Der Einfluss von Gleichgewicht auf kognitive Fähigkeiten von Grundschulkindern

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Abstract


Does exercise really make you smarter? This question is the focus of an interdisciplinary field of research, and numerous positive findings show that exercise does not inherently make one smarter, but that certain conditions can indeed have beneficial effects (Jan-sen & Richter, 2016). Due to scientific findings on the learning-enhancing effects of ex-ercise, the topic has received more attention in the German educational system. How-ever, most of the existing research has been conducted outside of school settings, so the positive results cannot be directly applied to a complex environment like school. This is where this work comes in. The aim was to identify conditions in elementary schools under which exercise has cognitive-enhancing potential.
The dissertation was developed as part of the project "Abenteuer Bewegung". The pro-ject's goal is the movement-based promotion of children. In collaboration with the Ger-man Sport University Cologne (DSHS), a movement concept was developed that fo-cuses on the holistic promotion of children in elementary schools (Memmert et al., 2017 a,b; Memmert et al., 2020 a,b). Based on this movement concept, the influence of bal-ance training on various cognitive abilities in elementary school age was investigated. Balance is essential for performing any everyday activities as well as sports-specific movements and plays a central role in motor development during middle childhood (Hirtz, 2002; Golle et al., 2019). Correlational studies and shared neural correlates point to connections between balance ability and various cognitive abilities: executive func-tions, mental rotation ability, and memory. Intervention studies indicate effects of coor-dinatively demanding interventions on these abilities. Consequently, the effect of bal-ance on the aforementioned cognitive abilities was now investigated. A total of three studies are presented.
In the first and second studies, two balance-based intervention studies were conducted in the physical education classes of various elementary schools within a quasi-experi-mental design with intervention and control groups. The focus was on the impact of balance training on executive functions, mental rotation ability, and motor self-efficacy. The findings show no effects of balance training in physical education on executive func-tions and mental rotation ability. Motor self-efficacy, however, could be increased through the targeted intervention. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of
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maturation processes, the content and design of the training, and methodological as-pects.
The third study examined the effect of a balance task on solving a memory task within a dual-task framework. The findings show no differences in memory performance under the different conditions. The participants were able to solve the task equally well under all conditions. These findings are also discussed in the context of current findings and their significance for school practice.
Based on this work, the necessity of further intervention studies with different treatment groups is recommended to better compare effects. Furthermore, the focus should be on intervention studies in the everyday school setting to be able to check the effectiveness of interventions in that context.
Original languageGerman
Place of PublicationKöln
PublisherDeutsche Sporthochschule Köln
Number of pages227
Publication statusPublished - 2024

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