Active breaks and motor competencies development n primary school: A systematic review

The integration of physical activity into the school day is a key aspect for the promotion of “comprehensive school physical activity programs”. The proposal of physical activity breaks, known as “Active Breaks” may provide an opportunity to extend the practice of motor activity during curricular hours, alternating too many sedentary moments with short-term physical activity. The aim was to determine the effectiveness of Active Breaks use on motor performance, cognitive engagement and psychological correlates of primary school children. The PRISMA protocol was used to conduct a systematic review of EBSCOhost, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 16 articles met inclusion criteria (Active Breaks based Intervention, a quantitative-qualitative analysis between factors included, participants aged 4 to 12 years). Studies based on extracurricular activities, literature reviews, lectures, monographs, dissertations and similar documents were excluded. Results evidence: 1) moderate impact of active breaks in increasing MVPA physical activity levels; 2) low efficacy about cardiorespiratory fitness improvement, and BMI management; 3) moderate improvement in cognitive engagement, positive attitude towards physical activity, perceived self-efficacy and behavior in the classroom. The integration of Active Breaks during the school day contributes to reconsider the pedagogical and didactic impact of the bodily-motor experiences. However, future researches on a rational application and intervention strategies are necessary to evaluate impact and efficacy on didactic proces