The TEDx Talk in the YouTube clip above features Michael Kuczala, author of The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning Through Movement. He discusses his six step framework for using movement in the classroom.
The TEDx Talk in the YouTube clip above features Michael Kuczala, author of The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning Through Movement. He discusses his six step framework for using movement in the classroom.
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I have been on the hunt for scientific research on the connection between cognitive processing and movement based learning. As I feared, this specific research has been difficult to find. Books and articles on the anecdotal achievements of movement based teaching and learning as well as practical approaches for the classroom are quite prolific - I am enjoying the first hand perspective of educators who find this style of teaching successful. Today I read an article called "Brain and Language," written by Antonio and Hanna Damasio. While it did not layer movement based learning over cognitive language processing, motor learning was discussed. What's the story? The Damasio's define language as ... The ability to use words (or signs, if our language is one of the sign languages of the deaf) and to combine them in sentences so that concepts in our minds can be transmitted to other people. We also consider the converse: how we apprehend words spoken by others and turn them into concepts in our own minds, (p. 89). Words have many representations within the brain, and thus processing language is complicated. It is believed the brain has three structures in place to process language. 1) Neural systems in both central hemispheres make sense of sensory and motor interactions. 2) a few neural systems in the left hemisphere process phoneme and syntax rules for word and sentence formation. 3) The last set of structures, mostly in the left hemisphere, connect these first two processes through turning a concept into language or language into a concept. Is it useful? The sections of this article that pertain to my research naturally related directly to this first brain process - making sense of sensory and motor interactions. Damasio and Damasio believe "... There are no permanently held 'pictorial' representations of objects or persons... Instead the brain holds, in effect, a record of the neural activity that takes place in the sensory and motor cortices during interaction with an object," (p. 91). This implies that layering movement on top of English content could more firmly cement that information in the brain. The question, of course, becomes how does one interact physically with language? Perhaps students could use white boards to write words and punctuation and then move around the classroom, writing properly punctuated sentences with their bodies. Maybe when discussing symbolism or imagery in poetry or prose students could interact with physical representations - a stuffed animal bear, for example. "Because the brain categorizes perceptions and actions simultaneously along many different dimensions, symbolic representations such as metaphor can easily emerge from this architecture," (p. 91). "Brain and Language" also discusses how language processing is disrupted by brain injury. They mention a patient named Boswell who suffered a lesion in the anterior and middle region of both temporal lobes. This impaired his conceptual system. Curiously, when it comes to other classes of nonunique entities, Boswell's cognition is apparently unimpaired. He can recognize and name objects, such as a wrench, that are manipulable and have a specific action attached to them, (p. 92). This has major implications for layering movement onto learning. Those objects (and presumably ideas) with which Boswell physically interacted, are still accessible to him. Those he only learned abstractly are no longer understandable. Conclusion Tying movement to learning can improve recall of that object or fact. This article does tie movement more specifically to physical objects or actions than ideas, but I am lead to believe that if abstract concepts could be manipulated to be dealt with physically, improved recall and understanding would follow. References Damasio, A.R, Damasio, H. (1992). Brain and language. Scientific American, 267(3), 89 - 95. The University of Florida offers a master's program for licensed teachers called "Literacy and the Arts." The program allows teachers to explore the different ways in which the Arts can be utilized in the traditional classroom. I reached out to Dr. Jane Townsend, a professor in the program, to discuss my research. She suggested I have a look at Moving Ideas: Multimodality and Embodied Learning in Communities and Schools, a series of essays compiled and edited by Mira-Lisa Katz. What's the story? The essays provide personal accounts from educators striving to create multimodal teaching practices, generally within traditional classrooms. Nearly all spoke of the marked difference between the classroom and "real world," meaning the expectation that at school, kids will mostly sit in desks and outside of the classroom engage in sports, the Arts, and play. Each essayist brought their particular background in movement to their practice and used it to inform their teaching. All recognized that what works for them as learners in a classroom may not work for all students. They value multimodality in the classroom and encourage their students to explore content in different ways. In her essay "Chroma Harmonia," teacher Catherine Kroll discusses her exploration of motor learning in her English classroom, using mirror neuron theory as a basis for her practice. Mirror neuron theory suggests that the traditional model of learning - commonly believed to consist of the separate stages of visual observation followed by imitation ... - should be replaced by the understanding that learning takes place in a combined visual-motor neural sensing that precedes concept-formation, linguistic mediation, and imitation. We learn through grasping intentions, not analyzing actions into pieces and then imitating them, (pp. 48 - 49). Is it useful? Moving Ideas: Multimodality and Embodied Learning in Communities and Schools provides a solid framework for how educators working in different fields can use multimodal teaching to improve student learning. I found it useful when an essayist would include scientific theory to back up their anecdotal findings. I am discovering this is the problem with a lot of the motor learning work I have found - much of the evidence is anecdotal. I hope to find a few more texts that support these findings with scientific research. As we can see from my brief research thus far, movement has a positive effect on student learning according to teachers and students. Now I would like to see an explanation for why this is so. Conclusion Multimodal teaching engages students and provides them with a toolkit of learning possibilities. Mirror neuron theory provides some support for the necessity of doing and creating rather than just watching or imitating. References Katz, L. (2013). Moving ideas: Multimodality and embodied learning in communities and schools. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. I stumbled upon an outstanding book - Traci Lengel and Mike Kuczala's The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning Through Movement. It offers research based evidence into the positive effects of movement in the classroom as well as practical approaches for integrating movement into English, math, science, and social studies classrooms in both elementary and secondary grades. What's the story? Lengel and Kuczala state that "Movement makes the learning process more efficient," (p. 19). On pages 19 and 20, they share a list of ways in which combining movement with content improves overall learning; creating more neural pathways, improving attention with sensory engagement, making recall easier, multi-sensory opportunity for stages of learning, and dynamic, sensory experiences among others. They cite a study done in a secondary school in Naperville School District, Naperville, Illinois in which students had the opportunity to engage in exercise, some with additional content, some purely movement based, before going on to English and Math classes. The program was called Learning Readiness PE (LRPE). In one semester, those [students] with LRPE improved their reading and comprehension scores by 0.5 grade levels more than those students in the study who took the literacy class alone. The results were just as compelling with the students who took the LRPE before math class. These students increased their algebra readiness by an average of 20.4% compared to 3.87% in the students without LRPE. (p. 22) These are outstanding results - the program has become mandatory in Naperville District Schools. Is it useful? My favorite parts of the text were chapters 8 and 9 - "Reviewing Content" and "Teaching Content" respectively. Both chapters provided specific lessons for different content areas and grade levels utilizing movement. Many of the review activities are familiar games like musical chairs, with content layered over the movement. The teaching activities for English vary, but many are creatively focused, allowing students to explore within a physical and intellectual framework. Others are partner based activities that could be performed in seats, but instead have materials spread around the room to encourage moving. All are adaptable - excellent places to start the process of integrating movement into the classroom. Conclusion Many of the ideas in The Kinesthetic Classroom are practical and adaptable for a variety of classrooms. The inclusion of research and neuroscience frame movement in the classroom as not just a tool to use when looking for something new, but a necessity for more productive learners. I look forward to integrating these lessons into my own practice. References Lengel, T., Kuczala, M. (2010). The kinesthetic classroom: Teaching and learning through movement. Thousand Oaks, CA: A SAGE Company. I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Purnima Shah, Chair of the Duke Dance Department, about my research. We had a great conversation, musing on topics from the neurological connections of movement and learning to the impact culture and religion can have on dance and education. We began our conversation discussing the differences in feeling between practice in the studio and performance in front of an audience. We agreed that performance changes the way we relate to our audience and to ourselves - it provides feelings of physical exhaustion and euphoria and a deep connection to those with whom you dance or observe. Time both in the studio and in performance are important, because it's in these similar spaces that we learn to understand our bodies. Alone, perhaps, in the studio, we become aware of our body's capacity and skill. In performance, with other dancers and with the audience, the power of movement becomes clear. The ephemeral quality of movement allows the performer and audience to exist with the movement for only a brief time, but the meaning can last well beyond the final curtain. Naturally, confidence in your abilities, both physical and emotional, is built in performance. One gains a deeper understanding of one's own body as well as an understanding of the power that body has. How does this relate to the traditional classroom? And, more specifically, to the English classroom in American public schools? First, we must consider the physical and emotional state of adolescents. Their bodies and minds are growing and changing in ways they don't fully understand. We, as teachers, work with them to understand these changes on an intellectual level. It seems that little is done to integrate a sense of bodily control into learning. Would students gain more confidence in themselves, both physically and mentally, if they were given a space in which they could explore these changes with guidance and academic structure? This leads us to a problem. Dr. Shah grew up in India, in a culture that includes dance in many aspects of life. In America, we move less, particularly in schools. Students are not raised to associate movement or dance with academia, and thus, if/when it's introduced, they may rebel. How can we get students to recognize the value, physically and mentally, of movement? As Dr. Shah said in our conversation, "How can movement free the shackled mind?" Art of all kinds generally requires some creativity. Allowing our kids to use art with more academically focused subjects like reading and math can change their thinking and lead to deeper learning. The classroom is the performance space for students - they can create and share with their bodies and minds, which will deepen their connection to their classmates and material. Dr. Shah also informed me of research done in the last few years by undergraduate students in the realms of Dance Therapy and Dance Education. I hope to reach out to these graduates to discuss their experiences and findings. What's the story? Betty A. Block's 2001 paper, "Literacy Through Movement: An Organizational Approach," provided me with many insights into the practical application of movement and reading comprehension. Block cites two theories of learning to support her work, socio-psycholinguistic reading theory and the ecological theory of motor learning. "Socio-psycholinguistic reading theory is the idea that non-visual information in the form of background knowledge is the best route to comprehension and retention of information," (p. 40). According to Block, the psycho-social nature of interaction with others impacts reading comprehension. "The ecological theory of motor learning...describes the relationship between individual perceptions and environmental influences on motor learning, including social and physical environments," (p. 40). Block synthesizes these two theories to recognize "...the importance of integrating background knowledge and dynamic external conditions [to] provide meaningful learning experiences..." (p. 40). Deeper levels of understanding are achieved when literary concepts are presented through physical activity because using psychomotor applications to integrate the cognitive and affective domains involves the whole child in the education process. (pp. 40 - 41) Block then goes on to describe a five level multi-leveled system that combines the creation of movement with reading and writing. These range from activities at the pre-literate level, learning to recognize sounds and associate them with movements; to 12th graders embodying literature through movement. Provided are practical strategies for each of the five levels, including examples and additional resources. Is it useful? This work could be extremely useful for high school English. For example, the fourth level, referred to as the syntactic level, "...involves the construction of grammatically correct sentences that provoke movement or that elicit feelings that can then be translated into physical action," (p. 44). This can be particularly useful in the teaching of poetry, which can be highly nuanced and tricky to discern. I see this working particularly well in a small group - one student is assigned to address meter and rhyme scheme, a second to imagery, a third to symbol, and a fourth to figurative language. Each is responsible for creating an action that corresponds with examples of their poetic element. The poem can then be read physically, with each student performing their actions at the appropriate point in the poem. It could allow for students to "see" the elements at work in the poem in an entirely new and more illuminating light. Conclusion I enjoyed reading Block's work - her paper had an excellent balance of theory and practical application. While her work was mainly focused on bringing reading into the dance studio, I think many of her ideas can be reversed. I look forward to trying some of her lessons in the English classroom. References Block, B.A. (2001). Literacy through movement: An organizational approach. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 72(1), 39 - 48. I've read several interesting articles today focusing on the concept of "moving in schools." As I read, I realized that "move" is a broad word. I'm moving right now, as my fingers type out this post, but that's not what the authors of these papers (nor I) am after in our quest for movement in the classroom. I discovered a definition I agree with in Nate McCaughtry and Inez Rogevno's paper, "Meaning and Movement: Exploring the Deep Connections to Education;" Movement is an activity that informs people about their bodies, it is intimately connected with other forms of meaning and connects physical experience with larger, more expansive aspects of being human. (p. 504). This is what we're after - movement in the classroom that can connect to broader topics and understanding. Next, to dig in to what this actually looks like in the classroom. References McCaughtry, N., Rovegno, I. (2001). Meaning and movement: Exploring the deep connections to education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 20, 489 - 505. Hello! Welcome to Learning and Movement, my tool for sharing research and findings for my Adolescent Psychology class. I will be exploring the possibilities for the use of movement in the traditional (specifically English) classroom. I hope to discover that movement integrated with traditional learning can help students better understand and remember important concepts and processes. Posts here will illustrate my findings through research in articles and books as well as interviews with educators and neuroscientists. I look forward to sharing my process and findings. Thanks for reading! |
Brittany JacksonThis blog illustrates the research process for Brittany Jackson's Inquiry Project as a part of Duke University's MAT 702. ArchivesCategories |