Amanda Enos

Inquiry Brief
April 24, 2017

Learning with Movement in Mind

USF Elementary Education
Spring 2017 Showcase
Level 2

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 Amanda Enos
Inquiry Brief
April 24, 2017

Background:

Lamb Elementary School is located in Progress Village, Tampa. I have been an intern in a

blooming first-grade classroom for the 2016/ 2017 school year. This class is instructed through

whole class discussions, accountable talk frames, and turn and talks. Thus, the lead teacher has

created a verbal atmosphere for sharing and receiving ideas. While developing the ability to

verbalize important ideas and respectfully communicate with peers is important, many students

appear to struggle with this method of learning. One thing I have noticed in the classroom that

makes me wonder is how fidgety and anxious students become when they have been sitting or

stationary for extended periods of time. Students don't know what to do with themselves when

their bodies need to move and stretch, and I've noticed that this has a big impact on how students

focus and complete their tasks moving forward. This causes tension in the classroom between the

teacher and the students because learning is not being optimized. As much as the students might

want to learn, they are distracted by urges to move around. I hope to practice strategies that allow

students to use their brains and their bodies to learn simultaneously. It is my professional goal to

create lessons that engage students both mentally and physically. Students need to move. I want

to learn about the research behind student learning with movement and strategies to use in my

classroom to promote this type of learning. With this in mind, the purpose of my inquiry is to

discover and utilize methods of learning that integrate movement into lessons.

Wondering:

Through this inquiry, I want to discover scientifically credited evidence that supports

movement as a learning tool and how I can use this evidence to incorporate movement into my

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Inquiry Brief
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students' learning. I seek to find activities and methods of movement integration, and discover

what works best for my students.

Methods and Procedures:

Reading of Movement in Learning: Revitalizing the Classroom by Marcus Van (2012) and

Teaching with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jenson (1998). The two readings helped me understand

the effects movement has on the brain and in the classroom. I made sense of these readings

through close reads and applying what I learned in the classroom.

Collected anecdotal notes of classroom participation. This included a detailed chart of specific

times and days when each student would or would not verbally participate. This data is based on

verbal participation because this is the primary educational engagement in this classroom.

Anecdotal notes were taken so that I could compare class engagement when movement was

utilized versus when it was not. This data helped me see the differences in engagement and how

movement effected engagement. I made sense of this data by organizing it into a chart.
Planning and instructing social studies lessons that incorporate movement into learning

goals. These lessons have also been recorded for data collection. Videos of lessons I

taught that used movement were another source of data. Of the three lessons I taught, two

of them were recorded and one of them was observed by a teacher. These videos were

useful because they allowed me to observe my class for engagement and reflect upon my

practices. I made sense of this data through re-watching the videos and discussing my

practices with another teacher.

Why should movement be used to engage students in learning?

"Movement sends more blood and oxygen to the brain. We can conclude that since we

use our brains for learning, this increase in oxygen and blood flow, which enhances brain

activity, also enhances learning" (Van, p. 19). Marcus Van, author of Movement in Learning:

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Revitalizing the Classroom provides us with many strengths to the utilization of movement

within learning. He argues that movement stimulates brain growth and communication, similar to

Eric Jenson who is the author of Teaching with the Brain in Mind (1998). Both Van and Jenson

make the point that the part of our brains that process movement is the same part that processes

the learning we do every day. This part of the brain, called the cerebellum, is also linked to

language, attention, and memory among other important things.

How can I use movement to effectively teach?

Marcus Van suggests many engaging activities at the end of Movement in Learning:

Revitalizing the Classroom. The activities range from vocabulary development to mathematical

application but they all share the same concept: movement. Integrating movement into learning

doesn't have to be hard. Van lists numerous examples of how to use do so effectively. Another

source of motivation was my co-teacher. We discussed and deliberated the different ways we

could use movement to facilitate our lessons, especially social studies (since that was my block

to plan for however I wanted). My co-teacher also gave me valuable feedback that I took into

consideration each time I planned for the next lesson. She made suggestions on how to

effectively implement movement into our learning without losing control of the class. With her

suggestions in mind, I was able to control the class exactly how I imaged because I did the

following:

modeled the activity

repeatedly used content-appropriate vocabulary

Orally delivered the steps

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Displayed the steps for the students to see

Verbalized my expectations

redirected students to the steps

How often do students participate in class when movement isn't involved?

To answer this, I began a log in my field notes and referred to it every time I had the

chance to observe rather than teach. This log consisted of the students' names on the left-hand

side and a column for each subject thereafter. The subjects included math, reading, writing, and

science. When I was able to, I would observe the students as they were supposed to be

participating in the lesson. Every time a student actively engaged in the lesson (answered a

question, asked a question, or successfully turned and talked), I would put a check mark next to

their name. The reason I only considered "participation" as verbal is because the main source of

instruction and engagement in this particular classroom was verbal engagement. The students

and teacher had many valuable discussions. As the weeks went by, I began noticing patterns.

First, I noticed that the same 2-3 students participated a significant amount more than their peers.

Second, I noticed that in nearly every recorded instance of participation, only half of the class

participated each day. In addition, these 9 students were almost always the same students who

participated. This led me to the conclusion that when students are expected to participate

verbally, about 1/2 of the student in that class participate.

How do my new activities seem to be impacting my students?

Each time the class tries a new movement lesson, it is recorded and reviewed by myself

and occasionally others. When I watch the videos of the students, I noticed excitement,

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Inquiry Brief
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enthusiasm, and what appears to be high levels of energy. The students seem to respond

exceptionally well to the activities and my co-teacher agrees. In addition, another level 2 intern

and I worked together to develop a lesson that we will implement in two different classrooms.

We will peer review each other and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson.

Findings:

As a result of analyzing my data, three things I learned are summarized in the following:

Student engagement increases during lessons that include movement.

Students enjoy moving while learning.
Movement can be incorporated into lessons in a variety of ways.

Learning Statement 1: Student engagement increases during lessons that include movement. One

thing I have observed during my inquiry was student engagement. When lessons are not designed

in a movement-conscientious way, student engagement is around approximately 50%. This

information can be supported through anecdotal notes taken on student participation over a series

of one semester (see appendix B for further details). In these anecdotal notes, the class is

observed during whole group participation times such as shared reading and class discussions.

When students participate, this data is recorded into a chart. Participation for the use of this

student is considered an attempt to communicate ideas pertaining to the lesson to the teacher, to a

peer, or aloud to the class. At the end of each day, the number of students who participated versus

the number of students who did not participate are calculated into a percentage. Students are

often off task, such as playing in their desks, scribbling in their notebooks, or communicating

with neighbors. Some students aren't interested and therefor daze off in the middle of lessons.

Other students are reluctant to participate because much of the learning in this class comes from

discussions and they are shy to share aloud. However, when lessons are designed to incorporate

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movement in learning, there is a shift of engagement. It is apparent that more students participate

in class when provided the opportunity to learn through movement.

Learning Statement 2: Students enjoy moving while learning. This statement is supported

through observations, video data, student exit interviews. While observing the class and the

video data I collected, it is clear that students exhibit joy and excitement when given the

opportunity to use movement as a method of learning. In addition, an exit interview was

conducted a week after the inquiry process ended. In these interviews, students were asked to

openly express their opinions of utilizing movement in the classroom. Nearly all of the students

interviewed expressed positive feelings toward movement (Refer to appendix A for the interview

transcript).

Learning Statement 3: Movement can be incorporated into lessons in a variety of ways. This

learning statement was proven true through first-hand experiences. Although all the movement

lessons instructed in the inquiry process were in the subject of social studies, there are even more

ways to incorporate movement into lessons through subjects such as math, reading, and science.

Marcus Van, author of Movement in Learning: Revitalizing the Classroom, describes a handful of

activates that utilize movement in learning (p.42). Many of these activities reach out to a specific

intelligence from the theory of Multiple Intelligences as well. These activities can be used across

subjects and can be modified to meet the needs of students. In addition, I also learned that

movement can be used as pre-assessments, formative assessments, and even summative

assessments.

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Conclusion:

As a result of my inquiry, I have learned that my students really enjoy movement in

learning. This means that student learning should be steered towards physical activities that

allow students to utilize movement as a method of learning. Through engagement of this inquiry,

I have learned about the numerous benefits movement has on the brain and the correlation to

student learning as a result of this. I have also learned that there are infinite ways to incorporate

movement into my lessons. As I move forward, I hope to explore and create new ways to use

movement in my lessons. I hope to explore pre-assessing and attention getters using physical

activity as well.

Appendix A:

The following is an interview conducted by Amanda Enos on April 20, 2017. All student names

are pseudonyms.

1. How do you feel about social studies with Ms. Enos?

Ian: I feel, um, happy because I like the social studies so much.
Tessa: Really really good because I like it when youre here on Thursdays because we do lots of
activities.
Marina: Happy because I like to do specials a lot.
Aaron: Happy because its fun.
Darius: Good because I think its fun.
Jeremy: Its fun because we learn about a lot of stuff like bartering.
John: I feel happy because you give us work to do any you always let us stand up.
Ellen: I would say I like it because theres fun activities we get to do and we do new things.
2. How do you feel about moving around the classroom when you learn?
Ian: I feel excited because I like to stand up and move around the classroom.
Tessa: I love it.
Marina: I feel happy a lot because its fun to do that and I like to do that a lot.
Aaron: Its fun because I get to walk around.
Darius: Good because sitting and watching is boring.
Jeremy: Good because I like to move.
John: Happy because when you let us stand up and find the words its fun.
Ellen: Its pretty exciting because I like to move around.

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 Amanda Enos
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3. What is your favorite subject in school?
Ian: Math because I like to do something with the 3D shapes.
Tessa: Social studies because its fun and you get to do a lot of stuff in it.
Marina: Math because Im good at math.
Aaron: Writing because I get to draw.
Darius: Math because it helps me learn more.
Jeremy: Math because of addition problems.
John: Science because its my only favorite one because you can use tools like magnifying
glass.
Ellen: Math because I like solving stuff like equations and harder things.
4. How do you feel when Ms. Enos teaches the class?
Ian: Happy because youre a great teacher.
Tessa: I feel happy because I like it when youre here because you teach us how to learn.
Marina: Happy.
Aaron: Um happy because you teach us.
Darius: Good because I think its more fun.
Jeremy: Its fun because we do different things.
John: I feel happy because when you teach us. You let us mark the words during word work.
Ellen: I feel kind of curious because I like to know whats going to happen.

Appendix B:

Student Participation Chart and Graph

Student Pseudonym Number of efforts of

participation: March 2, March 9,
and March 22. *
Aaron 8
Chelsea 9
Ellen 6
Barret 4
Ashley 9
Ian 3
Luisa 3
Kevin 4
Tessa 1
John 5
Breanna 1
Cameron 3
Marissa 1
Jacob 1
Aniyah 1
Rashawn 1
Tiana 2
*Data reflects participation in Math and Shared reading whole group discussions only.

Whole Group Participation Percentages by Day

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Student Participation in Whole Group Dialogue

16

11
10
9 9

7
6

1
Day1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4

Number of Participating Students Column1

References:

Jensen, E. (2005) Teaching with the brain in mind. Association of Supervision and Curriculum

Development. Retrieved

from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104013/chapters/Movement-and-Learning.aspx

Van, Marcus, "Movement in Learning: Revitalizing the Classroom" (2012). MA TESOL Collection.

Paper541. Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1544&context=ipp_collection

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Amanda Enos
Inquiry Brief
April 24, 2017

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