Rationale Of Kinesthetic Learning Rationale

Kinesthetic Learning Rationale “I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I will understand.” -Confucius No matter what it is referred to as - dance, creative movement, kinesthetic learning, creative dance, or dance-based learning - it is beneficial to all students when incorporated into the classroom. Movement is the key. Creative movement is a form of dance, so students are using and introduced to the basic elements of dance: body, energy, space, and time. According to Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer, Ph.D., a psychoanalyst at the University of California, Berkeley, “Creative movement is a joyful way for children to explore movement through music, develop physical skills, channel energy, stimulate imagination, and promote creativity.

Again, all students are participating in one way or another when movement is incorporated in the classroom. But it does not end there. Dance is ubiquitous, found all over the world. As dance involves all students, it can also incorporate the diverse cultures celebrated at school. Every year, a new population of students arrives in the classroom, and I never know what types of students will be part of our classroom, especially in Kindergarten. They could be an array of students from different cultures or speaking different languages. Creative movement enhances and brings knowledge to the students of cultures around the world. Introducing dance from different cultures is a must-do. One way to achieve this is through movement and story. An example explained in the article "The Power of Creative Dance" teaches dance stories. This is a powerful way to choose multicultural books, poems, or songs to show images of different cultures while creating dance movements based upon these stories, poems, or songs.

Including multicultural dance in the curriculum also offers an excellent opportunity to invite professional artists to share their expertise with children" (Griss, 1994, p.79). Connie Bergstein Dow suggests selecting five to seven images that could spark movement from a particular song or book. This could be an image of a character or a scene. The students then create movements to bring the character, scene, or story to life. Music can then be added. The story is read aloud, and after the reading, the students take their image and practice once more. As the music plays and dance cues are called out, the students, by group, bring the image to life. At the conclusion of the dance movements, the students freeze and hold their shape or sculpture. They then come together and discuss their experience (Dow, 2010, p.35). This type of lesson incorporates many aspects of teaching. The students are engaged, communicating, being expressive, developing social skills, thinking critically about the story concepts, collaborating, and, above all, creating. This sounds like students are using and acquiring 21st-century skills. Is it possible for the Common Core State Standards and 21st Century skills to be taught through movement? The answer is a definite "yes." A 21st Century classroom aims to establish a student-centered, project-based environment that focuses on creating lifelong learners.