Boost Cognition, Reduce Delinquency: Movement Based Groups for Adolescent Boys
Samantha Cossen, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL (USA)
Max Parrella, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL (USA)
Michael Awopileda, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL (USA)
This poster will focus on the outcomes of a small-group for at-risk, adolescent boys at a midwest suburban high school focused on cognition and physical exercise. The poster explores the positive impact of physical exercise on the human brain, provides examples of social emotional activities and groups to increase cognition, and discusses an example of a movement-based social emotional small group for adolescent boys.
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Presentation Description:
Over the past decade K-12 education has been a major focus of policy makers, researchers, and educators due to the increased behavioral referral rates seen at all grade levels (Welsh & Little, 2018). There is a great cause for concern of the negative impacts that referral rates have on academic success of students, including: high dropout rates, lowered GPA and/or being transferred to an alternative school environment (Bergh & Cowell, 2013). There is an extensive amount of research done on the negative outcomes of referral and suspensions rates, however a growing area of focus is on the positive benefits of health and exercise on individual success.
This poster outlines and analyzes data taken from a small group curriculum designed at increasing impulse control and cognition in male adolescents, while also decreasing the amount of suspensions and behavior referrals for the adolescents. The group mainly focuses on anger management and coping strategies to reduce negative consequences, such as dean office referrals, that arise from uncontrolled anger outbursts or other uncontrolled emotional responses. Participants include 7 male students at a suburban midwestern high school, three of whom are mandated by the dean of the school to attend. The other four students voluntarily joined the group because they believe they struggle with anger or other emotional outbursts that result in significant consequences.
The group curriculum utilized physical activities which require movement or, at the very least, standing for the duration of the 45 minute session. The group ran for 8 weeks during one quarter of the school year. Two happiness ratings were provided by each student, one before and one after each session. These were logged and showed an increase in satisfaction not only from the beginning to the end of each session, but showed an increase in average satisfaction over the 8 week period for the entire group. Furthermore, the number of dean offenses from each student were collected and averaged during the academic quarter before the group began and offenses were then logged from the quarter during which the group occurred. The seven students averaged 3 dean offenses per the first quarter. The same students only averaged 0.7 dean offenses during the quarter in which the group ran, showing a 76% decrease in offenses.This analysis suggests the importance of physical activity in the effectiveness of socioemotional learning groups for male adolescents.
The poster will reveal (1) the magnitude of physical exercise on the human brain with regard to cognition; (2) what types of socioemotional learning activities/groups can be used to maintain strong cognition in adolescent boys; (3) the impact that movement-based socioemotional groups can have on adolescent males’ behavior.
- Bergh, B., & Cowell, J. (n.d.). Discipline Referral Outcomes: Meeting the Needs of Students. NCPEA Education Leadership Review, 14(3).
- Tomporowski, P. D., Mccullick, B., Pendleton, D. M., & Pesce, C. (2015). Exercise and childrens cognition: The role of exercise characteristics and a place for metacognition. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 4(1), 47–55. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2014.09.003
- Welsh, R., & Little, S. (2018). The School Discipline Dilemma: A Comprehensive Review of Disparities and Alternative Approaches. Review of Educational Research, 88(5), 752-794.
View PDF of Poster / To learn more, download the Presentation Handout.
Thank you all for attending our presentation today, please comment or reach out with any further questions! Our email addresses are: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Thank you again!
Hi All - Thank you so much for the positive feedback and support! This was a very fun topic to research and apply in real life. Greg in response to your comment regarding if it was the group itself or the physical exercise, we completely agree that it is hard to tell! Unfortunately due to COVID-19 the group was only able to run for 7 weeks, but post group surveys and a comparison group definitely would have been very informative! This definitely is an area that needs to be studied more, especially in regard to young males and how exercise and cognition impacts their learning! Thank you all!
Great poster. The suggestions are true in my own experience with adolescents. I found that exercises and activities do help male adolescents change their behavior-emotionally, those who participate in groups and attend exercise/activity show tremendous changes in their interaction with their peers. I support your effort. Please continue your research because our adolescent males need groups in the school's systems as well as in other settings to help them enhance their behavior. WOW! Excellent Job. Thank you
Glad to see Loyola represent! Good job! Sometimes I think if I didn't go into social work I would have loved to have gone into physical education which I did minor in for undergrad. I think exercise, movement, games, etc. can change our mood, self-esteem, and body image. I think this is an appropriate choice of intervention for this target group. It aligns with sports which makes it acceptable, thus, you met the goal of engagement. Keep up the good work.
Glad to see Loyola represent! Good job! Sometimes I think if I didn't go into social work I would have loved to have gone into physical education which I did minor in for undergrad. I think exercise, movement, games, etc. can change our mood, self-esteem, and body image. I think this is an appropriate choice of intervention for this target group. It aligns with sports which makes it acceptable, thus, you met the goal of engagement. Keep up the good work.
Samantha and Max and Michael- You created a very professional poster with lots of interesting content! You reference research that suggests that activity/exercise improves cognition (I know it helps me personally), and you suggest your study adds to this research supporting activity/exercise for improving cognition. Good work. You also suggest that the activity/exercise group you provided improved school behavioral issues of the students. I have one thought about that for you to consider. Was it the activity/exercise you provided in the group that improved the behavioral issues, or was it simply the group experience that improved the behavioral issues. In other words, group workers might suggest that the group experience of belonging to a group with peers for 7 sessions may have provided great benefits related to the students behavioral issues regardless of whether you provided exercise/activity. Perhaps further research by you, where you held one 7-session group providing only general topic discussions and another 7-session group providing activity/exercise, would help you to see if it is simply being in a 7-session group that improves behavioral issues or it is actually being in a 7-session activity/exercise group. Whatever you would find, it is great for group workers because either way you are suggesting that a group experience benefits male adolescents with behavioral issues whether it is an exercise/activity group or simply any type of group. It is so important that you are searching for ways to support the behavioral struggles of adolescent males because they are in great need of our support. Excellent work on this poster!