Nexus International School (Singapore) partnered with brain fitness gym SPARKD to bring brain fitness into schools in Asia for the first time!
An innovative brain fitness programme for young children was co-created by Nexus International School (Singapore) and SPARKD, the leading brain fitness gym hub in Singapore.
The programme, the first one conducted within a school setting in Asia, was the brainchild of two industry experts: Sarah Cole, Head of Primary Physical and Health Education at Nexus; and Anna Milani, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SPARKD. With the use of science and technology, Cole and Milani developed an innovative way to combine fitness and cognitive development in young children.
The relationship between physical exercise and cognitive development
Existing research and studies have shown that active children tend to perform at a higher level of academic readiness. For example, it has shown that there’s a strong correlation between physical movement and how it stimulates a person’s senses to collect information for the brain to analyse.
As an educator who specialises in Physical Health Education (PHE), Cole understands that physical education benefits the health of the whole child. She shares, “We know that physical and mental health are interrelated, just like relational, emotional and environmental factors are too.”
Milani from SPARKD, who’s a Certified Brain Health Trainer herself, shares this belief too. The brain fitness gym hub uses its unique technologies and training methods to enhance both brain and body performance. “We want to bring this type of training and experience to a wider audience – this time, with young children,” Milani said.
How was the brain fitness programme conducted at Nexus?
The programme was conducted during the Year 1 learners’ PHE class using interactive boards from SPARKD. These boards were used to provide learners with a variety of memory, pattern, matching, sequencing, and reaction activities through its dual-task technology.
From the laughter and excitement in the room, it’s obvious that the learners were having fun while building their cognitive-motor skills.
As a result of the collaboration, 70% of Nexus’ learners saw an increase or maintained the same results for their focused attention and episodic memory.
A rewarding experience for the learners, Nexus, and SPARKD.
The positive reception and result among Nexus’ learners showed that brain fitness training can have benefits on young children too, especially with the use of SPARKD’s age-inclusive equipment and technology. It has also shown that it’s possible to train both your body and brain together to achieve great results.
Both Cole and Milani have also presented their findings of their innovative brain fitness programme at the PHASE global conference in Thailand. They look forward to expanding this programme to benefit more young children in the near future.
This post is in partnership with Nexus International School (Singapore).
