Effects of Varied Practice Approach in Physical Education Teaching on Inhibitory Control and Reaction Time in Preadolescents

Pietro Luigi Invernizzi, Marta Rigon, Gabriele Signorini, Dario Colella, Athos Trecroci, Damiano Formenti and Raffaele Scurati
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Pietro Luigi Invernizzi: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20129 Milan, Italy
Marta Rigon: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20129 Milan, Italy
Gabriele Signorini: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20129 Milan, Italy
Dario Colella: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Athos Trecroci: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20129 Milan, Italy
Damiano Formenti: Dipartimento di Biotecnologie e Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, 21100 Varese, Italy
Raffaele Scurati: Department of Biomedical Sciences for Health, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20129 Milan, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effects of nonlinear and linear varied practice compared to a constant linear practice on inhibitory control and reaction time, which are capacities that involve cognition in preadolescents. Eighty-three participants in the 8th grade participated in the study. They were assigned to two experimental groups (varied practice), taught using nonlinear pedagogy (NLP) and linear pedagogy (VLP), respectively, or one control group (constant practice), taught using linear pedagogy (CLP). All participants were tested for inhibitory control (congruent and incongruent conditions) and simple reaction time. Overall, varied practice (both linear and nonlinear) induced larger improvements than constant practice under both congruent ( p = 0.026) and incongruent ( p = 0.013) conditions of inhibitory control. Additionally, VLP provided greater improvements in inhibitory control (for the incongruent condition) than NLP and CLP. Although NLP and VLP may be preferable to CLP approaches for enhancing executive functions in preadolescents, VLP seems to be the most effective approach aimed to improve cognition within PE classes.

Keywords: school; linear didactics; nonlinear didactics; teaching styles; executive functions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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