Chapter 11 - Is a Revolution Coming?
Movement, Exercise, and Learning
Learning Objectives
After reading and discussing the chapter, participants will be able to do the following.
- List the benefits of exercise on learning and how it can impact the educational process.
- Describe one method of exercise/movement that can be used in your current classroom environment.
Chapter Summary
If you were to ask teachers to create a list of things that students could do to help improve their ability to learn, I would venture to say exercise would not be on too many of the lists. However, research has shown that exercise can actually have quite an impact on the learning process. This chapter will examine recent research in this field, followed by how we can use this information in our quest of learner-centered teaching.
Exercise is the vital ingredient to create new neurons in the brain. In technical terms, exercise stirs up protein in the brain cells called brain-derived neutrotrophic factor (BDNF). The increased movement during exercise increases the BDNF. The increased levels of BDNF provide the best opportunity for new learning to take place.There are lots of technical aspects to how exercise helps the brain improve learning capacity. But long story short -- exercise gets the brain moving along with the other muscles of the body, which prepares the cells in the brain for new information (Doyle, 2011).
So what can we do to help our students exercise more to increase their learning potential? What can we do within our leaner-centered classroom that will tap into these findings on exercise and learning? Here are some excellent starter ideas from author Terry Doyle (Doyle, 2011).
- Moving Discussions. Instead of sitting inactively in chairs and talking, have students move around in groups, take walks,or even toss some balls while discussing the topics. Activities can be done as the whole class or in small groups. Get the kids moving and see it it promotes deeper discussions.
- Walking critiques. For peer review assignments, instead of sharing papers and reading them while sitting at desks, post them in different places around the room. Students can move about while reading and commenting on the items.
- Guided tour. Make the class more active by doing a "walk and talk" while observing things being discussed, Science observations of living things, math discussions of length, height, and volume of objects, English classes that want to inspire creative writing, and many other subjects can find ways to incorporate a guided tour/walk and talk.
- Encourage stretching. Let students know from day one that they should stand and stretch when they start feeling fatigued. Since many students will not do this on their own, the teacher can always find a break in the topic to tell everyone to stretch. This also gives students time to reflect on the new material.
Along with teachers understanding and implementing features of exercise in the classroom, we must help students understand the importance of exercise in their lives, not just from a health standpoint, but from a learning advantage as well.
Personal Connection
My years as a classroom teacher were in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As you can imagine, there wasn't a great deal of movement in the classroom. I've said this before, but I wish I knew then what I know now. Although I'm not a teacher anymore, I am still in many K-12 classrooms. Movement and activity is higher the lower the grade level. As you move up the K-12 ladder, the less activity you tend to see. After reading this chapter, I think that perhaps the older students need just as much activity as the younger students. I really like the ideas given in the book for getting older students moving around in the classroom, like the guided tours, moving discussions, and so forth. These are all great starting points for establishing more activity in the the classroom.
Suggestions for Implementation
If asked to implement exercise as a stimulus for increasing learning, I would start with the steps below.
Step #1
Talk with teachers about the research on exercise and learning. Emphasize the studies done in schools where aerobic exercise was added to the curriculum, or the stationery bikes that students used for several minutes before class. These case studies are intriguing and teachers can be challenged to try to duplicate the results.
Step #1
Talk with teachers about the research on exercise and learning. Emphasize the studies done in schools where aerobic exercise was added to the curriculum, or the stationery bikes that students used for several minutes before class. These case studies are intriguing and teachers can be challenged to try to duplicate the results.
Step #2
Provide teachers with some quick solutions for increasing activity and exercise in the classroom. Have them brainstorm more ideas and how they can be implemented.
Provide teachers with some quick solutions for increasing activity and exercise in the classroom. Have them brainstorm more ideas and how they can be implemented.
Step #3
Talk to kids about the benefits of exercise on learning. Let them know what they can do to help increase their own learning capacity. Students in K-12 respond well to "challenges." The current fad of "ice bucket" challenge could prompt kids to participate in extra activity. Or provide students with other incentives, like a powder puff football game, tug-of-war, or a variety of other out of the ordinary events if they exercise more. Sometimes if people start being more active, they will want to stay more active.
Talk to kids about the benefits of exercise on learning. Let them know what they can do to help increase their own learning capacity. Students in K-12 respond well to "challenges." The current fad of "ice bucket" challenge could prompt kids to participate in extra activity. Or provide students with other incentives, like a powder puff football game, tug-of-war, or a variety of other out of the ordinary events if they exercise more. Sometimes if people start being more active, they will want to stay more active.
RESOURCE:
Doyle, T. (2011). Learner-centered teaching: Putting the research of learning into practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Doyle, T. (2011). Learner-centered teaching: Putting the research of learning into practice. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.