Transcript Creating a kinesthetic classroom through Action based

LEARNING – IT’S NOT ALL IN
YOUR HEAD!
Creating a kinesthetic classroom through
Action Based Learning
Molly Dibble
Creech Road Elementary
[email protected]
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Why do you think some
students come to school not
ready to learn?
Two Farmers
■The WHAT
■The SO WHAT
■And the NOW WHAT
The WHAT
■ What is Action Based Learning?
– Using purposeful and intentional movement and
activity to help students learn effectively and
efficiently
– FREE, costs only creativity
* What Action Based Learning is NOT
- “one more thing”
- Random “brain breaks”
- Taking the place of instruction
What is activity?
■ Movement – not being still
■ Physical Activity – movement with more
energy
■ Exercise – elevated heart rate for a
sustained period of time
How does the brain learn and
remember?
How does the brain learn and
remember?
■ When learning something new the brain recruits
nerve cell to create a new circuit.
■ Repeated activation or practice with new information
causes synapse to swell and make stronger
connections.
■ If there is no practice, attraction between the
synapse diminish, weakening the signal.
Neurotransmitters
■ Norepinephrine – Influences attention, perception,
and motivation
■ Dopamine – Influences learning, attention and
movement
■ BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor) – builds
and maintains the cell circuitry, MIRACLE GROW FOR
THE BRAIN, stored in large muscle groups, plays
major role in neurogenesis
What makes us move makes us think
■ Attention will last 7-8 minutes. Then blood pools in
hamstrings.
■ Body and brain were made to move. If body is not
moving, it is signaling to the brain that it is time to
sleep.
■ Emotional engagement can also keep people
focused
■ Mental twist
The So What
■ What needs to be done to create a
kinesthetic classroom?
■ 6 step framework
I. Preparing the Brain
■ Brain compatible movements that improve neural
connections, and cognitive abilities are heightened.
■ Forces brain hemispheres to work together – learning to
read, write and do mate requires both hemispheres.
■ Assists in energy and blood flow, decreases tension,
improves concentration
■ Helps spatial awareness which relates to abstract
thinking.
– Movements that stimulate the inner ear alert the
brain to sensory stimuli
I. Preparing the Brain
■ Heel taps
■ Wind mills
■ Hand clapping, toe tapping
■ Jumping jack spin
■ Tree pose
■ Ear and noes
■ Thumb and pointer
II. Providing Brain Breaks
■ Gives hippocampus time to process
information
■ Lessens feelings of being overwhelmed
■ Refocuses the brain
■ Reenergizes the body and brain
II. Providing Brain Breaks
■ Body Writing
■ Imaginary Hot Potato
■ Bonnie
III. Supporting Exercise and Fitness
■ What message would it send if EVERY class engaged
in exercise?
■ Research is suggesting physically fit children
perform better in the classroom.
■ “Fitness” includes cardio-respiratory endurance,
muscular strength, muscular endurance, body mass
index and flexibility
■ Naperville
III. Supporting Exercise and Fitness
■ Shake
■ Twist
■ Stretch
■ Arm Curls
■ Front Raise
■ Lateral Raise
IV. Class Cohesion
■ Brain prioritizes information, most crucial is related to
survival. 2nd most important is that which generates
emotions.
■ When students feel stressed or uncomfortable, learning is
difficult
■ Parts of the brain that use higher-level thinking strategies
and critical thinking skills shut down when a student’s
emotional state is compromised
IV. Class Cohesion
■ Balloon Tap
■ Name Pass
V. Reviewing Content
■ Material has to be reviewed, why not use
movement?
■ When cognitive information is linked with movement,
retaining and recalling data becomes easier.
V. Reviewing Content
■ Content Area Tag
■ Meet & Greet Review
■ Bingo Review
■ Cardio Review
■ Rock Paper Scissors Math
■ Math Clap
VI. Teaching Content
■ Using movement to teach will lead to students absorbing more information and
retention will last longer (Jensen, 2000)
■ Every age group can learn and obtain implicit knowledge
■ There is a cross-cultural transmission
■ Bridges will be formed that connect the body and brain
■ Is more that just walking to the board to write something, or moving to work in
groups.
■ Refers to experiencing the academic concepts by using the body.
■ Increases understanding and retention
■ Improves social skills and class cohesion
■ Increase learner motivation
■ Provides opportunities for problem solving and higher level thinking
VI. Teaching Content
■ Punctuation
■ Clusters
■ Insulin
■ Neural Network relay race
■ SAT words
Memory Pathways
■Semantic – numbers and text
■Episodic – where you were when you
learned (like memories attached to a
song)
■Procedural – muscle memory (riding a
bike, driving a car)
Students in Poverty
■ 85% of learners are kinesthetic learners
■ Almost All children in poverty rely on kinesthetic strengths
for learning (payne).
■ Children in poverty learn the same, but they remember
differently
■ Exercise directly counterbalances the effects of poverty.
■ Neurons will “hunker down” to protect the brain when under
stress, affecting the
– Frontal lobe
– Pre Frontal Cortex
– Hippocampus
Learning Lab
■ Making important connections while learning content
■ Learning Checklist
– Physical needs – nutrition, exercise, water, sleep
– Emotional needs/social competency
– Balance – spatial awareness, vestibular system
– Motor skills – what makes us move, makes us think
– Eye fitness – eye tracking and ocular pursuit
– Crossing the midline – organizes, integrates, and
energizes the brain
– Rhythm – beat awareness and beat competency
Learning Lab
■ What if this is how we did intervention?
Kinesthetic Equipment
Hydration
■ Water is natural conductor of electricity
■ 10 minutes after drinking water students
experience 68% better retention and retrieval of
knowledge
■ Constant hydration (access to water) prohibits
peaks and valleys through out the day
■ On average, it takes the body 3 weeks to get used
to added water
The NOW WHAT
■ How often do you think students should be moving?
■ What movement is being done in your school now?
■ Why would teachers refrain from using movement to
teach? How can you overcome that barrier?
■ Can you afford not to have kinesthetic classrooms?
Who in your school would be interested in this?