Resource Library

This downloadable report from the Institute of Medicine is a compilation of information around increasing physical activity in K-12 schools.

In 2009, 50 communities across the country were selected to participate in Communities Putting Prevention to Work , a stimulus-funded project that worked at the county-level to increase opportunities for healthy eating and active living through policy, systems and environmental changes. 

This sample Use of Facilities policy for Chester County in South Carolina works to establish the basic structure for community use of school facilities.

• Obesity and physical inactivity may have a negative impact on cognitive function and academic achievement. This prospective study investigated whether childhood motor function predicts later academic achievement via physical activity, fitness, and obesity.

Gross and fine motor skills and cognitive performance in obese and overweight children were compared to healthy weight children. Participants were 1,543 children (797 boys and 746 girls) ages 43 to 84 months, attending childcare centers in Munich, Germany.

This study examined the association between fitness change and subsequent academic performance in Taiwanese schoolchildren from 7th grade to 9th grade.

This webinar discusses policies, procedures and projects that have been advanced at the school and district level that address parental concerns to improve safety, increase physical activity and get more students walking and bicycling to school.

The goal of the study was to test students for cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between objectively measured free-living physical activity (PA) and academic attainment in adolescents.

These action briefs are a companion to the webinar "Maximizing District-Wide Impact of Safe Routes to School: Educating  Principals and School Boards that took place on May 16, 2013.

The present study examined age differences in cognitive performance and affective experience immediately following a single bout of moderate exercise.

The intervention focused on increasing the time and intensity of Physical Education (PE), on adolescents' cognitive performance and academic achievement. A 4-month group-randomized controlled trial was conducted in 67 adolescents from South-East Spain, in 2007.

Researchers investigated the relationship between aerobic fitness, learning, and memory on a task that involved remembering names and locations on a fictitious map. Different learning strategies and recall procedures were employed to better understand fitness effects on learning novel material.

This study examined the association between physical fitness and academic achievement and determined the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on the association between fitness and academic achievement in school-aged youth.

This study was designed to examine whether residents living in neighborhoods that are less conducive to walking or other physical activities are more likely to develop diabetes and, if so, whether recent immigrants are particularly susceptible to such effects.

This special review article touches on a number of key built environment issues leveraged by the Safe Routes to School program to improve childhood health and prevent obesity. 

The purpose of the study was to assess whether living in a smart growth community was associated with increased neighborhood-centered leisure-time physical activity in children aged 8–14 years, compared to residing in a conventional community (i.e., one not designed according to smart growth principles).

Neighborhood designs often relate to physical activity and to body mass index (BMI). The authors wanted to find out if neighborhood walkability/bikeability relates to BMI and obesity risk and whether moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) account for some of the relationship?

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined correlates of bicycle ownership and bicycling frequency, and projected increases in cycling if perceived safety from cars was improved.

In this paper, the links between vehicle emissions and air quality, as well as the health and economic benefits from alternative transport use, are considered, and methodological issues relating to the modelling of these co-benefits are discussed.

Neighborhood design features have been associated with health outcomes, including the prevalence of obesity. This study examined the association between walkability and adolescent weight in a national sample of public secondary school students and the communities in which they live.