What is Movement Education?
It is exactly what the term implies; learning how to move, or, being educated in the movement functions of the body. Movement Education is applied to physical education, creative movement, educational gymnastics, dance, games, and other activities of basic skill development.
At Gerstung, “learning through movement” has become the essence for age appropriate development of the child. That fundamental approach of teaching physical activities allows a student to understand the functions and limitations of his body. We also call it Body Movement as we analyze everyone’s individual movement ability and build their basic movement vocabulary. Such training provides the basics for further, more advanced, skill development and personal growth of confidence.
A more significant aspect of Movement Education is the utilization of specific teaching techniques. These methods are designed to encourage individualization, exploration and problem solving. Mind and body are challenged simultaneously as progress in small systematic steps is experienced.
Our Movement Curriculum fosters a child’s physical and emotional development. It utilizes concepts that give children the ability to handle themselves under a variety of circumstances, to include body awareness, locomotor and manipulative skills; learning to transfer weight and how to balance; exploring how to defy gravity and how to utilize space; focusing on quality of movement and its relationship to people and equipment.
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Why Movement Education is Important
Movement Education is not a new concept, but one that the general public has been slow to embrace. Many people look at physical education, or movement education as mere fun and games, having nothing to do with the growth or development of young people. The common misconception is that the brain and the body have little to do with one another outside the realm of basic motor coordination. Nothing could be further from the truth. Decades of research have shown there are substantial links between movement and the proper development of analytical and cognitive abilities in the brain (a quick Internet search will provide you with a variety of web sites dedicated to this concept).
Children acquire knowledge through play, experimentation, exploration, and discovery. Exploring a concept through movement offers children a way of learning that helps make abstract concepts understandable and concrete. Movement programs that emphasize language, numbers, colors, music, and rhythm are particularly effective. There is substantial biological, clinical, and classroom research that supports the conclusion that physical education plays an integral role in boosting cognition, spatial perception, language, attention, emotion, and decision making skills. Enrolling children in movement classes gives them a wonderful opportunity to build those all-important pathways in the brain, while they are playing and having fun! |
