding of music can help those students who are wary of dance look at the activity in a different light:

Instead of dance being this thing that "just comes naturally" to some, it becomes a series of challenges and opportunities. Music's structure can help boost creativity by providing both a space and set of constraints in which movement-based ideas get to live. Dance becomes a fun puzzle that we get to piece together, an activity we can lose ourselves in as we work to solve it.

Along the way, as we find joy in the challenge, fun, social connection, and creativity of it all... we might just end up dancing.

If you are interested in bringing the Rhythm Challenge Cards to your teaching, you can purchase the set of 20 cards in the shop. Doing so helps support ThePhysicalEducator.com, which means I get to keep putting together posts like this one.

Download The Rhythm Challenge Cards

As always, the resource is also available to all members of the Ongoing Leaner tier over at #PhysEdU .

Thanks for reading! Happy Teaching! 🕺

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Large group activities for teaching rhythmic activities and dance

This is an excerpt from rhythmic activities and dance - 2e by john bennett & pamela riemer..

by John Price Bennett, EdD and Pamela Coughenour Riemer, MA

Chapter 3 of Rhythmic Activities and Dance is intended to introduce rhythms and dance movements to students of all abilities in a no-fault, nonthreatening atmosphere. This chapter contains enough warm-up activities to take any program through years of success.

Many opportunities are provided to reinforce and improve the basic skills needed for rhythmic activities and dance. The activities will assist your dance program, while stimulating students to develop at their own pace. Dance skills can be enhanced when students do not recognize that they are working on dance skills. The activities in this chapter will motivate your students to work on dance skills without any risk of embarrassment.

As you begin using these activities, you will notice opportunities to integrate subjects like math, social studies, science, and language arts with your physical education classes. Take advantage of these connections and help your students see them as well.

Counting, adding, and subtracting occur in Eight, Four, Two; in the circuits; and in Countdown. Games like Happy Heart and Veins and Arteries provide teachers with an opening to examine some basics of the physiology of exercise with their students. Fitness in America could lead to a lesson in social studies. Parts of Speech and Partner Over and Under allow language arts to be integrated with our teaching in the physical education classroom. These activities are the obvious places to integrate material. The only limitations for integration are those we place on ourselves.

You will recognize familiar activities as well as a variety of new ones to expand your students' dance skills. All are designed to promote the development of dance skills and fitness. The familiar activities have been reshaped into dance-related fitness activities. This new look to old activities makes them appealing for all age groups. Give your students an opportunity to add new ways to integrate. The feeling of ownership makes students feel important.

From old to new

Although you will recognize many of these activities immediately, look closely because they may not be what you think they are. Each one has been modified with a focus on the elements of dance. Each one reinforces dance skills and fitness simultaneously. Whether the changes appear small or large, you will be able to focus on new directions through some old organizational patterns.

This chapter is arranged into four categories of activities: large-group, small-group, circuits, and games. Large-group activities may lead to high-quality movement, as do the small-group activities, depending on how they are used. The circuits provide opportunities to practice dance skills in nonthreatening environments, and the games move to a higher level application of a rhythmic dance activity.

Within these four categories are many activities that will be appropriate for your program. You can enliven your classes by applying basic dance skills and using new and challenging conditions. Use these activities and modify them to your needs. With slight changes, you could move one to a different category.

The activities are listed in their respective groups. Individual descriptions follow. Try them as openings and closings to your lessons. They may fit as the middle of your lessons, depending on your focus. When you are working with students who are just starting out, the focus will be on the locomotor basics of walking, running, leaping, jumping, and hopping in a rhythmic manner. When these have been mastered, you will move to combination moves like skipping, sliding, galloping, doing the polka, and so on. When you are teaching students with intermediate abilities, your focus will be first on the combination movements, then shift to the selected dance steps suggested in chapter 1. With advanced students, the focus shifts to mastery of the selected dance steps found in the first chapter. As you select activities from this chapter for your program, be aware of this progression.

Students experience large-group participation and develop a variety of dance skills.

Students are spread out in the room with everyone facing front.

After a designated dance movement is performed eight times, everyone makes a quarter-turn to the right and repeats the movement eight times (see figure 3.4). Repeat with a quarter-turn right (students are now facing the back of class), and have students do it again. When the students make one more quarter-turn to face the front, repeat all movements four times, and follow the preceding sequence. Then repeat the movements two times through the entire sequence: thus the name Eight, Four, Two.

Teaching Tips

• Use any number of movements—from one to several.
• Let students contribute suggestions for the activity.
• Always use music.
• Post moves for the day on the third wall that the group faces so that they can continue without stopping.

Suggested Moves

Begin with basic locomotor movements, then combinations, then the selected dance steps from the first chapter. This should be the progression to follow when organizing your program.

Basic Locomotor Movements

Combinations.

• Slide and lunge
• Skip and jump
• Gallop and leap
• Polka and turn

Selected Dance Steps

• Step touches
• Schottische steps
• Lindy steps
• Jazz circles
• Sit-ups or curl-ups
• Bleking steps

This is an excerpt from Rhythmic Activities and Dance .

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Power-Up Rhythm and Timing in Physical Education Activities

Physical Education class is an optimal setting for students to develop and practice the precursor skills that precede learning. These skills include core strength, balance, weight shift, motor rhythm, motor timing, visual-spatial, and object-perceptual skills. Due to a variety of factors including less opportunity for physical activity throughout the day, more seated classroom time, and fewer foundational motor experiences (swinging, climbing trees, jumping rope, building forts, and kicking the can in the alley), children’s fundamental motor skills are on the decline ( Brian et al., 2019 ;  Hardy et al., 2013 ). 

A recent study reported that 77% of a sample of children ages 3–5 years from across the United States were at or below the 25%tile with approximately 30% of children demonstrating profound developmental delays (<5%tile) in their gross motor skills,  Brian et al., 2020 . Deficits such as these in foundational motor skills have consequences for cognition and achievement.

Motor Skill Activities Enhance Cognition & Learning

Advances in neuroscience have resulted in substantial progress in linking physical activity to cognitive performance, brain structure, and function ( Donnelly et al., 2016 ). Research shows that the motor skill development associated with consistent participation in physical education/activity can improve academic performance, cognition, visual-perceptual skills, attention, memory, and problem-solving skills ( CDC, 2010 ;  de Greeff et al., 2018 ;  Fernandes, et al., 2016 ;  Greco et al, 2023 ;  Shi & Feng, 2022 ).

Moreover, Physical Education promotes cognitive development by stimulating neural pathways associated with socialization and learning. Physical activities improve blood flow and oxygenation to the brain, which enhances cognitive functioning, attention, and memory.

Activities in physical education often teach children important classroom skills including following instructions, making decisions, problem-solving, teamwork, and self-regulation. Practicing these actions through physical activity helps children develop executive function skills such as attention control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control. Recent evidence suggests that adding developmentally appropriate cognitive demands to patterned movement stimulates executive function and the precursor skills to reading and math ( Paschen et al., 2019 ;  Kolovelonis & Goudas, 2023 ). 

As knowledge of the impact of motor coordination on children’s cognition and academic achievement evolves, physical educators are increasingly integrating rhythmic coordinative movement into their daily classroom activities to prime the brain for learning.

The Importance of Rhythm & Timing in Development

Rhythm and timing play a crucial role in developing cognitive skills, motor coordination, and fine motor skills in children. This connection between rhythm timing and motor coordination has been studied across various fields, including kinesiology, neuroscience, auditory neuroscience, developmental psychology, and education.

Cognitive Skills: 

The link between rhythm timing and cognitive development is established by studies that have shown that children who engage in rhythmic activities tend to have better cognitive skills, including self-regulation, attention, memory, cognitive flexibility, and problem-solving abilities ( Miendlarzewska &Trost, 2013 ). The rhythmic patterns present in music, for example, can help improve a child’s ability to process and remember academic information (See  Bonacina et al., 2019 ;  Frischen et al., 2020 ).

Cross-Modal Integration: 

Rhythm and timing involve the integration of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic sensory inputs. This cross-modal integration enhances the brain’s ability to process the coordinate information from different sensory channels. As a result, children who engage in rhythm-based activities are better equipped to integrate sensory cues and appropriately respond to various stimuli (See  Bharathi et al., 2019 ).

Educational Impact: 

Rhythm and timing activities have been shown to be related to reading prosody, grammar, and early math (See  Lundetrae & Thomson, 2017 ). Children with better rhythm have been shown to learn with greater ease. Using rhythmic patterns to teach math concepts or language skills not only makes learning more engaging, but it also makes learning more effective.

Gross and Fine Motor Skills: 

Rhythm and timing activities often involve a combination of gross motor skills, larger movements involving multiple muscle groups, and fine motor skills with smaller, more precise hand movements. The ability to synchronize movements with rhythm is fundamental to children’s ability to pull to a stand, walk, run, skip, and gallop. As an example, dancing involves both whole-body coordination and intricate footwork at the same time, writing requires planning, visual tracking, core strength, and shoulder stability. Engaging and rhythm-based activities encourages the development of a wide range of motor skills, contributing to the foundational skills associated with learning.

Neurological Development: 

Research suggests that rhythm and timing activities can have a positive effect on the neurological development in children. Engaging in activities that require rhythmic coordination, such as clapping to a beat, dancing, and moving rhythmically, helps strengthen neural connections in the brain, particularly in the areas related to cognition, motor control, and coordination. These activities enhance the communication between different brain regions responsible for attention, planning, previewing, and task initiation.

3  Ways to Incorporate Rhythm and Timing Into Your Physical Education Class

#1: learn the value of 4/4 time.

Action: Teach your students how to think in 4/4 time.

Why: We live in a decimal society which is great for math, measurement, and science yet, it is not as beneficial to cognition and movement. In the western world, the foundation for human movement is actually in 4/4 time. We walk in 4/4 time, we dance in 4/4 time, and we even learn languages in 4/4 time.

How: Teach your students how to move in 4/4 time. Moving in 4/4 time, four beats to a measure, activates the natural musicality in the human body supporting skill development. 

Activity 1: Have your students stand up and count in time together, then move on the fourth beat.

“Can everybody count?”

“Let’s count together 1 2 3 4; 1 2 3 4; 1 2 3 4; 1 2 3 4.”

“Great, now, can everybody stomp? Let’s stomp alternating with our right foot and left foot on beat 4.”

“1 2 3 stomp right. 1 2 3 stomp left. 1 2 3 stomp right. 1 2 3 stomp left. 1 2 3 stomp right. 1 2 3 stomp left.1 2 3 stomp right. 1 2 3 stomp left.”

“Excellent, our bodies walk, talk and move in 4/4 time that is 4 beats per measure.”

Reflection: “Can you think for a moment what activities you do in 4/4 time, that is 4 beats to a measure?”

“Think about it… When you walk 1-2 1-2 you are walking in 4/4 time; When you brush your teeth, you are moving in 4/4 time. Even when you listen to me now, I speak, then you speak, we do that rhythmically in 4/4 time.”

“Great work! We are ready for our next activity.” (You have primed your students’ brains for learning now you can do you regularly planned physical activity lesson).

#2: Practice Static and Dynamic Balance

Action: Practice static and dynamic balance before you start an activity or during a break in the middle of the activity. 

Why: Taking the time to pause right before or during an activity provides an opportunity to practice response inhibition and self-regulation.

How: Teach your students how to balance in 4/4 time. Balancing in 4/4 time, four beats to a measure activates the natural musicality in the human body teaching the foundational skill of balance. 

Activity 1: Have your students stand in “ready position” with their feet aligned beneath their hips, their shoulders aligned above their hips, and their head held nice and tall with proper alignment and posture. Core is tightened, pulled in and up. Next you will teach them static and dynamic balance.

Why: Due to the demands in society, our children have less opportunity to practice and develop static and dynamic balance. Both skills are central to most of the physical activity lessons you will teach your students.

How: “Okay, let’s challenge both our thinking and our motor skills. I want us to count together out loud 1 2 3 4. Let’s do it again 1 2 3 4. Great.” 

“Now the next time we reach beat 4 we are going to all lift our right leg a few inches off the ground and hold that move for 4 beats. Ready count 1 2 3 lift (hold 2 3) and put your foot down on beat 4. Excellent.”

“Now, with our left foot. Count 1 2 3 lift (hold 2 3) down.”

“Easy or hard? You tell me?”

“Alright, now we are going to do the entire sequence twice. This will take some concentration. Are you all ready to focus?”

“1 2 3 Let’s FOCUS.”

“Count out loud 1 2 3 lift right foot (hold 2 3) down.

Count out loud 1 2 3 lift left foot (hold 2 3) down.”

If you wish to add dynamic balance have your students move forward in a lunge on beat four and then back to center. You can even teach your students to Walk Forward 2 3, Lunge (hold 2 3) Up, Walk Back 2 3, Lunge (hold 2 3) Up (return to ready position).

There are so many variations here, use your creativity!

“Wow! That took a lot of focus, good work, now our brains and bodies are primed for our next activity.”

#3: Apply Rhythm in Sport

Action: Teach a motor activity such as a soccer kick or bouncing a playground ball in 4/4 time.

Why: When children learn new motor skills it is easier if they do so in rhythmic time. You can teach a student how to bounce a ball, hit a ball with a racquet, or kick a ball all in rhythm. The cool thing is that once your students become used to moving rhythmically, then they can change things up. The rhythm is simply the scaffold the body relies on to learn the skill.

EXAMPLE: SOCCER

How: Soccer – If you are teaching a foundational soccer kick do so in time.

“Kids, we are going to learn how to kick a soccer ball. When we think about the steps they include: Stand on your non-dominant leg (balance), swing your dominant leg back (dynamic balance) and follow-through to kick the ball. 

This sounds like: 1. Stand (balance) 2. Extend leg back 3. Swing the leg through to kick the ball. See, it’s easy as 1 2 3, then rest.”

“Let’s try each step together.”

Count 1: Balance on your non-dominant leg.

Count 2: Extend your dominant leg back.

Count 3: Swing your dominant leg through to kick the ball.

Count 4: Rest

EXAMPLE: BALL BOUNCE

How: Ball Bounce – The same is true for bouncing a playground ball In Time.

Count 1: Hold the ball with two hands.

Count 2: Push the ball in a vertical path toward the ground.

Count 3: Catch the ball with both hands.

Count 4: Pause (rest).

Children need to experience the “felt-sense” of the pause when they are learning a new skill, so take that moment to teach them to “pause or rest” before they initiate the skill again.

A Few Quick Tips:

• When children are learning to move in time with rhythm it helps for them to count and say what they are doing OUT LOUD together as a team. This action leads to better social cohesion. It also activates biological entrainment which supports the students who may be having difficulty moving and speaking in synchronization.
• Feel free to SLOW Down. If moving (quickly) at 85-120 beats per minute is a challenge, encourage the students to perform the movements (slowly) at half-time 50-85 beats per minute until they get experienced with tempo, timing, and rhythm.
• Have fun with this process, it can be new to students. Encourage them to use their creativity, perhaps on beat four they choose a new movement together like a Superman position or a Clap/Clap, increasing the cognitive demands of the activities while feeling empowered and playful.
• Use your knowledge. You are experienced teachers. Change things up. Add rhythm to other activities you do. All you need is 2-3 minutes of rhythmic coordinative movement at a time to prime your students’ brains for learning.

Conclusion:

Physical education class is the perfect place to develop the foundational skills that precede learning. Research shows that children have lost competencies in vestibular abilities, proprioceptive awareness, motor rhythm, tempo, and timing. When you incorporate what the body biologically knows well, rhythm and timing, motor and cognitive skills develop with greater ease. Importantly, you, as a physical education teacher, contribute in a meaningful way to the skills that underlie your student’s academic achievement.

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Teaching Methods in Physical Education 2 (Rhythmic Activities) Among College Freshmen Students

Noel Lanosin Dominado

Department of Education-Senior High School in Magalang Stand Alone II, City of San Fernando, Philippines

Contributor Roles: Noel Lanosin Dominado is the sole author. The author read and approved the final manuscript.

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This research aimed to evaluate the teaching methods in Physical Education 2 at Don Honorio Ventura State University. To achieve the purpose of the study, the descriptive research design was used. The total number of respondents was 345 sampled composed of 10 P.E. Instructors and 335 P.E. 2 students. Results revealed that the respondents belonged to the typical age for college students, Physical Education teachers are qualified to teach the subject in terms of their educational qualifications, students and instructors have the same preference in terms of teaching methods, they also strongly agreed that demonstration method is the most effective, therefore teaching methods can become an aid in developing and improving on teaching style, and the respondents both expressed their agreement towards teaching method as a helpful tool in teaching and learning process. Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between the responses of the teachers and the students as what methods are effective for them. Respondents state the effectiveness of teaching methods applied by teacher Whole/Part Method has a significant relationship on the educational attainment. Finally, Based on the findings, it is suggested that teachers should earn more units in Physical Education and attend training/short courses and continuing advance education.

College Freshmen Students, Physical Education, Rhythmic Activities, Teaching Methods

Noel Lanosin Dominado. (2022). Teaching Methods in Physical Education 2 (Rhythmic Activities) Among College Freshmen Students. International Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education , 7 (1), 1-5. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsspe.20220701.11

Noel Lanosin Dominado. Teaching Methods in Physical Education 2 (Rhythmic Activities) Among College Freshmen Students. Int. J. Sports Sci. Phys. Educ. 2022 , 7 (1), 1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsspe.20220701.11

Noel Lanosin Dominado. Teaching Methods in Physical Education 2 (Rhythmic Activities) Among College Freshmen Students. Int J Sports Sci Phys Educ . 2022;7(1):1-5. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsspe.20220701.11

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Physical education isn't all about running fast. In fact, it isn't all about track & field. How about dipping your toes into rhythmic gymnastics? It combines the artistry of dance with the athleticism of gymnastics, and involves performing routines that incorporate elements of ballet, dance, and gymnastics movements, while manipulating various apparatus, including the hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon, and rope. With this graceful template, you can talk your best about this sport, and maybe the benefits of specializing in that field when majoring in PE.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Rhythmic physical activity intervention: exploring feasibility and effectiveness in improving motor and executive function skills in children.

• 1 Department of Kinesiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States
• 2 Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States
• 3 Department of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States

Introduction: Increasing literature has emerged investigating the importance of considering the qualitative characteristics of physical activity (PA) interventions and sports as well as considering the role of motor competence in the exercise–cognition interplay. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of a rhythmic PA intervention compared to a standard physical education program, on motor and hot and cool executive function (EF) skills.

Methods: Children ages 6–11 were enrolled in one of the two programs: a rhythmic program ( n = 22) and a physical education program ( n = 17), both meeting for 30 min, twice per week, for 7 weeks. The rhythmic program emphasized moving to the beat of music and moving in various rhythmic patterns with whole body movements, clapping, and drumsticks. The children also created their own rhythmic patterns and socially engaged with other children by working in pairs and sharing their routines with the group. The physical education group engaged in ball skills, locomotor patterns, team sports, and moving through stations in small groups, with no emphasis on rhythm. Pretest and posttest measurements included measurement of balance (Movement ABC-2), cool and hot EF (Flanker, SWAN), and social factors, whereas throughout the implementation period data on affective valence, enjoyment, cognitive engagement, perceived exertion, and PA levels were collected at every lesson in both groups.

Results: The rhythmic program used in this study was feasible, scalable, affordable, and able to be implemented with minimal preparatory time. Children in both groups (rhythmic and physical education) engaged in a similar level of PA and had similar positive experiences from the programs. Both groups improved in balance and cool EF, and there were significant correlations in the change scores between balance and cool EF, as well as between cool EF with hot EF and socio-emotional factors.

Discussion: This study contributes to the literature by exploring the potential value of rhythmic programs as a vehicle in helping children develop motor and EF skills while deriving joy and positive social interactions from the program.

Introduction

Promotion of physical activity (PA) in youth is acknowledged as a priority by many prominent public health organizations in the United States ( Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention [CDC], 2010 ; Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2013 ). Organizations have emphasized the need to include more PA throughout the school day, with physical education as a central component in the implementation of Comprehensive School PA Programs ( Centers for Disease Control, and Prevention [CDC], 2010 ; Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2013 ; Shape America, 2014 ). The ASCD (former Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), a leading educational agency, in collaboration with the CDC adopted a joint goal to promote learning and health through the whole-school, whole-community, whole-child model ( ASCD and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014 ). The ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative views the collaboration between learning and health as fundamental, emphasizing the need to shift the focus from narrowly defined academic achievement to one that promotes long-term development and success of children ( ASCD and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014 ).

Compelling evidence demonstrates that PA is associated with improvements in both cognitive function and academic performance (e.g., Mura et al., 2015 ; Donnelly et al., 2016 ), which is supported by research describing the interconnection between motor and cognitive functions in children (e.g., Diamond, 2000 ; Van der Fels et al., 2015 ). Evidence indicates, however, that not all forms of PA benefit cognition equally ( Diamond and Lee, 2011 ; Pesce, 2012 ; Diamond, 2015 ; Pesce and Ben-Soussan, 2016 ; Vazou et al., 2019b ), and it has been suggested that “the degree to which the exercise requires complex, controlled, and adaptive cognition and movement may determine its impact on executive functions (EF)” ( Best, 2010 , p. 336). Researchers have argued that children who perform activities that are not challenging because of lack of progression in task difficulty do not challenge EF ( Diamond and Lee, 2011 ) and that when instructional methods challenge learner’s thoughts and actions, cognition is enriched and maintained ( Tomporowski and Pesce, 2019 ). Thus, there are likely a number of contextual factors, including instructional techniques, intervention content and structure that impact the degree to which a PA intervention improves EF.

A recent review and meta-analysis on different characteristics of PA (i.e., aerobic, motor skills, cognitively engaging activities, and all combinations of those facets) supported the significant positive effect of PA interventions on EF (0.46 effect size) and identified differences between the categorically different long-term PA interventions ( Vazou et al., 2019b ). However, as several researchers have suggested, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of PAs, as well as unique elements within a PA program (e.g., type of movement, mental resources, skill acquisition, emotional activation) and contextual factors (including the physical and the social environment) may impact the effectiveness of those interventions ( Tomporowski and Pesce, 2019 ; Vazou et al., 2019b ). As Diamond (2015) recommended, the most effective interventions are likely those that, “(a) train and challenge diverse motor and executive function skills, (b) bring joy, pride, and self-confidence, and (c) provide a sense of social belonging (e.g., group membership) (p. 963).” Moreover, interventions may differentially affect two types of EF. “Cool EF” are those exhibited in “decontextualized and affectively neutral conditions” ( Pesce et al., 2020 ), such as working memory, inhibition, and strategy use, while “hot EF” involve cognitive and emotional control in “contexts that generate heightened emotion” ( Pesce et al., 2020 ), such as playing a game and making decisions in an emotionally charged environment. This research points to the importance of studying contextual factors associated with diverse PA interventions.

From a practical standpoint, PA interventions that are designed for youth also should consider the natural desire in children to explore new movements and skills. PA programs should challenge children using a wide variety of activities that focus on motor skill development and variability of practice ( Myer et al., 2016 ; Pesce et al., 2019 ), while simultaneously providing the novelty and variety necessary to sustain interest and enjoyment ( Sylvester et al., 2018 ). Positive affect and enjoyment predict PA behavior ( Cox et al., 2008 ; Nasuti and Rhodes, 2013 ) and have been proposed to be associated with higher levels of engagement and self-regulatory skills ( Isen and Reeve, 2005 ; Diamond, 2015 ; Brand and Ekkekakis, 2018 ). Recognizing the importance of engagement, National Standards in the United States (SHAPE America) include a physical education goal of providing enjoyable and varied PA that also enhances children’s motor skill development.

Tomporowski and Pesce (2019) highlighted common processes involved in PA and the performing arts that may benefit cognition. PA programs with a rhythmic or music component, such as dance or drumming, are hypothesized to improve EF (e.g., Diamond, 2014 ), as rhythmic movements challenge both cognitive and motor systems. They require mental effort to move with the tempo and require learning new rhythms and accompanying movements. However, little research has focused on the cognitive benefits of combining music and PA in an integrated intervention. Lakes et al. (2019) described expressive or rhythmic movement as having the potential to extend both the beneficial effects of music and PA, positing that music and movement interventions can provide multisystem learning opportunities characterized by embodied cognition. The embodied cognition perspective describes cognitive processes as embedded within the ways in which we interact within the world ( Wilson, 2002 ), and cognitive improvements are likely strengthened when trained in such a context. Preliminary studies examining rhythmic PA programs and cognition include research by Lakes et al. (2019) examining the Creatively Able program (an intervention involving music, dance, and the engagement of children in creating choreography) in children with promising findings related to children’s engagement, enjoyment, and cognitive functions. Similarly, an intervention with music education was found to positively affect EF skills and academic achievement (through the mediating role of EF) in typically developing elementary children ( Jaschke et al., 2018 ). More research on interventions with these features is warranted.

This pilot study was designed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of a novel rhythmic PA program compared to a generalized physical education program, on motor and cognitive skills in children. We examined several qualitative and contextual features of the rhythmic PA program and their possible association with motor and cognitive skills. This feasibility study was designed to help researchers and practitioners determine whether a rhythmic intervention should be recommended for evaluation on a larger scale and potentially implemented as a PA program for youth during physical education or after-school. Our study goals were consistent with those recommended in intervention literature that emphasize the importance of early examinations of the feasibility of new interventions with a focus on acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality, and limited-efficacy testing ( Bowen et al., 2009 ).

Materials and Methods

Recruitment and participants.

A total of 39 children, ages 6–11 [ M age = 7.69 ± 1.52 years; 21 males (53.85%)], participated in this study, with 22 in the rhythmic group and 17 in the physical education group. Table 1 includes the demographic characteristics of the participants in each group. The physical education group was recruited through a physical education program for homeschooled children offered through a university course by the lead researcher. The Rhythmic group was recruited from community advertisements and the university email list for faculty and staff. In addition to age, inclusion criteria were the parent’s ability to consent in English and the child’s ability to assent in English. Exclusion criteria included a DSM-5 diagnosis other than Developmental Dyslexia or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), an IQ below 80, or parental report of a history of developmental disability, intellectual disability, or brain trauma. Figure 1 shows the CONSORT flow diagram of enrollment for both groups. A total of 47 children were initially recruited, 17 in the physical education group and 30 in the rhythmic group. Six participants dropped out before the implementation due to scheduling conflicts, and two participants dropped out due to illness; all eight were enrolled in the rhythmic group. The study was approved by the university Institutional Review Board. Written informed consent and verbal assent were collected from parents and children, respectively.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of participants in each program.

Figure 1. Study flowchart showing retention of participants in the rhythmic (A) and the PE (B) group.

Baseline Measures

For demographics, weight and height were measured privately with a body scale and a stadiometer. Body mass index was computed by dividing weight (in kilograms) by the square of height (in meters).

The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test—Second Edition (KBIT-2; Kaufman and Kaufman, 2004 ). The KBIT-2 Non-Verbal Section is a measure of non-verbal intelligence (non-verbal IQ). Children select the picture on a flip card that best fits the matrix pattern pictured on the card. The matrices become progressively difficult, and when three consecutive mistakes occur, the test is stopped. Standardized scores are calculated based on United States norms for a given age group.

The Cardiovascular Endurance Fitness—PACER FitnessGram (4th edition; Plowman and Meredith, 2013 ) was administered in the gymnasium with a group of children. A black line and cones at the two ends of the gymnasium were used to mark the 20-m distance used for the task. The children were asked to line up at the start and to begin running from one side to the other following the prerecorded auditory signal, which becomes progressively faster. Children were asked to keep up with the cadence and stop when they can no longer keep up with it. The numbers of cycles each child completed were recorded by research assistants observing the test.

Pretest and Posttest Measures

The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (M-ABC-2; Henderson and Sugden, 2007 ) balance subtest was administered individually. In this subtest, there are three tasks: (1) balancing on one foot on a balance board for up to 30 s (one trial on each leg), (2) walking on a line using tandem foot placement without stepping off the line for a maximum of 15 steps (2 trials), and (3) hopping in a controlled manner up to 5 continuous hops on a series of preplaced squares (2 trials). The scores are standardized so that a single subtest score is calculated and analyzed.

A modified version of the Rhythm/Beat Competence Assessment ( Weikart, 2006 ) was administered individually. In this assessment, children were instructed to tap a pair of drumsticks together to the beat of the song. Children then listened to a standard song and tapped to the beat until the song ended, for a total of 64 beats. Observers measured rhythm/beat competence as the total number of times the tap matched the beat, with a maximum score of 64.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD-symptoms and Normal behavior (SWAN) rating scale ( Swanson et al., 2012 ) was completed by parents to measure two factors: Attention (9 items; e.g., “sustain attention on tasks or play activities”) and Behavioral Control [9 items; e.g., “settle down and rest (control constant activity)].” The scale is appropriate for use from preschool age and beyond ( Lakes et al., 2012 ). Each item is rated across a dimension using a seven-point response scale, ranging from “far below average” (rated in this study as 1) to “far above average” (rated in this study as 7). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of internal consistency in the present study were acceptable, for both Attention (α = 0.84, α = 0.85) and Behavioral Control (α = 0.91, α = 0.89, for pre and posttest, respectively).

For EF, the computer version of Flanker Fish test (using Presentation software; Neurobehavioral Systems, 2012 ) incorporates the Standard Flanker (inhibition), Reverse Flanker (inhibition and working memory), and Mixed Flanker (inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) conditions, specifically modified for children ( Diamond et al., 2007 ). In this computer version of the Flanker test, there are five fish shown and the child must “feed” the hungry fish by pressing the left or right key on the touch-screen, depending on which direction the target fish is/are facing. In the Standard Flanker task (17 trials), the fish are blue and the target fish is the middle one, requiring participants to inhibit attention to the fish positioned on either side. In the Reverse Flanker task (17 trials) that follows, the fish are pink, and the target fish are all but the middle one, facing in the same direction. This task demands inhibition of attention to the fish in the center plus flexible switching of mindset and attentional focus to the new rules. In the Mixed Flanker task (45 trials), administered last, either the blue or the pink fish may appear and the child must respond based on the correct rule. The stimulus presentation time was 2100 ms, and a practice block for each task preceded the actual test. For each task, both accuracy (percentage of correct answers) and reaction time (RT) were recorded.

Perceived competence toward exercise programs was assessed using the five items from the perceived competence subscale of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory ( McAuley et al., 1989 ), which has been previously used in elementary physical education and other youth program settings ( Standage et al., 2005 ; Agans et al., 2019 ). An example item is “When it comes to playing physically active games, I think I am pretty good,” and the response scale ranged from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”). The alpha coefficient of internal consistency in the present study was acceptable, for both pretest (α = 0.80) and posttest (α = 0.70).

Relatedness was assessed with the 6-item Relatedness to Others in Physical Activity Scale ( Wilson and Bengoechea, 2010 ). Children responded to a number of items following a stem phrase (“In the exercise classes I participate in, I feel”) such as “I am included by others.” Each item was rated using a five-point response scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of internal consistency in the present study were acceptable, for both pretest (α = 0.71) and posttest (α = 0.90).

Measures Across Intervention

Physical activity level.

Accelerometer data and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were used as means of quantifying the physical activity intensity during all rhythmic and physical education lessons. A triaxial accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X+; ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL, United States) was worn on the right hip over the clothes with an adjustable belt to objectively measure the total time spent in moderate or vigorous PA. ActiGraph monitors were downloaded using ActiLife v 6.11.4 software (ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL, United States) and were converted to 1-s epoch csv output files for further analysis. The percentage of time spent in moderate or vigorous PA during each 30-min lesson was estimated per child. Perceived exertion was assessed upon completion of each lesson using the boy and girl versions of the stepping Children’s OMNI RPE scale ( Robertson et al., 2005 ), which ranges from 0 (not tired at all) to 10 (very, very tired).

Fidelity checklist

A fidelity checklist was developed to assess whether the PA programs were implemented as originally planned ( Table 2 ). Specifically, the checklist assessed whether the rhythmic program provided opportunities for a variety of rhythmical gross motor actions with music, sounds, and manipulatives as well as social interactions. Similarly, the focus of the physical education lessons was assessed, which targeted working on all fundamental motor skills and fitness components, without specific emphasis on rhythmic movement.

Table 2. Fidelity checklist for physical activity programs.

Process evaluation measures

The pictorial Feeling Scale (FS; Hardy and Rejeski, 1989 ), as adapted for children by Hulley et al. (2008) , was used to measure affective valence from the experience in the PA programs, completed at the end of each lesson. The Feeling Scale is an 11-point single-item bipolar scale, asking children “How do you feel right now?”, with scores ranging from -5 (“Very bad”) to +5 (“Very good”) accompanied by gender-specific drawings ranging from a sad face (-5) to a happy face (+5).

Enjoyment from each lesson was measured by asking children how much they enjoyed the lesson with a 5-point single-item asking “How fun was the lesson today?” Children rated their enjoyment on a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all fun) to 5 = very fun. This item was added in addition to the pictorial Feeling Scale to make it easier for the younger children to respond on how they felt about the lessons.

Cognitive engagement during each lesson was rated using a 5-point single-item asking, “How much did you use your brain to think during the lesson?” Children rated their cognitive engagement on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much) immediately upon completion of the lesson. The item was developed for the purposes of this study based on previous work on cognitively engaging PAs in youth ( Schmidt et al., 2016 ).

Engagement during the lesson was observed by trained research assistants. The level of engagement was scored as the degree the children listened to and followed the program instructions throughout the 30-min lesson, with 1 indicating little engagement, 2 indicating moderate engagement, and 3 indicating strong engagement.

The motivational climate created by peers for the rhythmic program was measured with a modified version of the Peer Motivational Climate in Youth Sport Questionnaire ( Ntoumanis and Vazou, 2005 ). The peer climate included 8 items from the task-involving motivational climate higher-order factor. Children responded to items assessing the degree to which their peers “helped each other improve,” “said nice things when I tried,” etc. In order to measure how supported children felt by the teacher, three additional items on teacher support (from the Learning Climate Questionnaire, Williams and Deci, 1996 ) were included in our research: “my teacher provided me with choices,” “my teacher encouraged me to make my own moves in the program,” and “my teacher understood me.” Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of internal consistency in the present study were acceptable, for both peer climate (α = 0.89) and teacher support (α = 0.70). The motivational climate and teacher support were administered at the end of the implementation period for the rhythmic group.

In addition to quantitative process evaluation data, five open-ended questions were developed to measure parent and child perceptions of the rhythmic program. The questions referred to the overall experience of children, what children liked or did not like as much, what the parents thought about the program, and any suggestions for changes if the program was offered in the future. The questionnaire was completed anonymously and placed in a sealed box available at the waiting area of the gymnasium.

Before the 7-week implementation period, all children engaged in two pre-session visits at the researchers’ university laboratory and gymnasium, lasting approximately 1 h each, for the collection of the consent forms, baseline, and pretesting assessments. Upon completion of the programs, a 1-h posttest evaluation was conducted. All testing was done individually, except for the PACER.

The intervention sessions for both the rhythmic and physical education groups took place in the gymnasium at the researcher’s university and were scheduled at approximately the same time of day (between 2:00pm and 5:30pm). All children attended two 30-min sessions per week, for seven weeks. All lessons were delivered by the first two researchers with the assistance of trained undergraduate students. Upon entry into the gymnasium, each child was outfitted with an accelerometer and immediately upon completion of the lesson, participants completed the single-item measures (affective valence, exertion, cognitive engagement, enjoyment) individually, and the accelerometers were removed. During each session, trained research assistants recorded observations for the fidelity assessment and of the students’ engagement.

Rhythmic Program

For the rhythmic program, three separate time slots were offered to accommodate different schedules, with about eight participants in each session. Active learning of rhythmic gross motor actions in response to different songs was the primary activity. The rhythmic session began with rhythmic education in which participants learned to define a beat and identify the types of musical notes the beats hit (e.g., What is a beat? Eighth note, quarter note, half note, whole note?). Participants then learned to clap, jump, hop, walk, run, bounce a ball, and drum to the beat in different musical notes. After learning and practicing the basics, participants learned movement sequences set to steady, easy-to-follow, 4-count beats, with and without music. Each sequence emphasized moving precisely to the beat and incorporated full body movements and drumming. Participants were asked to count the beat of the music loudly while moving for better comprehension. The creative component of the lesson plans included moving freely to the beat of the music and creating new sequences to teach the other participants. The social component of the lesson plans included performing the movement sequences while facing each other, switching positions with each other during the sequence, creating new sequences with others, and learning new sequences from the other participants. A more advanced social rhythmic activity included tinikling, a Philippine inspired activity in which two participants adorned elastic strips to their ankles and jumped in tandem together twice and apart twice while other participants jumped in and out of the center of their strips without touching the strips.

Each session included progression in difficulty, with (a) warm-up activities involving moving across-the-room with different rhythmical locomotor skills and bouncing stability balls without music first and then with music, (b) movement patterns taught by the instructor, and (c) creative movement patterns developed by the participants alone or with a partner. Each rhythmic lesson plan tasked high cognitive load on working memory, attention, and executive functions. The rhythmic intervention utilized to a large extent the Drums Alive ® program 1 that provides training as well as ready-to-use resources (activities, videos, and music) that are low cost and easy to use with relatively limited preparation time (preparation time always depends on the experience of the instructor; the more experience one gets, the less preparation time is needed). The main equipment utilized in the rhythmic program were stability balls, buckets as a base, and drumsticks (for the drumming activities), as well as poly-spots and stretch bands (for the jumping activities).

Physical Education

Two physical education sections were offered at the same time, with children grouped dependent on age. The PE classes were taught as a larger teaching opportunity for undergraduate students offered to homeschooled children in the community, with only a portion of enrolled students participating in the study. The physical education lessons are characterized as an active learning environment for gross motor actions, including developmentally appropriate activities on locomotor, non-locomotor, manipulative skills, and fitness. None of the physical education activities emphasized moving to the rhythm of music. The social component of the lesson plans included traveling to stations in small groups, playing team sports, and working together to complete a sequence of movements. Each physical education lesson tasked some cognitive load on working memory, attention, and EF.

Data Analysis

Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics 26). The primary purpose of the study was to compare changes in motor and EF skills as a result of two treatments, namely, rhythmic exercise and physical education. Mixed-plot MANOVAs were conducted with two groups (intervention, comparison) for the between-subject factor and two time points (pre, post) for the within-subject factor, separately for each set of outcome variables. ANOVAs with a between-subject independent variable (group: rhythmic, physical education) were conducted for the process evaluation variables. Secondly, in order to examine associations between motor, hot and cool EF skills, and social–emotional characteristics of the program, three separate sets of correlations were conducted: (1) motor with hot EF and social–emotional factors; (2) motor with cool EF; and (3) hot EF and social–emotional factors with cool EF. For the correlations, the change scores for balance, Flanker tasks, and SWAN factors were calculated.

Scores on the Flanker tasks were filtered, and values were discarded according to the following criteria: (a) if they represented practice trials, (b) the first testing trial, (c) if RT < 250 ms, and (d) if they were outside 2 SD from the mean reaction time per task/per participant. Reaction time was quantified only for correct trials. Response accuracy was quantified as the proportion of correct responses relative to the number of trials administered. Repeated MANOVAs (group as the between-subject variable and time as the within) were conducted for the Standard, Reverse, and Mixed Flanker, with two dependent variables, namely, reaction time (in ms) and accuracy (%). Statistical significance was accepted at a level of p < 0.05. Effect sizes for differences between means were calculated using Cohen’s d .

Intervention Fidelity and Feasibility of PA Programs (Rhythmic and PE)

Fidelity of programs.

The qualities of the rhythmic and the physical education programs are presented in Table 2 . As shown in the Table, each of the rhythmic lessons focused on mimicking sounds with clapping or drumming sticks, listening to different beats of the music, and moving to the beat with locomotor (e.g., walking, jumping) or non-locomotor skills (e.g., bending, twisting). The majority of the lessons included working with a partner or a small group (78%) and singing or repeating sounds (71%; e.g., counting aloud) to the beat. For the physical education program, the focus of the majority (57%) of the lessons was on manipulative skills (e.g., passing, catching, dribbling, kicking, volleying), without excluding fitness lessons (obstacle courses and fitness stations), tumbling (e.g., rolling), and locomotor (e.g., dodging, galloping, jumping) skills.

Feasibility of Programs

The process evaluation data provide context about factors that may potentially influence implementation and outcomes. The descriptive statistics for the characteristics of the Rhythmic and PE programs are presented in Table 3 . As evidenced, children in both groups had high attendance (>86%), with absences per child ranging from zero to four (Mean = 1.4, SD = 1.21). T -test comparisons showed no significant differences between groups for each of the process evaluation variables, except observed engagement. Specifically, data collected from each lesson showed that in both groups the children felt fairly good to good at the end of the lessons, perceived lessons as both fun and tiring, and believed they were cognitively engaged during the lessons. Further, there were no significant group differences in the MVPA levels during lessons or between students’ perceptions of their competence and relatedness at the end of the implementation period. The only significant difference between groups was found on observed engagement, with the children in the PE group showing greater engagement during the lesson.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics and baseline differences for the qualitative characteristics of physical activity programs.

Rhythmic performance was measured before and after the implementation period to measure rhythmic skills, which were only taught in the rhythmic intervention program. Even though there was no significant difference between the two groups, the effect size for the rhythmic program was small-to-moderate ( d = 0.42) whereas for the physical education program was null ( d = 0.00). However, the large SD for the rhythmic group shows variability among children, suggesting that there may be substantial individual differences in this outcome or possible measurement error with the specific scale.

Qualitative Program Evaluation

Fourteen parents provided anonymous qualitative feedback reporting their impressions of the rhythmic program. All parents reported that their children liked the program and the activities, indicating that many children practiced them at home alone or with siblings. Some parents commented that their child’s favorite parts of the intervention were working with a partner and having opportunities to be creative. Some students favored the drumming activities while others expressed that drumming was their least favorite activity. All parents reported that they really liked the program, and several parents expressed that they would not recommend any changes for the program. The suggestions for changes if the program was offered in the future were that it be provided more frequently or for a longer period of time, include more choices for students, and add instant activities for when children entered the gym to minimize waiting time (As this was a research study, instant activities were not offered in order to keep the duration of the lessons consistent for all participants).

Intervention Effects on Motor and Executive Function Skills

Independent sample t -tests revealed no baseline group differences across all outcome variables. Mean scores, standard deviations, and pretest–posttest effect sizes for all outcome variables are presented in Table 4 .

Table 4. Descriptive statistics (M, SD, ES) for motor, hot and cool executive functions.

Balance (MABC-2)

The 2 (group) by 2 (time points) ANOVA showed a significant main effect of time [ F (1,28) = 8.98, p = 0.006, η 2 = 0.24] but no significant group or group by time interaction. Children in both groups improved their balance from before to after the 7-week period of implementation, with medium effect sizes for the PE group ( d = 0.58) and small-to-medium effect sizes for the rhythmic group ( d = 0.35).

Executive Functions (Flanker)

Repeated MANOVAs and the follow-up ANOVAs showed a significant main effect of time for the Standard [on RT: F (1,37) = 53.24, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.59], the Reverse [on both reaction time and accuracy: F (1,37) = 64.05, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.63; F (1,37) = 13.89, p = 0.001, η 2 = 0.27, respectively], and the Mixed Flanker [on both reaction time and accuracy: F (1,37) = 15.14, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.29; F (1,37) = 31.14, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.46; respectively]. No main effect of group or interaction effects were evident. In all Flanker tasks, both groups improved significantly over time with large effect sizes ( Table 4 ). Specifically, on accuracy, the effect sizes were larger as the difficulty of the Flanker tasks increased for both groups, with the largest effect sizes observed on the Mixed Flanker ( d ’s = 0.97 and 0.85, for rhythmic and physical education, respectively). For reaction time, the effect sizes were large ( d ’s = 0.79 and 1.14, for rhythmic and physical education, respectively) on the Inhibitory control (Standard Flanker) and medium on the other tasks ( d ’s = 0.46–0.60) with the exception of the Reverse Flanker, where the largest effect size observed in the physical education group ( d = 1.43).

Attention and Behavioral Control (SWAN)

Results from the mixed-plot ANOVAs showed no significant main or interactive effects on Attention and Behavioral Control. However, for the Rhythmic group the effect size was small and positive on Attention ( d = 0.19) but null on Behavioral Control ( d = 0.04), whereas for the physical education group the effect size was small and negative for both Attention and Behavioral Control ( d = −0.13, d = −0.35, respectively).

Relationships Between Motor Skills, Hot and Cool EF, and Social–Emotional Factors

The results of the correlations between change scores for motor skills (e.g., balance), hot EF and social–emotional characteristics of the programs (SWAN ratings, affective valence, enjoyment, relatedness), and cool EF (Flanker accuracy scores and reaction time) are presented in Table 5 . Between balance and cool EF, five of six correlations were in the hypothesized direction (positive), with two reaching statistical significance (e.g., balance with the Reverse Flanker accuracy and Mix Flanker reaction time). Balance was not correlated significantly with measures of hot EF (SWAN scores). Between change scores for measures of cool and hot EF, and social–emotional factors, significant positive correlations were found between the Reverse Flanker Accuracy score and children’s self-rated Affective Valence, Enjoyment, and Cognitive Engagement during intervention sessions. No significant correlations were evident for Flanker tasks with Attention and Behavioral Control (SWAN scores). However, due to the small sample size these results should be interpreted with caution.

Table 5. Correlations among motor, hot and cool executive functions, and characteristics of the physical activity programs.

Exploratory Analyses: Social Context as an Important Contextual Factor

To gather preliminary data on potential social contextual factors that might impact outcomes in a PA intervention, we examined correlations between teacher climate, peer climate, and EF outcomes among the children in the Rhythmic group ( n = 17). Teacher climate was positively correlated with Flanker accuracy scores, Attention, and Behavioral Control, and the correlation with Attention ( r = 0.491) reached statistical significance. None of the correlations between peer climate and EF change scores were statistically significant. Again, given the small sample size, results should be interpreted with caution.

The aim of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of a rhythmic PA program as well as the extent to which a 7-week rhythmic PA program, compared to a generalized physical education program, impacts motor and EF skills in children. Children in the rhythmic group participated in a novel PA program focused on rhythmic movement patterns with music and manipulatives over fourteen sessions (two 30-min sessions per week). As research on rhythmic PA programs is newly emerging, our focus was primarily on experiences derived from the implementation of a rhythmic PA program with a secondary focus on potential effects on motor and cognitive outcomes in order to generate hypotheses for a full-scale randomized intervention study.

Intervention Fidelity, Acceptability, and Feasibility

First, fidelity checklists demonstrated that teachers were able to deliver the content of both the rhythmic and physical education lessons as intended. Second, children’s experiences within and perceptions of the rhythmic program were measured using a variety of methods throughout each session, as well as at the end of the implementation period with a parental open-ended questionnaire. As the feasibility assessment showed, children enjoyed participating in the rhythmic intervention, perceived it to be cognitively engaging and a little tiring physically, and perceived both their peers and the teacher to be supportive and task-involving.

The inclusion of music and rhythmic movement patterns within an environment characterized by positive social interactions and task-involving teacher and peer climates made this PA intervention unique. Ours is one of the first studies to examine the social context of a PA intervention and supports the need for future consideration of instructional and peer climates. It is well-established that peer interactions affect children’s motivation and behavior in school ( Wentzel and Ramani, 2016 ), as well as in youth PA contexts ( Harwood et al., 2015 ). According to Self-Determination Theory ( Deci and Ryan, 2000 ), relatedness is one of the three basic psychological needs, along with competence and autonomy, the satisfaction of which leads to intrinsic motivation and adaptive motivational outcomes, such as effort and commitment. Relatedness refers to a sense of feeling connected to others, supported, and valued by significant others ( Deci and Ryan, 2000 ). Youth PA programs that support the need for relatedness, especially by peers, reflect higher levels of engagement, intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, and perceived competence ( Ntoumanis et al., 2007 ; Hein and Jõesaar, 2015 ; Sparks et al., 2015 ). The role of peer relatedness on cognitive outcomes remains largely unexplored. Diamond and Ling (2015) predicted that successful interventions on EF skills are likely to be those that create feelings of belonging to a group with an important shared goal, whereas PA without cognitive challenge and lack of any social component appear not to improve EFs. Future PA intervention research should address peer and teacher climates to extend our understanding of how climate may impact both engagement in PA and outcomes.

The inclusion of music is a strategy commonly used to facilitate positive affective responses during exercise even when the intensity is vigorous ( Deforche and De Bourdeaudhuij, 2015 ; Vazou et al., 2019a ), and results from this study extend prior findings by illustrating children’s enjoyment of physical activities performed to music. The qualitative data from parents were very encouraging, suggesting that the children had positive experiences in the program, especially from the partner work and the creative components of the tasks, features of the intervention that should be promoted more extensively in future rhythmic programs. Suggestions from parents emphasizing the continuation of the program with a higher dose and frequency were heartening as they demonstrated demand for and interest in this type of intervention. Moreover, the use of a commercial program (Drums-Alive) with already developed resources (music, lessons), relatively low-cost equipment, and limited preparation time further illustrate that the rhythmic program is practical and could be easily delivered by PE teachers or other trained educators.

Intervention Promotion of Skill Acquisition and Cognition

Importantly, our intervention was uniquely designed to focus on learning to listen and practice rhythmic movement, a skill that has not been examined systematically in the chronic PA intervention and cognition literature. Results showed that the 7-week rhythmic program improved children’s rhythmic skills ( d = 0.42) and had a positive and meaningful effect on balance ( d = 0.35), accuracy and response time on the Flanker tasks ( d ’s = 0.34–0.97), and parent-rated attention ( d = 0.19). Similarly, Lakes et al. (2019) found that music and rhythmic movement, through the Creatively Able program, resulted in group-level reductions in Stereotyped and Compulsive behaviors for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The inclusion of music as an element of a PA intervention is further supported by research in typically developing elementary children showing that music education has a positive effect on EF skills and academic achievement ( Jaschke et al., 2018 ). Thus, rhythmic programs, in addition to having a potential beneficial effect on motor and EF skills, also have the potential to benefit academic achievement and literacy skills, especially in early years of a child’s development ( Bhide et al., 2013 ; Linardakis et al., 2013 ; Nelson, 2016 ). It has been suggested that rhythm and language show common developmental elements ( Patel, 2003 ) and share some of the same auditory mechanisms ( Degé and Schwarzer, 2011 ) as well as neural and cognitive resources that are necessary for both reading acquisition and music/rhythm understanding ( Tierney and Kraus, 2013 ). Identifying factors that could potentially mutually help EF and literacy skills is particularly important considering the high percentage (5–17%) of schoolchildren who do not become fluent readers, even with explicit instruction ( Shaywitz, 1998 ). This research on music and education supports the hypothesis that music could be an important contextual factor to include in PA interventions in order to synergistically improve executive functions and academic outcomes.

A process evaluation designed to control for potential covariation of PA intensity and other qualitative characteristics across the two programs (rhythmic and physical education) indicated that the programs did not differ in measures of PA intensity or children’s perceptions of the experiences. The only process variable that was significantly different between the rhythmic and the physical education groups was the level of observed engagement of the children during the lessons. While engagement was high in both groups (means across 14 lessons of 2.51 and 2.98 on a 3-point scale, for the rhythmic and physical education groups, respectively), it was significantly higher for the physical education group. This observation may be attributed to the lack of familiarity with the novel and possibly unusual rhythmic motor patterns that were practiced in the rhythmic program (e.g., drumming on stability balls, tinikling), whereas the physical education program included activities that the children were more familiar with, such as tag games, dribbling, kicking, and passing. The difference in students’ observed engagement may also be explained by the difficulty level of the tasks expected to be learned during the novel rhythmic lessons. It is possible that motor learning in the rhythmic program was more difficult because the tasks and motor patterns were new to the children. Even though the lessons were intentionally developed to provide variability of practice and to challenge the rhythmic and coordinative movements in order to enhance cognitive engagement and avoid automaticity ( Pesce et al., 2013b , 2019 ), rhythmic programs may require either a longer duration of practice for successful performance and learning or increased scaffolding, hypotheses that need to be tested in future studies.

Our data showed that children in both programs improved significantly from pre- to post-intervention on balance and hot/cool EF skills, with no differences in changes between the two programs (i.e., one was not better than the other). Specifically, all children improved on balance, with the effect sizes being small-to-medium and medium for the rhythmic and the PE programs, respectively. Similar to our study, the enriched physical education program by Pesce et al. (2019) that was centered on being cognitively engaging and providing variability of practice showed improvements in all motor coordination skills in children, including balance.

Moreover, children in both groups improved on measures of cool EF, including reaction time in all three computerized tasks of EF (Standard, Reverse, Mixed Flanker) and on accuracy for both the Reverse and Mixed Flanker tasks. Notably, for accuracy, as the difficulty level of the Flanker tasks increased (by focusing on more than one executive process), the effect sizes were larger for both groups ( d ’s = 0.97 and 0.85 on the Mixed Flanker, for the rhythmic and physical education, respectively). Similarly, large effect sizes were found on reaction time for the Standard Flanker (inhibitory control) for both groups as well as on the Reverse Flanker (inhibition and cognitive flexibility) for the physical education group (1.43).

The improvement on tasks requiring all three cool executive processes (inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory) suggest that developmentally appropriate PA programs of moderate-to-vigorous intensity (40–42%) that include cognitive engagement and variability of practice on fundamental motor skills can target a broad set of EF skills in children. Previous studies with rich PA interventions have also demonstrated positive effects on EF skills ( Lakes and Hoyt, 2004 ; Chang et al., 2013 ; Lakes et al., 2013 ; Pesce et al., 2013a ; Crova et al., 2014 ; Schmidt et al., 2015 ). However, in some studies, the results were not entirely consistent across all EF skills, suggesting differential associations between specific aspects of the PA programs and specific executive processes. For example, Schmidt et al. (2015) found that changes in inhibition were similar for all experimental groups (team games, aerobic, or traditional physical education) regardless of the intensity of the programs or the level of cognitive engagement, and working memory improved similarly for team games and the aerobic program but not in the physical education group. In contrast, cognitive flexibility improved significantly more for the team games program compared to the other two programs.

In our study, both accuracy and reaction time on all three cool EFs improved for both groups, but the present data are limited in that it cannot answer whether the improvements were simply due to maturation or to the characteristics of the PA programs. However, our results are in line with the conclusions of a recent meta-analysis ( Vazou et al., 2019b ), in which when a PA intervention, regardless of its qualitative characteristics (i.e., aerobic, motor skill, cognitively engaging), was compared to traditional physical education, which is known to be beneficial for children, the effects on the cognitive outcomes were of similar magnitude, with the pooled effect sizes being close to zero, and the largest effects being observed when comparing an intervention to no treatment. Thus, our design choices—using physical education as a control or comparison intervention—reduced our expectations for detecting large effects. These findings support the overall benefits of high-quality physical education delivered within the context of a research study.

Associations Between Motor Skills, Hot and Cool EF, and Qualitative Characteristics of the Programs

In this study, the associations between balance (a measure of motor skill), cool EF and hot EF, and social–emotional factors were also examined. The results showed significant positive correlations between balance and measures of cool EF, specifically accuracy on the Reverse Flanker task (Inhibition and Cognitive Flexibility) and reaction time on the Mixed Flanker task (Inhibition, Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility), but not with the Standard Flanker task that only involves inhibition. Gross motor skills have been found to significantly relate to specific EFs, such as visuospatial working memory and response inhibition ( van der Fels et al., 2019 ). Balance was not correlated significantly with measures of hot EF and social–emotional factors.

These results are consistent with prior research examining relationships between cool and hot EF and motor skills, which have demonstrated positive relationships between EF and gross motor skills, but failed to find the same relationship when looking specifically at balance. In a school-wide sample of 207 children, Lakes (2013) found that observer ratings of gross motor control (e.g., coordination, athleticism) were significantly correlated with measures of cool EF (working memory and mental math tasks) as well as a measure of hot EF (teacher ratings of problem behavior); moreover, Lakes (2012) reported significant correlations between observer ratings of motor control and observer ratings of cognitive and emotional control when completing a challenge course. When the differentiating effects of specific motor skills on EF were examined, Pesce et al. (2019) found that ball skills, but not balance, had a mediating role on the effect of a cognitively engaging physical education intervention on inhibition. Additionally, in a cross-sectional study with young tennis athletes, it was demonstrated that a longer duration of game-based exercises was associated with better reaction time in inhibitory control, and coordination training was related to accuracy in working memory ( Ishihara et al., 2017 ). In sum, there is evidence that gross motor skills are associated with cool and hot EF, and studies examining specific motor skills have demonstrated some differences in the relationships with selective EFs when specific motor skills are examined. In future research, it would be helpful to differentiate between specific motor skills and cool and hot EF to further our understanding of how these factors are related as well as how they might be impacted by PA interventions.

Positive significant correlations were also evident between cool EF (i.e., accuracy on Standard Flanker) and affective valence, cognitive engagement, and enjoyment of the PA programs. Deriving satisfaction from a PA program and experiencing positive affect has been proposed to be associated with higher levels of engagement and self-regulatory skills ( Isen and Reeve, 2005 ; Diamond, 2015 ; Brand and Ekkekakis, 2018 ). It is noticeable that significant positive correlations were observed only between affective valence, cognitive engagement, and enjoyment (qualitative characteristics of the PA programs) with the Standard Flanker, which is the easiest task as it is only tapping attention and inhibitory control without requiring working memory and cognitive flexibility demands. It is possible that these qualitative characteristics may have a larger impact in changes of the “simpler” EFs and not in EF tasks involving greater complexity (including working memory). However, due to the preliminary nature of this study, this finding needs to be further explored in the future. Lastly, a supportive teacher motivational climate significantly correlated with attention, suggesting that instructors are likely another important contextual factor in a given intervention that deserves further consideration. Future PA intervention research should include measures of teacher climate in order to assess whether or not teacher climate may mediate intervention effects.

Limitations and Future Recommendations

As this was a pilot study, several limitations should be taken into consideration both in planning future research and in interpreting the present results. These results clearly need to be replicated with a larger sample, and with a randomized sample. The lack of an inactive control group (wait list or no intervention) limits interpretation of the results. In addition, due to limited resources and time in the comparison group (most children had a limited time availability due to other after-school activities that restricted the number of measures we could use), balance was the only measure of motor skills that was evaluated. A wider assessment of motor skills, including both gross and fine motor skills (manual dexterity, ball skills, and balance), should be examined in the future, as we noted earlier that relationships between EF and motors skills may differ.

In this pilot study, we anticipated small effects for the rhythmic program, which were not found to be significant. As both programs did not differ on any of their characteristics other than the focus on rhythmic movement, it is possible that the dose of the rhythmic program (fourteen 30-min sessions) was not enough to create a significant difference on the motor and EF outcomes we examined. Especially given the novelty of the tasks and the fact that children perceived the rhythmic intervention as more difficult, it may be that they need a longer period of time to learn the skills and, thereby, demonstrate positive effects. This hypothesis, while clearly in need of further examination, suggests that different types of PA programs (potentially those that vary in complexity) may have a different timeline for motor and cognitive learning outcomes to be evident, which is something that should be taken into consideration when exploring the exercise–cognition relationship. Additional research is also needed regarding the potential success of the rhythmic program with children of different ages, skill levels, and cognitive development.

Our study provides evidence for the feasibility of the rhythmic program as well as recommendations for future acceptability, adaptation, and implementation of the program. Further, our study provides additional evidence related to the beneficial role of qualitatively rich PA programs that stimulate children’s motor and EF skills and supports the suitability of such programs in physical education, as highlighted by exercise and cognitive scientists ( Pesce, 2012 ; Diamond, 2015 ; Schmidt et al., 2015 ; Pesce et al., 2019 ; Tomporowski and Pesce, 2019 ; Vazou et al., 2019b ). Lastly, this study contributes to the literature by exploring the potential value of rhythmic programs as a vehicle in helping children develop motor and EF skills while deriving joy and positive social interactions from the program. Additional research is clearly warranted to better understand the effects of different types of PA programs, and particularly rhythmic programs, on motor, cold EF, and hot EF skills and social emotional factors.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Iowa State University. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

SV and AS designed the study, led the program implementation, interpreted the findings, and drafted the manuscript. BK contributed in the methodology, data collection, implementation of the programs, data processing, and helped drafting the manuscript. SV conducted the analysis. KL contributed in the methodology, interpreted the findings, and helped draft the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children who participated in the research.

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Keywords : chronic exercise, executive processing, physical education, cognition, social, enjoyment, youth

Citation: Vazou S, Klesel B, Lakes KD and Smiley A (2020) Rhythmic Physical Activity Intervention: Exploring Feasibility and Effectiveness in Improving Motor and Executive Function Skills in Children. Front. Psychol. 11:556249. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.556249

Received: 27 April 2020; Accepted: 24 August 2020; Published: 18 September 2020.

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*Correspondence: Spyridoula Vazou, [email protected]

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