(2016) Science and education, 8, 112-116. Odessa.

Valentyna Nesterenko,
assistant lecturer, Department of Hygiene and Social Medicine,
V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University,
4, Svobody Square, Kharkiv, Ukraine

INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON MENTAL CAPACITY OF PUPILS OF YEAR 5 

The paper presents the results of the research on physical activity influence on mental capacity of schoolchildren of Year 5. With this aim, the children from three different classes of the fifth year were under observation: 5Е1 и 5Е2 classes were taught according to meritocratic system and 5P class was taught according to the traditional system. The analysis of schoolchildren’s mental capacity has made it possible to indentify some differences in its qualitative compo￾nent. Best results were demonstrated by the boys from 5Е2 class with meritocratic system of teaching. As for the quali￾tative component of mental capacity, better results were shown by the boys taught according to the traditional teaching system and the girls obtaining meritocratic education. Evaluation of the research results has made it possible to deter￾mine that the pupils of 5Е2 class master the curriculum better than the others: they do the tasks more efficiently com￾pared to the pupils from 5Е1 and 5P classes. At the same time, there was almost no difference between these two clas￾ses in terms of tasks performance. In this case, the pupils of 5Е2 class seem to demonstrate successful adaptation to the middle school. The analysis of schoolchildren’s physical activity has shown that the pupils from 5P and 5Е2 classes demonstrate the high level of physical activity during the week. At the same time, 5Е1 pupils have sufficient and low level of physical activity, which results in feeling ill at the end of school- and weekend days. Thus, it can be concluded that physical activity and educational process organization have significant influence on mental capacity of middle school pupils. 

learning activities, physical activity, middle school, adaptation, health, mental capacity.

1. Danilenko, G. N., Popov, N. N., Pashkevich, S. A., & Yabluchanskiy, A. N. (2004). Osobennosti sostoyaniya zdorovya i funktsionirovaniya regulyatornykh sistem organizma mladshikh shkolnikov v zavisimosti ot sotsi￾alno-psikhologicheskoy adaptatsii k obucheniyu v shkole [Peculiarities of health state and functioning of regulatory systems of a schoolchild’s body depending on psycho￾social adaptation to learning at school]. Vestnik Khar￾kovskogo natsionalnogo universiteta imeni V. N. Karazi￾na – Bulletin of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National Universi￾ty, 7 (614), 88-91 [in Russian].
2. Koreniev, M. M., & Danylenko, H. M (2003). Zdorovia shkoliariv, sohodennia ta problemy na perspek￾tyvy [Schoolchildren’s health, present day and future problems]. Naukovo-praktychnyi zhurnal «Okhorona zdorovia Ukrainy» – Academic journal “Health care in Ukraine”, 1(8), 49-54 [in Ukrainian].
3. Grebnyak, N. P., & Schudro, S. A. (2010). Inte￾gralnaya otsenka trudnosti uchebnykh predmetov [Inte￾gral estimation of difficulties with school subjects]. Gi￾giena i sanitariya – Hygiene and sanitation, 1, 73-75 [in Russian].
4. Pometelnikova, Ye. A., & Pevzner, T. F. (2012). Puti povysheniya dvigatelnoy aktivnosti detey v uslovi￾yakh shkoly [Ways of improving schoolchildren’s motion activity at school]. Shkola zdorovya – School of health, 1, 32-38 [in Russian].
5. Pankov, D. D., Aksenova, N. S., Pankova, T. B., Petrovicheva, N. L. & Magomedova, T. M. (2009). Sravnitelnaya otsenka sostoyaniya zdorovya shkolnikov mladshikh i starshikh klassov po dannym profilaktich￾eskogo osmotra [Comparative evaluation of health state in junior and senior school pupils according to preventive examination]. Gigiena detey i podrostkov: istoriya i sov￾remennost. Problemy i puti resheniya – Hygiene for chil￾dren and adolescents: history and contemporaniety. Problems and ways of their solving: Proceedings of All￾Russia research and practice international conference. Moscow [in Russian]..