Fit to Study

FIT to Study

This study is part of a larger research programme funded by the Wellcome Trust and Education Endowment Foundation in order to develop, evaluate and communicate the impact of education interventions informed by neuroscience research. 

The Fit to Study research team have developed a physical activity intervention that was incorporated in school PE lessons, designed to optimise the benefit of PE for brain ​structure and function. The Fit to Study project examined the impact of this ​physical activity intervention on academic attainment, fitness, cognitive function and mental health in Year 8 pupils.

The independent evaluator (NatCen Social Research) examined the effect of the physical activity intervention on maths attainment. The results of their analysis can be found here. 

The Fit to Study team at Oxford is in the process of analysing the fitness, cognitive , and mental health data. The findings of these analyses will be published on the Fit to Study website.

 More information about the Fit to Study project can be found here.

Investigators: Heidi Johansen-Berg, Piergiorgio Salvan, Thomas Wassenaar, Catherine Wheatley

Collaborators: Helen Dawes, Joan Duda

Current Funders: Wellcome Trust; Education Endowment Foundation

Independent Evaluator: NatCen Social Research

More information:

News article about Fit to Study on the Brookes University website

Information about the project on the Education Endowment Foundation website