Cognition

Intelligence is considered to be the ability to understand, reason, and make decisions based on a given situation. Neuroeducational advances in recent decades show that physical activity is a key variable for adequate development of intelligence, especially during the complex stage of adolescence. Numerous cross-sectional studies have considered the link between physical activity and intelligence, and the effects on intelligence of longitudinal physical activity intervention programmes have been analysed in several systematic reviews and meta-analyses. However, there have been fewer studies focussing on a more theoretical/epistemological approach and the development of specific practical proposals for didactic interventions within the educational setting. This work aims to show the most relevant scientific results relating to the association between and effects of physical activity on intelligence and it offers didactic guidelines and suggestions for the use of physical activity as a means of cultivating intelligence in a school setting. For this purpose, strategies based on increasing daily physical activity and physical fitness, the comprehensive use of physical education classes, active commuting to school and active school starts, active breaks and recesses, and finally the combined teaching of physically active academic sessions, are shown.

Please, cite this article as follows: Ruiz-Ariza, A., Suárez-Manzano, S., López-Serrano, S., & Martínez-López, E. J. (2021). La actividad física como medio para cultivar la inteligencia en el contexto escolar | Physical activity as means of cultivating intelligence in a school context. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 79 (278), 161-177. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP79-1-2021-03

Approaching the question from a constructivist point of view, the aim of this article is twofold: firstly using as a basis the theoretical re-examinations of studies centring on the analysis of the relationships between affectivity and cognition, we wish to emphasize, on a theoretical level, thus breaking down the conceptual boundaries which had previously fashioned them as separate «regions» of the mind. And, secondly, we wish to propose, on a practical level, guidelines for educational intervention/action in order to achieve the development of affectivity integrated within the process of personal development.

In this paper we have attempted to offer an analysis of the school learning from a cognitive and motivational perspective. The constructivists approaches of the learning consider necessary to integrate both aspects to arrive at an adequate understanding of the learning process. The investigations on the self-regulated learning attempt to know the relationships among cognition, motivation and metacognition, considering that students aren't passive recipients of information, but that they construct their own knowledge and their own cognitive and motivational tools.