The Impact of Mathematics Class Right After Physical Education Class on Brain Activation in Children

Min-Hwa  Roh1   Kyeong-Lae  Kim1,2,*   Suk Won  Kwon3   

1Seo Jeong Elementary School
2Korea National University of Education
3Seoul National University of Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of mathematics class right after physical education class on brain activity patterns of elementary school students. For this study, among the 4th graders of G elementary school located in G-city, 20 students in the experimental group (M: 10, F: 10) and 13 students in the comparative group (M: 7, F: 6) were participated in an experiment for 8 weeks and then measured EEG. The data collected by the analysis of the activity patterns of the brain, SPSS / PC + Version 18.0 program sLORETA computational techniques were analyzed for the purpose of the data. The results are as follows. First, there was a significant difference in brain activity before and after the experiment in the same group after 8 weeks. Second, in the case of the experimental group, the activity was dominant in the gamma band (30-50 Hz) of the right brain, whereas the left brain showed negative activity in the alpha 2 band (10.5~13.0 Hz) and the beta 2 band (20~30 Hz). This results shows several similarities when compared to the noticeable characteristics of a functional lateralization at the right hemisphere belonging to gifted children in the creative thinking process.

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1. Presented task paradigm