Why Movement Is a Powerful Learning Tool
A local high school recently asked me to speak to students at its annual career day. The invitation was a return engagement that came after the publication of my 2010 book, The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning Through Movement. As the first to speak that day, I was positioned onstage waiting for the students to file in and didn’t initially notice the young woman standing on the floor at stage left motioning me over. But when she did catch my eye, I walked over and the young woman immediately stated her purpose.
“Weren’t you here last year?” she said.
“Yes, I gave the keynote,” I replied, a little flattered that she remembered.
“I thought so,” she told me with some excitement. “I remember because you taught us how to learn SAT vocabulary words using our bodies and you taught us how to remember the meaning of words like obstinate.”
“And why did you remember that word?” I asked.
She smiled, made a fist with her right hand, and began tapping it against her head. Then she said “hard-headed.” Next, she used her hands to push away from her body and said “unyielding.”
She laughed, told me she was looking forward to my talk, and then turned on her heels to scurry back to her waiting friends.
I recount this story because it provides a clear example of the most important underlying principle of this book—that movement enhances our brain’s ability to learn and, more specifically as this story demonstrates, moves what we learn from temporary memory to permanent storage for later recall. More than a year had passed between the day my curious student had participated in the short demonstration activity I gave at my talk, yet she recalled exactly what she learned. For me, this is a perfect illustration of how the brain/body connection enhances the learning process.
TEACHING COMPLEX TOPICS
Movement is an effective tool for both simple and complex concepts. For example, if you were interested in having your learners remember the functional role of various chemicals in the brain, here’s how you might structure the learning as a movement-based activity.
Neurons perform a vital connection role in our brain and ensure that various parts of the brain communicate with one another. Neurons have distinct parts that carry out specific functions— dendrites, nuclei and axons, a myelin sheath, and a release point for the neurotransmitters (it’s not necessary to explain the function for this example). So to use movement in this example, you might tell learners that their fingers are dendrites, their palms are nuclei, their shirt sleeves are the myelin sheath (if someone is wearing a sleeveless shirt I would suggest they pretend to have a sleeve), and their elbows are the release point for the neurotransmitters.
Then, to graphically connect these brain chemical parts to their function all that’s needed is a bit of creativity with the learners. You might hold up your fingers and wiggle them while asking what they represent—dendrites.
Then you might ask, “To what are the dendrites attached?”, “the nucleus (and soma, or cell body)?” You would then follow these connections throughout the discussions and make this physical connection every time the key words are mentioned.
With this example, it’s possible to include more memory bookmarks by making popping sounds that represent the neurons connecting electrically in the brain.
THE BODY IS AN EFFICIENT LEARNING TOOL
The body is a more efficient learning tool than we imagine because it’s paired with a brain that prefers to learn by doing. Yet that does not mean it’s possible or appropriate to always use this brain/body connection. As I’ve noted throughout this book, choosing the right tool is a judgment call. However, if movement-based learning activities are appropriate to teach critical content, then failure to do so means that a powerful learning tool has been left on the table. Here are some other advantages:
Movement provides a welcome learning opportunity for kinesthetic learners (likely a majority of your training participants).
Movement strengthens the ability to tap into our brain’s preferred way to learn through implicit channels. As demonstrated in this book, attaching emotional value to learning enhances the experience, and kinesthetic activity creates positive emotional involvement with the content.
Movement gives the brain an environmental (or episodic) advantage when trying to recall information by creating a “learning address” for content (where learning occurred).
Movement provides additional sensory cues for the brain to store information. An additional pathway increases the chances more content will be stored and available for retrieval in the future.
Movement increases motivation and focus. Using movement allows learners to stay focused on the moment. This engagement means learners enjoy the training and perceive that the training is moving along at a faster rate.
It’s easy to incorporate movement in traditional education programs to teach anything from math to Shakespeare, but sometimes it takes a little creativity to bring movement into corporate training environments. However, here are some areas that the movement fit is a natural because within these areas of training there exists many opportunities to “learn by doing.”
Learn by Doing
When I teach presentation skills, I purposely spend the bulk of the class time allowing participants to learn by doing. Sure, I could spend a day describing the core competencies of an effective speaker, but that’s not nearly as an effective approach as giving learners an actual opportunity to speak and experience learning critique and correct practice. The bottom line is that you learn to speak by speaking and to present effectively through actually presenting. You do not learn by simply discussing the best techniques. Pilots are trained in simulators that can create any situation they might encounter in a plane. This type of learning, often taken for granted in a stand-and-deliver type of training, is as essential to the success of any trainee as it is to a pilot. Consider the following training scenarios:
Time and Productivity Management. Participants are allowed to specifically use and practice time management skills in a real context.
Customer Service. Trainees role-play phone and face-to-face customer-service skills so they are second nature when faced with any customer-service situation.
Effective Meeting Management. Trainees are given meeting topics so they can design the entire process and run a mock meeting.
Correct Hiring Practices. Trainees are allowed to experience all aspects of correct hiring practices, especially the interviewing process, which is an art in itself.
Managing Constant Change. Trainees are given scenarios that require leadership through change and lead teams through the process.
Stress Management. Trainees are taken through specific stress managements techniques, such as autogenic training, mindfulness practice, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation.
Technical Training. This may be the most obvious but learning the latest technology can be best achieved by diving in and practicing the technology itself. This is based on the user’s technical knowledge and how he or she can compare a new technology to something already known. For those who would be unfamiliar with technology, someone has to actually guide them in a sensible way.
Consider this a starter list only. I am sure with just a little thought you could expand this list. In general, any topic or skill development learning program with any “doing” or “experiential” aspect has potential for movement-based activities. Even topics such as legal compliance, financial management, or basic accounting can take advantage of this brain/body connection. Here is example from a corporate wellness training program I conducted recently at a manufacturing plant in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Using Movement in Creative Ways
Clearly, wellness is a topic that lends itself to using movement activities. However, I didn’t have a lot of time for my segment of the program, and the participants were coming to my session after sitting through other classes. As a result, I knew I would have an attention issue, which meant I had the perfect opportunity to introduce a brain break.
When the learners were assembled in my class, I decided to begin with some general overview statistics about wellness in America. I wanted the participants to know that according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 3 children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes and that this ratio is 1 in 2 for African American or Latino people. It’s a sobering statistic that could have been presented nicely with a pie chart in a PowerPoint slide, but instead I made this statistic real by allowing the audience to be part of the learning.
I noted that it’s hard to really understand the real world impact of statistics, so I told participants that this activity would help them make the connection. The room happened to be arranged in nine neat rows of chairs. First, I asked all the participants to stand next to the chairs; then, I gave them the diabetes statistics. I asked them to imagine that everyone in the room was born in the year 2000. Then, I issued the following directions:
Everyone in the first three rows, please sit down.
Now, everyone sitting in the next three rows please sit down.
According to the diabetes statistic I gave you, everyone in these first six rows will not develop diabetes.
Everyone in the last three rows and still standing is likely to develop diabetes.
I reminded the participants that this 1 in 3 statistic was the general population statistic for children born in 2000. Then I asked everyone to stand up again and reminded the participants that the statistic was 1 in 2 for African Americans and Latinos.
With everyone standing again, I asked 50 percent of the audience to sit down. I pointed out that all those standing would, according to this CDC statistic, develop diabetes in their lifetimes.
This impromptu activity was successful because it:
Used the body as a learning tool by making the information much more memorable and useable.
Provided a brain break.
Made an emotional connection to the content.
Created a physical, meaningful interaction with the presenter and offered a comprehensible visual to a statistic.
Reviewing and teaching content using movement, or kinesthetic activity, can seem like a daunting task but it’s worth the effort. Movement is a natural experience for the brain and one in which most learners will thrive if given the proper exposure in the right amount of doses.
OTHER BENEFITS OF MOVEMENT:
CORPORATE WELLNESS
In Chapter 4, it was mentioned earlier that recent research published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute indicated that an extra two hours of sitting per day increased your risk of colon, endometrial, and lung cancers.1 The research did not prove cause and effect, but it did show a link between sedentary behaviors and an increased risk for certain cancers. Other research has shown that even regular exercise can’t counterbalance the ill effects of hours of sitting. We are built to move; our bodies beg to be used. Nilofer Merchant, author and business leader, eloquently stated it this way in her TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) talk, “Sitting has become the smoking of our generation.”2
Another interesting piece of research came out of Washington University in St. Louis. The behavioral researchers wanted to explore group dynamics in meetings without chairs. Teams worked on creating a university recruitment video in rooms that either had chairs arranged around a table or had no chairs at all. The university’s press release stated quite clearly, “University participants in the study who stood had greater physiological arousal and were less territorial about ideas than those in the seated arrangement. Members of the standing groups reported that their team members were less protective of their ideas. This reduced territoriality, led to more information sharing and to higher-quality university recruitment videos.”3
The power of recognizing the brain and body as one in all aspects of life, whether it be training or physical and mental health, cannot be overstated. It is all connected. Researchers will be trying to connect all the dots for the good part of this century.
The research that underlies this book does demonstrate that aerobic exercise produces better cognitive results. For the purpose of this book, that means better results for learners.
How can I connect fitness to training? Easily. First, researchers now know without hesitation that aerobic exercise produces better cognitive results and that one of the primary beneficiaries of the benefits of aerobic activity is the brain, which means better trainees. Secondly, what is good for the heart is good for the brain, which means healthy trainees. Third, wellness is the pinnacle of the brain/ body connection, which is a critical piece of training. In the larger view, here are some of the benefits to having physically fit employees:
Motivation
Better Health Less Stress
Greater Cognitive Function
Greater Levels of Presenteeism
Lower Levels of Absenteeism
More Productive Employees
Edward Stanley, the Third Earl of Derby, says it this way, “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” Far too many people test his theory. All you aspire to be is jeopardized by an inactive lifestyle. Exercise provides a better brain, body, and perspective, which make you more effective. It is simplistic at its core, yet remains elusive for many.
Aerobic exercise, such as walking, jogging, swimming, and cycling, lowers blood sugar, insulin levels, and blood pressure. It also reduces stress and raises good cholesterol. Physically active people enjoy better bone, lung, and heart health, and have an easier time managing their weight. But these are all side effects. The true beneficiary of aerobic fitness is your brain.
Over the last several decades researchers have discovered some exciting characteristics about the relationship between exercise and the brain. According to Ratey, a lack of aerobic exercise impairs cognitive function especially as we age. He says, “Exercise is like Miracle-Gro for the brain.”3
Ratey taught me that aerobic exercise is nature’s natural antidote to serious ailments, such as depression, addiction, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s disease. We are designed to move. It is a part of our natural make-up. Sedentary lifestyles are not natural to the human existence. In fact, they run contrary to our genetic design.
All of us experience periodic stress. Thankfully, our bodies are well equipped for the challenge. Unfortunately, chronic stress has become a characteristic of modern life and that is problematic, both personally and professionally. The good news is that any aerobic activity is an effective stress manager. How could it not be? Swimming, running, cycling, or hiking all demand our focus and attention. Exercise epitomizes living in the moment, where stressful thoughts are not allowed. On a biological level, exercise puts your body in a stressful situation, and in short doses, it is not only healthful, but necessary. I look forward to my workouts, in part because I know I will experience active stress relief. You could equate exercising with receiving a low dose vaccination—to combat stress. Exercising in response to stress is a simple and effective way to raise your body’s ability to deal with the pressures of everyday life. As with meditation or deep breathing, exercise calms the body, making it possible to manage greater levels of turbulence.
Try this simple experiment. The next time you feel overwhelmed by stress, hit the road, jump in the pool, get on your bike, or go for a walk and don’t stop for 30 minutes. When you’ve finished your workout, notice what has happened to your stress levels. They will have lessened, if not completely vanished. It is real, it is biological, and it can always be counted on.
1. Schmid, D. & Leitzmann, M. (2014). Television viewing and time spent sedentary in relation to cancer risk: A meta-analysis. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 106(7): dju098 doi:10.1093/jnci/dju098.
2. Merchant, N. (2013). Got a meeting? Take a walk. Monterey, CA: TED.
3. Knight, A.P., & Baer, M. Get up, stand up: The effects of a non-sedentary workspace on information elaboration and group performance. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(8), 910–917.
4. Ratey, J. (2008). SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company.