1st Edition
Kinaesthetic Learning in Early Childhood Exploring Theory and Practice for Educators
Strongly grounded in research and rich with practical examples for educators, this book demonstrates the importance and benefits of kinaesthetic learning in young children’s learning and development.
Kinaesthetic or hands-on active learning is extremely important for young children’s personal, social and cultural development. Without this kind of learning children may be at risk of poor behaviour, social development and academic learning outcomes. This book shares concrete examples of authentic kinaesthetic learning experiences, across different discipline areas, in a range of Early Childhood contexts. The chapters outline practical approaches to kinaesthetic learning in the classroom to help educators to engage young children, covering curriculum areas such as the arts, mathematics, literacy, digital technologies and English as a foreign language. These practical examples are supported by a range of research and theories related to the benefits of kinaesthetic learning for young children, as well as authentic classroom data.
Written by leading experts in the field, this book shares authentic, appropriate classroom strategies for implementing kinaesthetic learning with young children and will be essential reading for researchers as well as pre- and in-service educators.
1. The importance of kinaesthetic learning for early childhood
Georgina Barton and Susanne Garvis
2. Kinaesthetic learning: A systematic review in early childhood education contexts
Susanne Garvis, Georgina Barton and Anh Hai Le
3. Learning by doing: a self-narrative approach to children's experiential learning
Tina Yngvesson and Susanne Garvis
4. Practice-based approaches to kinaesthetic learning
Katrina Allegos, Anna Crozier, Helen Darrer, Jackie Dimattina, Suzanne Donaghey, Catherine Farrar, Amy Goodale, Charmian Harris, Georgie O’Meara and Susanne Garvis
5. A kinaesthetic approach to teaching mathematics education in the early years
Bin Wu and Wendy Goff
6. An investigation of the use of arts-based embodied learning in early years classrooms
Marthy Watson and Nicole Delaney
7. The body as an instrument of knowing: Kinaesthetic learning with and through the arts
Susan Chapman
8. Digital technologies and kinaesthetic learning for early years boys
Georgina Barton and Rebecca Trimble-Roles
9. Building a bridge: LEGO as a kinaesthetic tool to facilitate play-based learning in early childhood and beyond
Melissa Fanshawe, Monique Mandarakas, Melissa Cain, Marie Oddoux, Marc Angelier, Per Havgaard, Michelle Turner and Marie White
10. Embodied scaffolding and kinaesthetic learning in Finnish early childhood education
Jonna Kangas, Tuulikki Ukkonen-Mikkola and Heidi Harju-Luukkainen
11. Concluding comments
Susanne Garvis and Georgina Barton
Biography
Georgina Barton is a professor of literacies and pedagogy at the University of Southern Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Before being an academic, Georgina taught in schools for over 20 years including teaching English in South India. She has been an acting principal and a lead teacher in the areas of literacy and numeracy. Georgina also has extensive experience in teaching the arts in schools and universities and often utilises the arts to support students’ literacy learning outcomes.
Susanne Garvis is a professor at the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University. She is a specialist in Early Childhood education and has been involved with many national and international projects around policy, quality and learning with young children. Her most recent was a large meta-analysis exploring teacher qualifications and environmental quality. She has worked in many countries and currently lives in Australia.
'As this book consistently aims to provide the reader with varied research studies that promote the learning benefits of kinaesthetic education, so too does it simultaneously advocate for play-based early learning environments. A preschool or kindergarten teacher looking to reaffirm their use of hands-on learning and incorporate new ideas for it would gain insight into developing their practice from reading this book. Drawing from the detailed chapters, they could apply the myriad of ideas and strategies to content-related elements in their classrooms. This book would also serve as a good option in a pre-service setting to set a foundational understanding of early childhood theoretical concepts for students while increasing awareness of the importance of kinaesthetic learning in early childhood education.'
Lori Blake, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, Central Connecticut State University, USA.
