Brain Breaks in the Elementary Classroom

At the elementary level, many teachers notice a decline in student engagement at various times of the day. Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris (2004) state that there are three levels of engagement: behavioral engagement, cognitive engagement, and emotional engagement. This study discusses how using brain breaks, or pauses of instruction to focus students’ attention on a different movement activity, affect student engagement. Data was collected through video clips and written field notes. The results of this study suggest that brain breaks positively influence the engagement of students. These findings are significant to the field of education because they could point out ways in which teachers could enhance student engagement and meet physical activity standards.