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How will the use of

Brain Breaks improve
student learning?

Introduction
In each of our classrooms we noticed
that our students hit a certain point
where they were losing focus and
motivation towards instruction and
collaboration. We needed a way to
get the kids more energized in order
for them to be more engaged and
increase student learning. We chose
to investigate the effectiveness of
brain breaks by analyzing research
as well as implementation of
strategies that have been previously
used. Through this action research
project we hoped to see
improvement in student learning
through the use of brain breaks.

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Moving with the Brain in Mind by Eric

The article
that I read is called Moving with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen. He talks about
Jensen

how taking breaks from learning will give the information time to settle. Students are not capable
of being given unlimited amounts of learning. Eric uses the example of pouring water into a
glass. No matter how much water you pour, the glass can only hold so much. It is important for
students to be given time to organize and process new information in the hippocampus part of
their brain. If we overload the hippocampus, there will be no new learning. Movement is a perfect
way to take a learning break. Eric Jensen talks about how moving will actually enhance the
learning process. Physical activity increases blood flow, which increases the amount of oxygen
that gets to the brain.
It is also important to have students move to new locations to create spatial learning. The brain
forms maps and relationships to locations, so the more locations then the more unique and
memorable the learning experience is. It is also important to give students the chance to move
around because it releases the bodys natural motivators. These will wake up the learners and
give them more energy. Another reason Eric Jensen talks about is that sitting is not what our
bodies should be doing for that long. It creates poor posture, fatigue, poor eyesight, poor
breathing, restlessness and trouble concentrating. This is why it is so important to get our
students moving during the day. He then goes on to give examples of learning breaks that
teachers can do in their classrooms to get students moving during the learning process.
In our action research project, we are going to give students brain breaks in the middle of class.
Our brain breaks are going to get them moving and sometimes even in a new location. After
reading this article, I believe that it will enhance my students learning. It will give them time to
process the new information that they are being given. It will also allow them to get out of their
seats, which will be healthier for them as well as keep their brains active.

Energizing Students: Maximizing Student

Attention and Engagement in the Science
Classroom
Almarode, J., & Almarode, D. (2008)

The average student brain has an attention span of 15minutes. After that
students begin to lose interest and not pay so much attention. Giving students
a small 1-5 minute break can help them stay focused by providing them with a
quick break which in this article is referred to as an energizer. My article talks
about two different kinds of breaks you could give students during this time.
You can do an energizer that relates to the content but gets them somehow
actively involved or you can do a break that is more physical and gets them
moving around more. There are many ways that brain breaks are positive for
the brain and student achievement. Some include allowing more oxygen to the
brain, stimulating the brain, and providing a break for the information input
section of the brain.
This relates to the action research because it supports the reason for doing
brain breaks. It allows students to get active and be able to pay attention when
the teacher is providing them with the information.

Students Hop, Skip, and Jump Their Way to

Understanding

Andrea Elkin

In Andrea Elkins Students Hop, Skip, and Jump Their Way to Understanding, she
addresses the observations of Harvard Medicals John Ratey who has found a
correlation between exercise and brain function. Ratey found that exercising leads
to improved reasoning functions, particularly in mathematics. He added, When
people exercise, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is released, creating an
environment where brain cells are more ready to grow and retain information
[Elk12]. Elkin expresses her recommendation of incorporating brain breaks into
the classroom to get students active while improving focus and learning. She
mentions multiple activities to use in the classroom such as pushups, jumping
over a pencil, hopscotch, or anything that gets the blood flowing.
Following this article, I have researched brain break activities and created a
document to use in the classroom that includes various physical activities for
students to engage in that will only consume approximately five minutes of
instructional time.

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Ms. Andersons
Class

I gave my last block a Brain Break every day

for one week. I would give them a Brain
Break after the students had a lot of direct
teach and seemed to be bored or after they
were in their seats for a long time. Then,
they would sit back down and have time to
complete their student work and practice the
content that they learned that day for the
rest of class. I did a different type of game or
exercise every day. I used the Roll Some
Brain Breaks page to take random exercises
from like touching your toes and arm circles.
I played games the rest of the days. One
day, I tried to change up their environment
and took them outside to play Simon Says. I
also played games from the Three-Minute
Brain Breaks list like Find It Fast around the
room, Line Up by birthdays, and having them
try to do some different Physical Challenges.
Then, I had my students take a survey the
following Monday to give me their thoughts
about how they went and how they thought
that it affected their learning.

Ms. Calderns
Class

In my class I used some of the activities

from the Roll Some Brain Breaks
worksheet. I did not roll the dice but
selected activities that would be good
for my students. During my eighty
block class I would spend the first 25
minutes doing small group with my
students. Then the actual lesson would
begin. Half way through the lesson I
would stop the class for no more than 5
minutes and have the students do an
activity off the worksheet. The first day
I allowed the students to choose what
activity they would do but realized that
took too long. The next days I selected
the activities for them. The students
would take the 5 minutes to do the
activity or multiple activities then sit
down in go back to working on the
lesson for the day.

Ms. Turners
Class

In my classroom when I noticed my

students were beginning to lose energy
and become less engaged I would pull
out the Roll Some Brain Breaks to
display under the document camera
and ask everyone to stand up. I would
roll 5 dice and depending on the
numbers rolled, the students and I
would perform the task described on
the chart. The activities only took a few
minutes of instructional time and
provided students with a chance to get
up and move. If I noticed students were
not participating we would either start
over or I would ask the student to come
to the front of the class to perform the
task for the class.

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Student Surveys
Did You Enjoy the Brain Breaks?
25
20
15

Number of Students

10
5
0

Anderson

Calderon
Yes

No

Turner

Student Surveys
If Yes: Do You Feel They Helped You Focus or Work Better in Class?
18
16
14
12

Number of Students

10
8
6
4
2
0

Anderson
Not at All

Calderon
A little

A lot

Turner

Ms. Andersons Class

All of my students said that they loved the
Brain Breaks. Most of them said that they
helped get their energy out so that they could
focus on their work better for the rest of the
class. I had a few who thought they were fun
but didnt affect their learning at all and one
even said that it took away from their student
work time.

Ms. Calderns Class

In order to see how it went for my class we had an
overall class discussion. Out of my 11 kids, 7 of them
really liked the brain breaks and found them useful to
their learning process. The remaining 4 liked the brain
breaks but didnt think it effected their learning as
much as the others did.
The kids felt like the brain breaks gave them energy to
be able to stay awake and pay more attention to what
was going on in the classroom. They also felt like it
added some fun to each day that they were in more
direct teach lessons.

Ms. Turners Class

I received very mixed responses from the
student surveys. While most students said they
enjoyed the breaks, many stated that they did
not favor the particular activities or felt
embarrassed by some of the exercises.
I personally observed a dramatic change in my
students participation and level of work in the
classroom after the brain breaks.

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Conclusion
Our research has led us to the conclusion that brain breaks gave our students the
opportunity to move around providing oxygen to the brain. This led to increased focus
and an improvement in student learning. Some difficulties that we noted included:
Ms. Anderson: A
couple of students
believed that they
were taking away
from valuable class
time. Many
students had a
hard time calming
down and
redirecting their
energy to learning
the content.

Ms. Calderon: Some

students wanted to
take more than one
brain break during
a class period.
They would use this
as a tool to
interrupt
instruction at their
convenience by
distracting the
class.

Ms. Turner: The

students began
expecting the brain
breaks which
distracted from the
learning prior to
the brain breaks. In
addition there were
students who were
reluctant to
participate.

Overall, brain breaks were successful

in providing the students necessary
time to regain their focus and
motivation leading the better
student learning!

Implications
We believe the brain breaks need to be more structured to
increase effectiveness not only in student engagement but
student learning. In the future, we would modify the activities
and decrease the frequency of use in hopes of higher success.
We learned that the use of brain breaks are most beneficial
when the lesson is teacher centered with direct instruction. In
comparison, if our lesson is student centered with activities
the brain breaks would serve as more of a distraction. Student
activities tend to involve movement which already provides an
opportunity for the students to get more oxygen to their brain.