Movement is Education
Most of us think of pencil and paper when we think of education. We think of desks, chalkboards, and worksheets. We think of sitting!
But surprisingly, and quite amazingly, movement helps children achieve cognitive gains! Research is abundantly clear that complex movements enhance brain growth. There is no question that hands-on learning is the type of learning that tends to be life-long. We receive sensory input through our eyes, ears, tongue, skin and nose. The soles of our feet, for example, have as many as 200,000 nerve endings per sole. These are meant to give us feedback from our environment and lead to true learning.
The average human brain has some 10 billion neurons, or thinking cells, but intelligence rests not so much on the number of cells as on the number of connections between these cells. The more connections, the greater the brain’s computational ability. -Joseph Chilton Pearcre
When children play outside, their brains are forming stronger connections and that leads to greater computational ability!
Movement, it turns out, makes the whole body an instrument for learning. When we let children loose in the right types of environments there is no telling how much learning will occur - no guidance needed! That’s right, kids often learn even without any adult direction at all. In these instances we might not be able to check off the content standard boxes boxes but children are still learning valuable things.
Our world is filled with beautiful complexities and multi-disciplinary learning opportunities. They are present all around us in a nature. From the life-cycle of one monarch, children can learn about so many aspects of science. They can learn about symmetry. They can learn geography as they track the path of the monarch headed south. We could learn similar things through migrating birds, the patterns on leaves, even snowflakes. Real life learning opportunities lay all around us and yet we are plopping kids in front of a computer, kids as young as five, and in some districts for hours a day.
Children begin as insatiable, non-stop learners. Our ultimate goal should be to keep that fire lit. How we do that will look different from home to home, town to town, teacher to teacher. Where you are able to have a voice, speak up for the children and their innate drive to move. More recess and after school play, please!
Education can be seen as books and lessons but it should also be seen as running, climbing, and building snowmen! No moment of outside play is ever a waste of time when it comes to child development. Movement is a crucial component of lifelong learning!
