Working Together to Maximize Student Learning

Body and Mind:

Kim Tackett

INTRODUCTION

Improving academic achievement seems to be taking the United States by storm. Politicians everywhere are looking for the next miracle to solve the problem of declining academic scores throughout the country. The United States is no longer the super power of the world, who is leading in all the professional fields, such as Mathematics and Science. Politicians as well as people in the media portray that the blame for this downfall is due to the complete collapse of academics in our public school systems. Consequently, school districts are taking drastic measures to handle public scrutiny and the increasing stresses of standardized testing. These measures include merit pay for teachers whose students are performing well on standardized tests, and finding more time dedicated to improving core subject areas, such as Math, Science, English, and Social Studies. In order to do this, schools are cutting back on specials courses, like Physical Education, Art, and Music to help improve scores on standardized tests.

Schools are doing anything to get a leg up on the competition, but what is the cost of these actions? Are these changes in the education system going to deliver the results this country is looking for or is it going to make matters worse? Is cutting back on Physical Education really the answer? This paper takes a look at whether or not the body and mind play a role in learning and if so, what that role may be. Specifically, effects of movement will be explored as well as, the effects of physical activity on the mind and its relationship to academic achievement. Currently there is no curriculum that mandates this type of kinesthetic involvement or body awareness in classrooms. Physical Education is offered in most schools, separate from classroom curricula. Is there a scientific link between physical activity (body) and cognitive learning (mind)? According to Chomitz (2009), and Ploughman (2008), there is a positive relationship between physical activity and academic achievement. Through research, the validity of this statement will be determined.

Literature Review

Movement is Essential to Learning

When one thinks of movement in learning one often thinks of physical education classes, not regular education classes. Why is movement not involved in every class? Movement is an indispensable part of learning and thinking. According to Connie Blakemore’s assertion in Movement is Essential to Learning, many educators and researchers agree that the brain is stimulated during exercise and that movement is indeed essential to learning (Blakemore, 2003).

Blakemore cites a study done on 81 thirteen and fourteen year old students in Germany. This study compiled data from examining the effects of a thirty minute physical education program in contrast to a five minute break incorporating movement in a core subject area classroom. Results showed that maintaining student attention in the face of distraction was increased by the thirty minute physical education class but not by the short five minute break which incorporated movement (Kubesch, Walk, Spitzer, Kammer, Lainburg, Heim, 2009; Blakemore, 2003). Given the results of this study evidence shows physical education courses are essential to student learning. Nevertheless I argue that the five minute break involving movement needs to accompany the thirty minute physical education courses; the two should not stand alone.

Further research shows that movement is essential to learning. The article Singing and Moving: Teaching Strategies for Audiation in Children, speaks about a teacher’s goal in engaging bodily movement in the classroom and thereby enhancing students abilities to listen. This particular teacher encourages creative movement to establish beat, pulse, articulation and to illustrate differences such as high and low, and loud and soft when it comes to music. The teacher gives each student their own spaces in the classroom to move freely to music. This teacher encourages her students to engage in bodily movement in response to what they hear. By observing the students in the classroom she asserts that the changes in their body level demonstrate differences between high and low pitch. This teacher also encourages sensory experiences with props, such as scarves and bubbles to allow for discoveries in movement flow. “I have noticed a significant change in my students’ abilities to listen” through observation (Garner, 2009, pg. 3).

I believe that knowing how to listen is an integral part of learning. Garner indicates that when a student listens the student needs to have the ability to listen with judgment and restate what they hear or what they think they heard inside their own heads (Garner, 2009). Here lies the problem for teachers. As we discussed in class and read in Taubman’s book we realized that school systems are threatened with standardized testing results and therefore teacher concepts of what it means for children to listen and learn has become confusing. Learning is not remembering facts and regurgitating the information on a test; “…not all children respond to listening in the same way” (Garner, 2009, pg. 7). This threat of standardized testing is “a serious threat to excellence and national standards. Unchecked, they will choke the life out of many excellent schools and drive gifted teachers out of classrooms” (Merrow, 2001, pg. 29). The education system needs to be reevaluated and needs to consider what the purpose of standardized testing is. Maybe then the stakeholders will realize what is occurring now with standardized testing has undermined the very cause for which they were instituted in the first place.

Taubman discusses that students do not feel a connection to the material that they are learning in the classroom and clearly this is a problem. Both Garner and Blakemore suggest that children learn best by exploring their environments through senses and movement. The researchers both mention that through the interaction between children’s senses and movementswith their environment, children can make pictorial representations of what they see and hear (i.e. making the connections to what it is they are learning). “To me, this is the window we need to keep open for our students: to allow them to discover what they hear inwardly and outwardly and, if needed, provide them with the imagery tools necessary to make the connection” (Blakemore, 2003). Allowing students to move freely can contribute to learning listening skills and therefore increasing abilities for students to learn.

Mind and body

The body and mind are treated as two separate entities in classrooms today; but why? As a trained physical educator and health teacher, I believe one is not without the other and they do not act alone in the learning process. Blakemore states, “…thinking and learning does not take place only in our head; people need to become more aware of the body’s role in learning.” The notion of physical activity and the links toincreased cognition seem so obvious. Plenty of literature has been done illustrating that physical activity does increase academic performance however a lot of the illustrations are not demonstrated and instead just asserted. According to Summerford, there have been over two hundred studies exploring the impact exercise has on cognition. The results of these studies were mixed; therefore a more comprehensive review of the mind/body concept is needed. In order to have more concrete evidence supporting that physical activity does in fact increase academic performance, more studies need to be conducted that highlight experimental rigor (Summerford, 2001; Blakemore, 2003). If results from studies on mind and body are incessantly mixed it will be difficult to conclude a direct positive relationship between increased exercise and the equation to increased academic achievement. Blakemore refers to the Gabbard Study which included a total of 95 second grade students who participated in six experimental treatments. Treatments consisted of inducing physical exertion during students regularly scheduled physical education classes. One pre-test and five post-tests were administered. The pre-test and final post-test were used as controls; students were given the tests with no induced physical exertion. Results from the Gabbard Study included a significant increase on the test given after physical activity than the test given after no physical activity which illustrates Blakemore’s conception, “the brain is stimulated during exercise and that movement is indeed essential to learning” (Summerford, 2009; Blakemore, 2003).

The body and mind need to have the opportunity to work together in the classroom instead of working alone which occurs too often in classrooms today. In regular education classrooms, the body is not involved. The same however, can be said about physical education courses. Typically physical education courses are about the benefits of exercise only and the mind is not incorporated. Both of these classroom structures need to be changed.

How do we incorporate the body and mind working together more often in the classroom? Some teachers have used a technique called Brain Gym in their classrooms to promote learning. Dennison came up with this Brain Gym concept which is a learning readiness system. The idea behind Brain Gym is a model which utilizes a set of simple physical exercises to enhance performance in all areas including academic, creative, athletic, and interpersonal areas (Wolfsont, 2002). Brain Gym consists of a variety of different exercises and movements that can easily be incorporated into a classroom daily. Some teachers who have taken advantage of such an opportunity have seen results (Sauterwhite, 2010).

Exercises in the Brain Gym model help to stimulate the ease and balance of movement within the three dimensions of the body. Brain Gym exercises were tailored from early “developmental movements,” physical movements of the body that are necessary for normal brain development (Wolfsont, 2002). According to Wolfsont in the article Increasing Behavioral Skills and Level of Understanding in Adults: A Brief Method Integrating Dennison's Brain Gym® Balance with Piaget's Reflective Processes, “…increasing the ease of movement in the body along these dimensions stimulates the integration of neural connections among brain centers along the same dimensions” (p. 187-188).

On different sides of the brain, the brain centers provide corresponding functions for performance on tasks. A common performance or ability is improved when the opposing sides of the three dimensions work together. These abilities include organization, communication, and comprehension/attention within the top-bottom, left-right, and front-back brain dimensions (Wolfsont, 2002). Stress can be a major contributing factor in a student’s ability to learn and it is at these times when the use of Brain Gym exercises can help to increase “people’s ease of physical movement and the flow of information among these brain centers for a given task,” thereby improving their performance on a given task (Wolfsont, 2002).

When I interviewed Erin Sauterwhite, a Lebanon City School Teacher at Bowman Elementary who uses Brain Gym exercises in her classroom she admitted “I am a firm believer in movement accompanying the learning process. I believe they go hand in hand and one is not without the other, especially in elementary school” (Sauterwhite, 2010). Another teacher at Bowman Elementary Allison Grimes does not use Brain Gym exercises in her classroom, therefore the only physical activity her students get are Physical Education once a week for forty minutes and a daily recess for approximately twenty minutes after lunch. I asked if she would be willing to incorporate Brain Gym exercises into her classroom to see if there were any notable changes in behavior and or in the learning progress. She was more than willing to experiment.

Ms. Allison Grimesfor the past month has been following the Brain Gym exercises that Ms. Erin Sauterwhite incorporates into her classroom which includes:

1. Crossing to opposite toes saying the days of the week 3 times

2. Crossing to opposite knees counting by 5s to 100

3. Crossing behind touching our toes counting by 2s to 40

4. Doing jumping jacks counting by 10s to 100

5. Doing the month Macarena twice

6. Crossing our arms grab our ears and squat counting backwards 20

from an assigned number

Crossing our arms and legs and do 3 deep breaths and then switch

Ms. Grimes, while being interviewed disclosed her amazement in the increase in academic achievement and better behavior from her students. She states, “I really couldn’t believe how much the behavior improved. Their attentiveness to tasks assigned had sky rocketed. Every single student has progressively gotten better on vocabulary and math scores. I now incorporate Brain Gym exercises every morning to start the day and again in the middle of the afternoon approximately an hour after recess. I’ll admit I didn’t really think I would see a huge difference if any difference at all, I just wanted to help you out with your assignment. Not only have I seen an increase in academic achievement but the kids absolutely love it. It has made learning fun for them and that’s the best part” (Grimes, 2010).

This teacher implemented Brain Gym exercises with her second grade elementary class only a month ago and she has already noted changes in behavior and academic achievement all while creating excitement for learning. I believe this idea of Brain Gym needs to be further explored in schools today so teachers can create the same kind of engaging and exciting learning that Ms. Sauterwhite and Ms. Grimes have been able to do.

Benefits of Exercise (Body) on the Mind

Being physically active can have many benefits to a person. In fact, it can have a positive effect on a persons’ physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development (Bailey, 2006). The physical benefits, although apparent, include a longer life, a better quality of life and a significant decrease in the risk for a variety of deadly diseases (Bailey, 2006). Any time one can improve their quality of life it can have a profound effect on the other aspects of their life. Physical activity increases energy, blood flow to the brain and increases oxygen saturation, which improves reaction time and enhances performance (Carmichael, 2007; Ploughman, 2008).

Another physiological response is the increase in production of a chemical called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also known as BDNF (Carmichael, 2007; Ploughman, 2008). According to Carmichael, this chemical is known as “Miracle-Gro for the brain. It fuels almost all activities that lead to higher thought” (p. 2). Other scientists have found that exercise can increase the density of nerve cells, which allows them to run faster and more efficient (Carmichael, 2007; Chomitz, 2009). In fact, it has been scientifically proven that exercise increases the brains plasticity, which allows cells to grow (Ploughman, 2008). This goes against the idea that once a brain cell dies, there is no getting it back. This has strong implications in the fight against cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and ADHD (Carmichael, 2007).

There is evidence that being physically active can have a profound effect on the psychological aspect of a person’s life. This is especially true when it comes to building positive self-esteem (Bailey, 2006; Chomitz, 2009; Byrd, 1991). This improvement in self-esteem can be due to a number of factors. The physical effects of living a healthy life and improving your body can impact self-esteem. Also, exercise increases endorphins, which has an effect on mood. A study done by researchers from the University of Buffalo explored children with ADHD that underwent a six week exercise course. This exercise course focused on getting the heart rate up to at least 135-175 beats per minute for twenty minutes a day, five times a week. A dramatic change was observed due to the release of endorphins which resulted in the students being more calm (Vail, 2006). There is strong evidence that shows that physical activity helps students concentrate and focus (Vail, 2006; Chomitz, 2009). Also, the other psychological effects include a decrease in stress, tension, depression, and anxiety all of which can have a negative impact on academic performance(Bailey, 2006; Chomitz, 2009; Byrd, 1991).

The last area of impact is the cognitive or academic effect of physical activity. Does a healthy body equal a healthy mind? Researchers have suggested that academic performance is enhanced because physical activity increases mood, mental alertness, and motivation (Bailey, 2006; Byrd, 1991; Chomitz, 2009). In fact, according to Bailey (2006), research has proven that academic performance has improved by increasing the amount of time spent daily on physical activity. According to a study performed in Canada, “results demonstrated a significant positive relationship between fitness and Math and English academic achievement” (Chomitz, 2009, p. 35). However, not all of the experts agree that there are academic benefits to exercise. According to Byrd (1991), there is “no correlation between athletic participation and academic achievement for students” (p. 171). Another study from Hong Kong, found that “simple correlations showed that students with a high level of physical activity were neither better nor worse in academic achievement than their physically less active counterpart” (Chan, 2006, p. 338).