Graduate Student Research Symposium 2025

“Let’s get those wiggles out!” a teacher calls. Restless students spring from their seats. Meanwhile, in the neighboring classroom, the soporific atmosphere is broken when the teacher announces, “We need a change of pace. Let’s wake up those brains!” Two different classroom challenges, same solution: the movement break. In this study, six elementary school educators shared perspectives on the relationship between movement and students’ behavior, self-management, and interactions with others. In interviews, teachers responded to questions like “When are you students able to move during the school day?” and discussed their practices and experiences–or lack thereof–with including movement within the classroom and their beliefs about the relationship between students’ physical activity and social-emotional learning.