How Teaching with Body Movement Results in Enriched Learning Experiences

The first night of a graduate class, the instructor invited us all out into the hallway. Our introduction to each other was an activity that was also meant to show us the value of using movement when learning new material. The theory was that if we did a body movement during the process of learning each others’ names, we would more easily acquire the names of our classmates. We stood in a circle, and one by one, we introduced ourselves. Once we’d been around the circle once and everyone had said their name, the instructor produced a ball and gave it to a lady. She was supposed to bounce the ball to another class member and say their name at the same time. The bouncee was to then become the bouncer, bouncing the ball to another member of the class while saying his name. This went on for a while. Finally, our instructor stopped the exercise and had several members of the circle see if they could accurately name every class member. Everyone was very pleased with the exercise. 

Let’s look at some other examples:

4. A whole body motion that shows the action for + is simply to bring both arms up and cross them tightly against your chest. You can make the action more to the point if you pick up some objects in each hand before crossing your arms over your chest to mimic the plus sign. This is the action of taking two groups and pulling them together to make a new total.