It is contradictory that we encourage children to do more physical activity and that on the other we ask them to be almost all the school day sitting at a desk, right? Although they have moments to practice sports and recreation where they also move, most of the day they are sitting in class. Still
It's almost a mantra in class: "sitting and still." As if sitting still with your head down is a guarantee that children are learning. There are schools that are launching programs for children to complete brief sessions of movement in the classrooms. And works. Children focus more and learn better. They don't need to be quiet in class to learn.
Move more to learn better
Drink short breaks of movement throughout the day It helps children to be more attentive in class, and therefore, improves their learning. Performing brief exercises in the classroom for 3-5 minutes increases concentration, improves behavior and attention.
It is not a novelty that physical exercise improves brain function in children. Children who exercise frequently have an improvement in cognitive performance and brain health compared to children who do not practice physical activity.
Increasingly, schools are implementing programs to involve body movement in classes. As Brian Gatens, superintendent of the Emerson schools in New Jersey, told NYTimes, "we have found that the active time needed to invigorate your brain makes all those moments of stillness more productive."
It is going against human nature by asking children to be still and quiet all the time.A report by the American National Academy of Sciences notes that children who are more active "show more attention, have faster cognitive processing and perform better on standardized academic tests than less active children."
Also, a study published in January by Lund University in Sweden shows that students who have physical education every day, especially boys, do better in school.
The movement is part of the essence of every child. They need to move and experiment to learn. Let us also remember that there are kinesthetic children who learn best through movement and bodily experiences, to whom traditional learning to remain seated all day does not help them much.
“Children should not be sitting all day absorbing information,” says Steve Boyle, one of the co-founders of the National Association of Physical Literacy, whose goal is to bring body movement to schools.
Dynamic learning
Some schools in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ireland and Australia have launched the BrainErgizers program (something like brain energizers), of which there is a free version, consisting of a series of videos of three to five minutes long with which children perform short exercises.
They include rapid warming and then incorporate exercise with movements of different sports such as baseball, basketball and triathlon. In the end, they do a relaxation exercise. Thus, three to five times a day.
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A shared publication of Practical Primary Teacher (@practicalprimaryteacher) on May 2, 2016 at 10:03 PDT
Another similar program is GoNoodle. They are videos of movement to do at home or at school that seeks to entertain children with exercises for running, jumping, stretching, dancing and the practice of mindfulnes.
The movement would be like the "gasoline" of the brain. And children do not have a large reserve tank; they soon use up the gasoline they consume. Therefore, they need to be in motion longer to be able to better assimilate learning.
