The effect of life kinetik exercises on cognitive functions in children aged 11–13 years

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate The effect of Life Kinetic exercises on The cognitive functions (problem solving, creative thinking, and visual memory) of children aged 11-13, The persistence of this effect, and The differences in cognitive function in groups according to various variables. Materials and Methods: In this study, a quasi-experimental design with pre-test-posttest control group, which is one of The quantitative research approaches, was used. DG students practiced Life Kinetic exercises for 8 weeks. “Problem Solving Inventory for Children”, “Creative Thinking Tendency Scale” and “Benton Visual Memory Test” were used as data collection tools. Descriptive statistics, t-test, two-way analysis of variance and analysis of variance in repeated measures were used in The analysis of The data. Results: In comparisons between groups; while there was no significant difference in pre-test problem-solving except for The avoidance sub-dimension, The scores of DG were found to be significantly higher than The KG in The post-test and follow-up. While there was no difference between The groups in The pre-test in creative thinking tendencies, significant differences were observed in favor of DG in The post-test and follow-up. In visual memory, a significant difference was detected in favor of DG only in The post-test. Analysis of variance showed that time and time×group interaction effect were significant on problem solving and creative thinking skills. Over time, significant increases were found in all measures of DG's problem-solving, creative thinking skills and in visual memory levels only at The 1st and 2nd follow-ups compared to The pre-test. Conclusion: It was determined that Life Kinetic exercises had a positive and permanent effect on cognitive functions in children aged 11-13 years.