Providing quality learning enrichment programs in schools
Numerous studies and articles illustrate the benefits that our activities provide.
Brains and Brawn, One and the Same
New York Times January 25,2004
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In a study conducted by Dr. Arne May and colleagues at the University of Regensburg in Germany, people who spent three months learning to juggle showed enlargement of certain areas in the cerebral cortex, the thin sheet of nerve cells on the brain's surface where most higher thought processes seem to be handled. They were then asked to quit juggling completely, and three months later the enlarged areas of the cortex had started to shrink.
Witchita State University, Stix Play Study
The Impact of “Sticks Play” on Fifth and Seventh Graders’ Eye -Tracking, Self-Esteem, and Physical Skills
Abstract: This study examines the impact of a movement program using “Lunastix” -- involving the juggling of a baton using two handles -- on the eye tracking, global and athletic self-esteem, and the physical skills of four 5th and two 7th grade physical education classes (n = 138) engaged in eight weeks of instruction and practice. For comparison, eye tracking and self-esteem data were also collected from a second set of 5th and 7th grade classes (n = 116) that did not receive the treatment. Randomly selected students from the treatment group (n = 61) improved on binocular correlation (p < .072), while randomly selected students in the control group (n = 45) did not (p <.353). Relative reading efficiency, a derived score of several eye movement variables (Taylor & Nystrom, 1997), was not significantly different pre and post for either treatment or control groups. Mean global self-esteem scores for males in the treatment group were maintained pre to post (p <.247), but significantly declined for those the control group (p < .018), while those for females receiving treatment significantly increased (p < .066), but also rose almost to the significant level for control females (p < .108). Mean scores on the performance of selected physical skills significantly improved over the treatment period for boys and for girls (p < .000). Implications are discussed for claims that can be made about the benefits of the Sticks Play curriculum for students in grades 5 and 7.
Teachers Link Juggling to Improved Academic Skills
Education World March 11, 2002
Although they admit to a lack of scientific data supporting their observations, several teachers and administrators recently told Education World that they've seen students' schoolwork improve after the kids learned to juggle. Improvements in concentration, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, reading, and behavior are just some of the benefits of juggling cited by educators.
>Exercise Seen Boosting Children’s Brain Function
The Boston Globe, November 9, 1999
Reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic. And running? Emerging new research in animals and humans suggests physical exercise may boost brain function, improve mood, and otherwise increase learning, according to findings presented yesterday at a meeting of neuroscientists and educators. While it is too soon to conclude that children who do not exercise fare worse in school, the research raises questions about the recent national trend toward cutting physical education programs, some scientists and educators said.
target="_blank">Exercise Helps Students in the Classroom -- National Public Radio, Morning Edition, August 31, 2006
Increasingly, researchers are finding that brain activity and brain development are enhanced by physical exercise. It now appears that exercise can help kids learn at school.
A Healthy Beat
Drumming Circles: Do They Offer Sound Benefits?
by Sue Woodman
Drumming circles, which are springing up in dozens of locations nationwide, are among the country's fastest-growing holistic health trends. Enthusiastic advocates say that this pastime reduces stress and anger, boosts the immune system and induces pleasure and relaxation. "Drumming is innate within us because of our own inner rhythms -- our heartbeats, our breathing, our brain waves," says psychotherapist Robert Lawrence Friedman, author of The Healing Power of the Drum…
Numerous research studies have been published which demonstrate the health benefits of Recreational Music-Making. HealthRHYTHMS is Remo's Internationally Acclaimed Research-Based Recreational Music-Making Program. Composite Effects of Group Drumming Music Therapy on Modulation of Neuroendocrine-Immune Parameters in Normal Subjects (2001)
Bittman MD, Berk LS,Felten DL,Westengard J,Simonton OD,Pappas J,Ninehouser M