TITLE:
How Often Do You Move? Improving Student Learning in the Elementary Classroom through Purposeful Movement
AUTHORS:
Emily McGregor, Karen Swabey, Darren Pullen
KEYWORDS:
Elementary Education, Purposeful Movement
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.3 No.6,
May
21,
2015
ABSTRACT: It is estimated that 85
percent of students in school are natural kinaesthetic learners. It has been
suggested that these particular learners are not being catered to through
traditional teaching practices. There is a growing body of evidence to support
the connection between physical movement and increased student academic
achievement. This research differs from existing literature as it focuses on
teachers’ inclusion of physical movement in everyday classroom learning. The
aim of this research was to investigate how and why elementary school teachers
incorporate movement into everyday classroom learning. Qualitatively,
significant differences were found between how teachers believed they
integrated movement into their everyday classroom learning, and how movement
can be integrated to benefit student’s engagement and academic achievement.
These findings suggest that the integration of movement into everyday classroom
learning significantly increases student engagement. Professional development
for teachers as well as communities of practice, need to be accessible by
teachers in order for them to learn how to integrate movement into their
everyday classroom learning and therefore increase their students’ academic
achievement as well as engagement in learning.