Learning Through Movement: A Systematic Review of Physically Active Learning and Its Effects on Academic Performance and Collaborative Learning

Physically active learning (PAL) is the purposeful blending of physical activity and movement into teaching and learning of academic subjects (Daly-Smith et al., 2018; Routen et al., 2017). It involves short bursts of activity, often moderate to vigorous in nature, between periods of academic instruction. PAL typically involves brief bouts of activity, often of moderate to vigorous intensity, embedded within or between periods of academic instruction. It promotes physical activity by delivering new content or reinforcing factual knowledge through movement-based games or drill-and-practice activities (Daly-Smith et al., 2018). The scientific literature has shown that benefits of PAL goes beyond just increasing PA in school-aged children and adolescents, but also extends to improvements in other academic indicators, such as cognitive function, which encompasses attention, memory and executive functions and academic performance (González-Pérez et al., 2025; Melo et al., 2025; Maiztegi-Kortabarria et al., 2024; Ruiz-Ariza et al., 2022; Mavilidi et al., 2019; Schmidt et al., (2019); Fedewa et al., 2015; Kibbe et al., 2011). Notable initiatives such as TransformUS (Transformus, n.d.) and ABMOVE! (Moscato et al., 2025) involve strategies to integrate meaningful movement in daily lessons to create an active environment that supports the students’ learning. However, empirical evidence examining the effects of PAL in older student populations, such as adult learners, remains limited. Adult learners are commonly defined as individuals aged 25 years or older who are enrolled in higher education institutions (McCall et al., 2018; Chen 2017). Previous research indicates that adult learners face distinct challenges compared with younger students in primary and secondary education, ranging from physical and mental fatigue (e.g. studying after work and/or full-time family/work commitments), cognitive barriers (e.g. learning new or complex contents), and psychological barriers (e.g. self-doubt or the perception that adults are “slower” learners). This is likely to heavily impact learning and participation in lessons that involve critical inquiry and argumentation, abstract reasoning, and collaborative tasks (Dubey, 2019). Most pedagogies in adult learners, to date, have been centered around the use of technology (Shehata et al., 2024), cognitive- and psychological-based learning approaches (Thwe & Kalman, 2023), such that the use of physical activity and movement as a key learning approach remains largely unexplored. This study aims to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effects of physically active learning (PAL) pedagogies on learning and cognitive outcomes, psychosocial and neurobiological outcomes, and related physiological mechanisms.