“If our brains are generally on autopilot as a way to conserve energy, learning new ideas demands energy that must be summoned from our bodies.”

“Our bodies, including our heads, are in a constant state of dynamic interrelation, just like people within a society, and organisms within an environment, and stars within a galaxy.”

– Susan Hrach, Author, Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning.

Dr. Hrach argues that because brains are housed within bodies and students presumably use their brains to learn, tending to the needs of the body may enhance student learning. The implications of this simple argument are that we should attend to the physical space where we meet our on-the-ground students, that we take these classes outdoors when possible, that we infuse learning with sensory experiences, that we build movement into our classroom time, and that we use this classroom-based movement to help develop relationships among students.

It is these last two items that I would like to consider in this teaching tip. How can we build movement into our on-ground classes?

One technique that my students have responded well to in the past involves injecting movement into class discussions. This might look like a “snowball” version of a think-pair-share discussion. Two students next to each other discuss the prompt first, then are charged with getting up, crossing the classroom, and finding another pair of students and comparing and contrasting the discussion points made.

Another technique is called “stir the classroom” where discussion groups of four are numbered 1-4 and then after a short period of discussion time, the #1s all stand and rotate to the group to the left.

Another example are versions of “gallery walks,” where discussion prompts are placed around the room on whiteboards, chalkboards, giant sticky notes, or posterboards. Students are encouraged to mingle around the room and contribute their thoughts on several of these prompts.

Another technique I have used is a movement-version of “This or That” where students stand up and move to one side of the room or the other based on their opinion on various issues. Cult of Pedagogy’s author Jennifer Gonzalez has great slides you can purchase to facilitate this sort of discussion – they are set up as icebreaker questions but you can modify the slides to represent more intellectual questions. When I do so, I usually have students discuss among themselves first with someone on their side of the room/debate – and subsequently cross the room to find someone they disagree with to discuss.

Having students stand up and get their blood flowing can reawaken the sleepy, energize the bored, and be sure students discuss with more than the two people next to them day after day.

Resources:

Hrach, Susan. Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning. West Virginia University Press, 2021. CTL Instructional Strategies from Oregon State University CTL Cult of Pedagogy

Contributor:
Sarah Rose Cavanagh
Senior Associate Director for Teaching & Learning, 
Center for Faculty Excellence
Associate Professor of Practice, Psychology 
Simmons University