Short breaks in class gave pupils a small boost in attention, but little else.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   The review pooled 13 studies with 7,234 pupils, mostly at primary school. Each study compared pupils who had breaks with a group that did something else, such as normal lessons or sitting still.

2. 02

   What they did

   Breaks lasted from a few minutes to about 20 minutes, and programmes ran for several weeks. They were mostly running, jumping and dancing, and some asked pupils to think at the same time.

3. 03

   What happened

   Attention and updating improved a little, but switching did not clearly change. Only breaks of 10 minutes or more clearly helped attention, and holding back gained very little. The paper's numbers do not fully add up.

What the review found

1. HelpedFocus

   Pupils who had breaks scored higher on attention tests than the other groups.

   Pooled analysis of 5 studies · vs pupils who sat still or kept on with class work · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

2. HelpedOther outcomes

   Pupils with breaks were a little better at holding back automatic reactions.

   Pooled analysis of 0 studies · vs pupils who sat still or kept on with class work · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; mixes trials with other kinds of study

3. HelpedOther outcomes

   Pupils with breaks were a little better at keeping and changing information in mind.

   Pooled analysis of 3 studies · vs pupils who sat still or kept on with class work · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

4. No differenceOther outcomes

   Pupils who had breaks did not switch between tasks any better than the other groups.

   Pooled analysis of 3 studies · vs pupils who sat still or kept on with class work · ⚠ mixes trials with other kinds of study

Source