The Relationship between Physical Fitness and Academic
Achievement in Physical Education, Sport, and Health
Wahyu Indra Bayu
1
and Puguh Satya Hasmara
1,2
1
Lecturer of Physical and Health Study Program of STKIP PGRI Jombang, Indonesia
2
Doctoral Student of Doctoral Program of Sport Science of Unesa, Indonesia
wahyu.indra@stkipjb.ac.id
Keywords: Fifth Grade, Elementary School, Psychomotor, Cognitive, PESH.
Abstract: This study aims to determine the relationship between physical fitness (psychomotor) and academic
achievement (cognitive) on the subjects physical education of sport and health. Data were obtained from 36
students in fifth grade (male: 16; female: 20). Body Mass Index data, 40 m run, pull-up, sit-up, vertical
jump, and 600 m sprint obtained from physical education of sport and health teachers score test. The score
of the final exam of semester PJOK subjects be measured in academic achievement. The result showed that
there was a positive correlation between BMI and academic achievement (r = 0,21), while for 40 meter and
600 meter sprint there were negative correlation toward academic achievement (r = -0,03; r = -0,02). For
pull-up, sit-up, and vertical jump there are positive relationship toward academic achievement (r = 0.10; r =
0.12; r = 0.12). The results of this study indicated that there was a correlation between health-related fitness
components and academic achievement in the fifth grade of primary school students.
1 INTRODUCTION
As an integral part of education, the subject of
Physical Education of Sport and Health have a very
important role, because it develops aspects of health,
physical fitness, critical thinking skills, emotional
stability, and, social skills, reasoning, and morality.
In fact, most of teacher of physical education of
sport and health are unaware of the importance of
the importance of the subject to the students. In
accordance with the results of interview conducted
on Friday, October 7, 2016 to the members of
teachers working group of physical education of
sport and health of elementary School in Gondang
Mojokerto, 24 Teachers (75%) said that they taught
the subject to the students so that they can refresh
their self after studied many subjects in the
classroom for a week. It influence on the main
purpose of physical education of sport and health,
especially on the aspects of physical fitness.
Physical fitness is the body's ability to perform
activities without experiencing significant fatigue
and still reserves the energy to perform other
activities. WHO categorize aspects of fitness into
two, they are healthy and fit. Healthy is the release
of the body both physically and mentally from any
disease, while fit is the ability of a person to perform
daily activities maximally, and still reserve the
power without experiencing excessive fatigue. It can
be concluded that physical fitness is very important
for students because it helps them to do their activity
both in the school and home maximally. Physical
fitness relates to the organs of a person's body to
perform every day activities without experiencing
fatigue and still have energy and strength to deal
with sudden emergencies and can have his spare
time. Mooren and Volker (2005) defines physical
fitness as the ability to perform daily activities with
passion and full of awareness, which is done without
significant fatigue, and have energy to be able to
enjoy fun time and reserve the power to face
possible emergencies. As stated before that physical
fitness is the ability to perform daily activities with
passion and full of awareness, which is done without
significant fatigue, with more energy to be able to
enjoy fun time and reserve the power to face
possible emergencies, it means that any individual
who has physical fitness will be able to perform his
activities efficiently without any significant tireless.
Therefore it can be stated that a fit person is a person
who is able to complete his physical task without
experiencing significant fatigue and reserve their
power to do other activity.
Ignoring the importance of physical education of
sport and health affects the development of students’
physical fitness. If physical fitness is not well
developed then it will affect the student capability to
study another subjects. This is reinforced by the
124
Bayu, W. and Hasmara, P.
The Relationship between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement in Physical Education, Sport, and Health.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 124-128
ISBN: 978-989-758-317-9
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
results of research that says that the brain requires
0.1 kcal / min to stay alive. If the brain is used to
think hard then the brain requires energy of 1.5 kcal
/ min. The results showed that thinking also requires
energy. Therefore physical education of sport and
health has an important role to develop the physical
fitness of students’ readiness in doing their activities
of learning both physical activity and cognitive.
Keeley and Fox (2009) argue that before impacting
on academic achievement, physical or fitness
activity has allegations of some potential
mechanisms, eg. specific high-level cognitive
abilities such as concentration, memory, decision-
making, alertness, and speed of thinking.
Many studies have been published by
international journals related to the influence and
relationship of physical fitness toward academic
achievement. Fisher, et al (2011) founds that
physical education of sport and health intervention
significant positively affects the concentration of
student attention. Chomitz, et al (2008) suggested
that based on the results of his research the value of
Mathematics and English tests are increased when
the students' physical fitness is also increased. Other
research conducted by Carlson, et al (2008) revealed
that with the added time of 35 minutes / week for
physical education of sport and health have a
positive effect on academic achievement aspect of
reading on kindergarten female student initial level,
but this does not affect both positive and negative to
male students. Meanwhile, Trudeau et al. (2008)
obtain the result that the added of allocation time for
1 hour per day for physical activity did not
negatively affect the achievement of elementary
students, and had a positive relationship on students'
intellectual ability. Furthermore, according to
Dwyer, et al (2001) physical activity increase
academic achievement. All these studies show a
positive relationship between physical fitness and
academic achievement. But all the research was
done abroad and was not to physical education of
sport and health subjects. Therefore the researchers
are interested to conduct a similar study whether the
result also have a similar impact in Indonesia,
especially in SDN Bakalan Gondang Mojokerto. In
line with some reasons previously, this research
raised question: how is the influence / relation of
physical fitness toward student academic
achievement especially in subject of physical
education of sport and health? From the research
question, the purpose of this research is to know the
influence / relationship of physical fitness toward the
students' academic achievement, especially in the
subjects of physical education of sport and health.
2 METHODS
2.1 Participants
The sample is determined based on cluster random
sampling, there are 36 students in fifth grade of
Bakalan Gondang elementary School, Mojokerto,
East Java
2.2 Measures
Academic achievement. Academic achievement is
measured by using the final semester exam sheet, it
was conducted on December 9, 2016 consist of 50
questions on physical education of sport and health
subjects
Physical fitness. Physical fitness is measured
using the Indonesian Physical Fitness Test for 10-12
years old consist of a 40 m run, pull-up, sit-up,
vertical jump, and a 600m sprint.
Body mass index (BMI). BMI is an appropriate
indicator to describe body composition (Castro-
Piñero et al., 2010). Liao, et al., (2013) describes
how to determine BMI by weight (in kilograms)
divided by squared height (in meters). The
assessment standard used refers to the
Anthropometric Standards for the Assessment of the
Nutritional Status of Children enforced by the
Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia in
2010.
2.3 Data Analysis
Descriptive statistics are used to describe data in
general. Pearson's Product Moment Correlations is
used to examine the relationship between health-
related physical fitness (IMT, m. 40 m, pull-up, sit-
up, vertical jump, and 600 m run) and academic
achievement.
The Relationship between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement in Physical Education, Sport, and Health
125
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Result
Descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1. The
correlation values between physical fitness variables
and academic achievement for the overall sample,
separated between men and women are presented in
Table 2.
All samples
The result showed that there was a positive
correlation between BMI and academic achievement
(r = 0,21), while for 40 meter and 600 meter sprint
there were negative correlation with academic
achievement (r = -0,03; r = -0,02). For pull-ups, sit-
ups, and vertical jumps there is a positive
relationship with academic achievement (r = 0.10; r
= 0.12; r = 0.12).
Analysis for Male and female
The relationship between BMI and academic
achievement showed that there was significant
relationship in boys than girls.
Table 2: Score of correlation between variable.
Variable
BMI
Academic
Achievement
N
r
N
BMI
Total
36
Male
16
Female
20
Sprint 40 m
Total
36
0.37
36
Male
16
0.22
16
Female
20
0.29
20
Pull-Up 60 second
Total
36
-0.38
36
Male
16
-0.13
16
Female
20
-0.41
20
Sit-Up 30 second
Total
36
-0.40
36
Male
16
-0.29
16
Female
20
-0.34
20
Vertical Jump
Male
36
-0.48
36
Female
16
-0.45
16
Female
20
-0.39
20
Sprint 600 m
Total
36
0.51
36
Male
16
0.22
16
Female
20
0.54
20
Academic Achievement
Total
36
0.21
Male
16
-0.55
Female
20
0.39
3.2 DISCUSSION
The results showed that there was a significant
relationship between physical fitness (psychomotor)
and academic achievement (cognitive) on physical
education of sport and health subject. This indicates
that the importance of fitness condition of student is
monitored maximally in the educational process to
support the academic achievement of learners.
Academic achievement is an individual success
gained in educational activities at school for all
subjects expressed in quantitative values in the form
of numbers inscribed on the report card. While for
physical fitness is an important indicator of healthy
status in children and adolescents, and certainly a
good predictor of health status in life (Cvejić,
Pejović, and Ostojić, 2013). From some literature it
is written that there is a positive relationship of
physical fitness and cognitive ability, the results can
be explained both from physiological and
psychological mechanisms (Chomitz, et al., 2009),
where physical activity stimulates the development
Table 1: Descriptive statistic of research variable.
Variable
Overall
Sample
Male
Female
N
Mean ±
SD
N
Mean ±
SD
N
Mean
± SD
Age
36
10,83 ±
0,56
16
10,94 ±
0,57
20
10,75
±
0,55
BMI
36
18,27 ±
4,51
16
16,66 ±
3,15
20
19,56
±
5,07
40 m run
(second)
36
7,94 ±
1,06
16
7,38 ±
0,94
20
8,39
±
0,95
Pull-Up
60 second
36
20,22 ±
12,29
16
25,13 ±
12,54
20
16,30
±
10,85
Sit-Up 30
second
(amount)
36
11,08 ±
5,16
16
13,75 ±
5,18
20
8,95
±
4,12
Vertical
Jump
(cm)
36
31,22 ±
5,64
16
33,94 ±
5,51
20
29,05
±
4,85
600 m run
(minute)
36
3,26 ±
0,80
16
2,84 ±
0,69
20
3,60
±
0,73
Academic
Achievem
ent
36
77,39 ±
4,02
16
76,50 ±
3,06
20
78,10
±
4,60
ICSSHPE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education
126
of brain tissue (Studenski, et al., 2006; ), improves
circulation, improves blood flow to the brain,
maintains levels of norephinephrine and endorphins
which together lower sress, elevates mood,
stimulates calm after exercise, and enables improved
academic achievement (Taras, 2005; Fleshner,
2000). In addition, a high level of physical fitness
allows for a link with improved neurocognitive
processes in children (Hillman, Castelli, and Buck,
2005) and additional physical activity can improve
the "active" behavior of learners at school (Mahar, et
al ., 2006). This is supported by the results of a study
conducted by Wittberg, Northrup, and Cottrel (2009)
indicating that there is a significant relationship
between aerobic exercise and general fitness training
on academic ability. The point is that when the
students think, the brain needs substances to perform
thinking activities.
In the literature, it is consistently reported that
the amount of time spent on physical education of
sport and health in schools has no detrimental effect
on more "academic" subjects and can even improve
academic achievement (Hillman, Castelli, and Buck,
2005; Coe, et al. , 2006; Donnelly, et al., 2009).
With excellent physical capabilities, these needs can
be met. Because physical education of sport and
health has a unique role compared to other fields of
study, through the learning of physical education of
sport and health students will also develop their
cognitive and affective aspects in a harmonious and
balanced, and also develop their physical and or
psychomotor aspects.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The result of the study conclude that there is a
significant relationship between physical fitness and
academic achievement in physical education of sport
and health subject. In particular, it can be observed
at primary school level, there is a difference in the
relationship between the two variables by sex. By
providing an understanding to teachers of the
importance of students’ physical fitness , it is
advisable for future research to measure changes in
students’ academic achievement resulting from the
more active of physical education of sport and health
learning program. This can be achieved by
increasing physical education of sport and health
learning time, increasing the active participation of
time during physical education of sport and health
learning, encouraging active rest periods, and
maximizing before and after school time for physical
activity.
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