Today schools, teachers, and parents are focused more than ever on academic achievement. Research-based active learning not only promotes physical fitness, but also improves academic learning. Students that participate in these activities on a regular basis have shown increases in test scores and levels of concentration. This is achieved by students using both right and left sides of their brain. When students participate in action-based learning they are crossing the "midline" of their bodies and developing new connections in their brains. These new connections help to spur brain growth, which in turn promotes greater academic achievement.