Get Students Moving with Kinesthetic Learning

Because teachers need to know how to identify and adjust lessons to accommodate a variety of learning styles, teacher education programs usually offer at least one class in which they discuss the need for effectively educating kinesthetic learners. In some cases, prospective teachers may even be asked to design an original lesson to show that they are capable of teaching individuals with different learning needs. When they have their own classroom, student teachers will be expected to demonstrate that they can provide valuable, relevant instruction to every type of learner. As seasoned teachers know, it is essential to present information in a way that will allow every child to be successful. 

The Beauty of Kinesthetic Learning

While everyone learns in different ways, I find the kinesthetic learning method to be particularly useful. Kinesthetic learners have several defining characteristics, which include high levels of energy, acting out in class, trouble retaining long-term information, and impatience. If a teacher wants to meet the needs of this type of student, they have to ask themselves several questions:

• How do I incorporate aspects of kinesthetic learning in the classroom without disrupting the class?
• How do I meet someone's kinesthetic needs, while respecting other learning styles?
• Is kinesthetic learning actually beneficial?

The Benefits of Kinesthetic Learning

Kinesthetic techniques can be beneficial for all learners, as long as the methods are incorporated into the classroom as a regular teaching tool. These methods can have a positive effect on the restless, kinesthetic learner, and they have also been proven to be highly effective in urban settings, where agitation and restlessness tend to occur more frequently. If you aren't quite sure how to incorporate kinesthetic learning in your classroom, here are some suggestions.

• Create a hopscotch using tape at the entrance of the classroom, and have students hop through the squares as they learn their multiplication facts (or any memorization)
• Incorporate Reader’s Theater into your lessons
• Use hands-on activities as often as possible

How Whole Brain Teaching Works

You also might want to read about  Whole Brain Teaching. Whole Brain Teaching was created by Chris Biffle and is an easy way to incorporate movement in your classroom lessons. The idea is that by actively participating in the learning process, students will activate more receptors in the brain and tap into both hemispheres of their brains. Whole-brain learners are encouraged to draw the words they hear, make gestures when they talk in class, have animated discussions, and engage in call and response to help stimulate audio-memory receptors. Movement helps stimulate the entire brain and helps learners create a context in which the learning takes place.

Examples of Kinesthetic Methods

During a typical parts-of-speech lesson, I may have my class choose metaphors and similes from a bag and then act them out. I may also have them act out the four types of sentences; declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative. This method can be used with math as well. Have your young mathematicians act out word problems; this adds a visual and kinesthetic aspect that can help scholars understand what they are being asked.

The web is full of videos on Whole Brain Teaching, and while it may not suit your personal teaching style, it can open up new possibilities and aid you in developing the best practices to enhance learner outcomes. Here are some other lessons that incorporate kinesthetic learning methods.

Lessons Using Kinesthetic Methods:

Patterns of Communication

Pupils practice communicating using Morse Code. The lesson incorporates kinesthetic methods through the act of having to decipher the messages they receive.

Latitude and Longitude

This resource has scholars play a memory game and then locate various places on the globe using the lines of latitude and longitude. Playing games is a great and easy way to make learning more kinesthetic.