Effects of the Inclusion of Physical Activity in Secondary School Academic Classes: the ACTIVE CLASS Study

NCT ID: NCT05891054

Last Updated: 2025-06-27

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 292 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-01-09
• Study Completion Date: 2023-06-21

Brief Summary

Study based on the inclusion of physical activity in the secondary education classroom through active breaks and physically active learning, aimed at testing its effects on the improvement of physical activity levels, sedentary time, educational indicators, cognition and physical and psychological health markers.

Detailed Description

The ACTIVE CLASS is a randomized controlled study coordinated by fully qualified researchers in the physical activity and sport sciences from two universities [University of Cadiz (UCA) and University of Extremadura (UEX), Spain]. This study is aimed at 7th and 8th grade students (11-13 years old), belonging to 6 schools in Spain (3 schools in Cadiz and 3 schools in Caceres). One school from each study region will be randomly assigned to one of the three intervention groups:

(i) Active breaks intervention: there will be 2 active breaks per day, 5 days a week of moderate-vigorous physical activity with a duration of 5 minutes.

(ii) Physically active learning intervention: Once a week, moderate-vigorous physical activity will be included in the academic lessons of the mathematics subject.

(iii) Control group.

The interventions will have a duration of 16 weeks. The different outcome measures (physical activity and sedentary behavior, health-related physical fitness, psychological health, academic indicators, cognition, motivational variables, dietary patterns, sociodemographic characteristics and qualitative information) will be evaluated at 3 time points:

1. Pre-intervention

2. Post-intervention

3. Retention measure (this measure will be conducted four weeks after the intervention to analyze the sustainability of the intervention program)

All measures will be assessed at each time point with the exception of qualitative information which will be assessed only in the post-intervention measure.

At the end of the intervention the researchers will determine the changes of the main outcome variables. Likewise, the main hypotheses raised will be:

1. A physically active learning intervention and active breaks will result in improved physical activity levels and decreased sedentary time.

2. A physically active learning intervention and active breaks will produce improvements in markers of physical and psychological health.

3. The inclusion of physical activity in academic classes will result in improved academic indicators and cognitive markers.

4. A physically active learning intervention and active breaks will produce improvements on motivational variables in academic classes.

Conditions

Physical Activity; Adolescents; Cognition; Physical Fitness

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Active breaks

Active breaks consist of short breaks during academic classes other than physical education that include moderate to vigorous physical activity, usually unrelated to curricular content.

In this type of intervention, 2 active breaks are taken daily in a predetermined time slot. The development of each break is done through access to a specific digital platform where students follow the instructions of an avatar, which is in charge of guiding the realization of the active break. Each active rest involves a total of 4 minutes of activity, in which two sets of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of four different exercises are performed, ending with a brief return to calm consisting of two deep breaths. The activities selected for each of the active breaks include aerobic and strengthening activities of moderate and vigorous intensity.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Active breaks

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Two active breaks are taken daily in a predetermined time slot. The development of each break is done through access to a specific digital platform where students follow the instructions of an avatar, which is in charge of guiding the realization of the active break. Each active rest involves a total of 4 minutes of activity, in which two sets of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of four different exercises are performed, ending with a brief return to calm consisting of two deep breaths. The activities selected for each of the active breaks include aerobic and strengthening activities of moderate and vigorous intensity.

Physically active learning

Physically active learning consists of the incorporation of physical activity (usually of moderate-vigorous intensity) into the educational content taught in academic lessons that do not refer to physical education.

This type of intervention is carried out once a week for 1 hour outside the classroom, where physical activity (through movement, jumping, strengthening exercises, throwing, etc.) is incorporated into academic mathematics classes.

The mathematics teachers (with the support of the research team) are in charge of teaching the physically active classes. Prior to the development of each class, the research team, together with the mathematics teachers involved, meet and design the class according to the contents to be addressed.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Physically active learning

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The physically active learning is carried out once a week for 1 hour outside the classroom, where physical activity (through movement, jumping, strengthening exercises, throwing, etc.) is incorporated into academic mathematics classes.

The mathematics teachers (with the support of the research team) are in charge of teaching the physically active classes. Prior to the development of each class, the research team, together with the mathematics teachers involved, meet and design the class according to the contents to be addressed.

Control Group

The control group will receive the usual academic classes without any methodological modification during the intervention period.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Active breaks

Two active breaks are taken daily in a predetermined time slot. The development of each break is done through access to a specific digital platform where students follow the instructions of an avatar, which is in charge of guiding the realization of the active break. Each active rest involves a total of 4 minutes of activity, in which two sets of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest of four different exercises are performed, ending with a brief return to calm consisting of two deep breaths. The activities selected for each of the active breaks include aerobic and strengthening activities of moderate and vigorous intensity.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Physically active learning

The physically active learning is carried out once a week for 1 hour outside the classroom, where physical activity (through movement, jumping, strengthening exercises, throwing, etc.) is incorporated into academic mathematics classes.

The mathematics teachers (with the support of the research team) are in charge of teaching the physically active classes. Prior to the development of each class, the research team, together with the mathematics teachers involved, meet and design the class according to the contents to be addressed.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Adolescents who are studying 7th or 8th grade
• Adolescents with the informed consent signed by family/tutor
• Schools with at least 60 students enrolled in 7th and/or 8th grade
• Schools belonging to the regions of Cáceres and Cádiz

Exclusion Criteria

• Adolescents who have a physical disability or health condition that could limit physical activity levels
• Schools participating in any other physical activity or health promotion program

• Minimum Eligible Age: 11 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 14 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Enterprise and University of Andalucia

UNKNOWN

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Extremadura

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

David Sanchez Oliva

Assistant professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

University of Cádiz

Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain

University of Extremadura

Cáceres, , Spain

Countries

Spain

References

Grao-Cruces A, Martin-Acosta F, Vaquero-Solis M, Ruiz-Hermosa A, Camiletti-Moiron D, Sanchez-Oliva D. Fitness, Weight Status and Executive Functions in Adolescents: A Cluster Analysis. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2025 Aug;35(8):e70098. doi: 10.1111/sms.70098.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 40719569 (View on PubMed)

Gonzalez-Perez M, Sanchez-Oliva D, Grao-Cruces A, Cano-Canada E, Martin-Acosta F, Munoz-Gonzalez R, Bandera-Campos FJ, Ruiz-Hermosa A, Vaquero-Solis M, Padilla-Moledo C, Conde-Caveda J, Segura-Jimenez V, Gonzalez-Ponce I, Garcia-Calvo T, Castro-Pinero J, Camiletti-Moiron D. Effects of the inclusion of physical activity in secondary education academic classes on educational indicators and health markers: rationale and methods of the ACTIVE CLASS study. Front Public Health. 2024 Jan 5;11:1329245. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1329245. eCollection 2023.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 38249387 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

PID2019-104023RA-I00

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id