by admin | May 15, 2019 | Blogroll
Throughout this blog series, we’ve looked at how embodied education can support your student in myriad ways, leading to improved behavior and better physical and mental health. For our parents of young students, we wanted to look today at how embodied education principles can even support early language development!
Rhythm + Beat
Studies are looking at the link between music and language. Interestingly, they are finding that both rhythm and beat are linked to language skill ability. In one study, researchers found that teenagers who struggled to maintain rhythm also tended to struggle in their language abilities. Dr. Kraus (of the Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University) was involved with this study, and stated to BBC News that “in both speech and music, rhythm provides a temporal map with signposts to the most likely locations of meaningful input”¹. So, if your child develops a good grasp of rhythm, this will serve them well as they learn both language and music!
We can easily find the roots of the rhythm-language connection in early language development. Young children who are learning language are establishing “phonemic awareness”. This is an awareness that words, like beats, are discrete sounds. Music + movement and dance camps help children build these essential connections in a fun, accessible way.
Intentional Sensory Activities
Another way to support your child’s language development is by incorporating sensory activities. Experts have long been encouraging sensory activities for language learners because of how helpful movement is in developing language connections. In fact, “recent research demonstrates that similar brain areas are involved in constructing the meaning from linguistic and gestural input”².
So, when you constructively use gestures, there’s a good chance your gestures are helping your child make linguistic meanings, too. Intentional sensory activities can include everything from open-ended toys to music and movement dance and theater classes.
Are you interested in theater or dance camps for your child? If so, check out our Summer 2019 camps and classes to support your language learner. We now have offerings at both our Cedar Creek and South Olathe locations! Learn more here.
Sources:
¹https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24124158
²https://www.mpi.nl/q-a/questions-and-answers/what-is-the-connection-between-movement-and-language
by admin | May 3, 2019 | Blogroll
Earlier in this series, we talked about how embodied education positively influences both physical health and mental health. Because of this, it’s unsurprising that embodied learning is also linked with improved behavior! Here are three ways that embodied learning opportunities, such as improv classes and theater involvement, lead to better behavior in children.
Adaptability
Drama classes require students to take on the characteristics of the characters they play. It also drives them to adapt to the people around them. Everyone works together toward a common goal. Drama encourages students to work toward this goal with self-possession and growing skill.
On a more specific level, improv theater classes don’t just school students in adaptability and cooperation. They also help children become more flexible problem solvers. Each scene children play out brings with it new challenges to solve creatively. This serves as excellent practice for situations students encounter later in life.
Confidence
The performative nature of theater is wonderfully structured to help build confidence in students. Having to face any fear of being onstage or performing is often just the thing that some anxious students need to overcome their fears.
Studies also show that drama classes improve communication with others, especially for shy students, or children prone to anxiety¹. Between defeating fears of the limelight and improving communication with others, theater is an excellent way to help instill confidence in students.
Empathy
Earlier, we established that drama requires students to adapt their mannerisms to the characters they play. To achieve a deeper level of theatric proficiency, students need to really get inside their characters’ minds – to understand their characters beyond surface appearances. For this reason, drama classes help students develop empathy. For the rest of their lives, students will need the capacity to look from different perspectives. Improv classes and theater activities help build this capacity in a fun, memorable way.
Are you interested in enrolling your student at one of our Olathe, KS locations? Click here to find out more about current drama class offerings and enrollment.
¹https://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/theater-and-arts/fl-fea-sfp-theater-camps-20170222-story.html
by admin | Apr 24, 2019 | Blogroll
Earlier in this series, we talked about how embodied education positively impacts mental health. In this article, we want to focus on how an embodied philosophy of learning can positively impact physical health, too. Whether your student is interested in dance classes or acting classes, an embodied arts education provides numerous opportunities to build healthier bodies.
Dance Class Benefits
Different types of dance will have different impacts on student bodies. However, most dance disciplines share at least a few benefits. Better Health¹ states that dance lessons:
- Improve muscle tone + overall strength
- Develop essential motor skills
- Improve cardiovascular fitness
- Result in better coordination, balance, and spatial awareness
Recall also that various types of dance will work various parts of the body. For example, ballet classes may use a completely different set of muscle groups than hip-hop classes will. Engaging with different types of dance will help students’ bodies engage with different muscle groups and help improve all of them, over time.
Theater Class Benefits
Acting classes can also be a helpful, productive physical experience. In theater, students learn to embody different characters and accomplish different scenes. Recently, researchers studied whether theater could be used to help with students who experience either a type of weight disorder or a level of body dysmorphia. They found that participation in theater lead to “positive changes in peer communication, improved body satisfaction, increased resilience to comments from others, [and] may be an effective strategy for prevention of weight-related disorders”². So, the benefits of theater for physical well-being may not be as immediately obvious as dance. But they may be longer-lasting and have deeper impact overall.
Are you interested in enrolling your student in theater or dance classes at one of our Olathe, KS locations? Click here to find out more about current class offerings and enrollment.
Sources:
¹https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/dance-health-benefits
²https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443982
by admin | Apr 17, 2019 | Blogroll
Our society emphasizes helping children develop in such a way that they meet standardized measures of achievement. As they reach school age, these measures are increasingly cognitive in nature. But by overemphasizing a heady sort of learning, we may be missing out on embodied learning experiences that boost mental strength even more than traditional methods could!
Promotes Body Sense Knowledge
Our brains are responsible for sensing a need for, then carrying out, essential bodily functions. However, it’s important for our brains to learn how to do this kind of “body sense” through intentional activity. Psychology Today writes that “body sense is easily lost while growing up in technological societies with an emphasis on in-the-head thinking. This is because body sense is a skill, like math and reading, and must be actively maintained, cultivated, taught, and renewed to sustain well-being.”¹ Dance classes are an effective and fun way to cultivate this skill. In dance, your brain is required to make many connections across all parts of the body. Dancing actually builds neural connections as it strengthens and improves muscle, skill, and coordination.
Prevents Mental Health Symptoms
Research is finding that consistent movement helps decrease incidence of negative mental health symptoms², like depression and anxiety. Dance and exercise lead to the release of healthy hormones in the body, regulating essential systems and promoting overall balance. By enrolling in dance lessons, students can enjoy the excitement of dance experience while resting assured that they are making healthy choices for their future mental health.
Improves Overall Cognitive Health
The benefits of dance classes for mental health aren’t just a future investment. They have demonstrably positive effects on the brain right away. For example, studies find that even in practicing synchronized movements (movements integral to choreographed dance routines), subjects show improved recall abilities, better self-esteem, and even a greater aptitude to enjoy the other people that were moving with them.³
Are you interested in enrolling your student at either our Cedar Creek or South Olathe, KS locations? Click here to find out more about current dance class offerings and enrollment.
Sources:
¹https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/body-sense/200910/embodied-education
²http://time.com/4624768/exercise-depression-kids/
³https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-simply-moving-benefits-your-mental-health-201603289350
by admin | Apr 15, 2019 | Blogroll
The dominant view of education, at least for the last century or so, has had a strong emphasis on disciplining the mind. Increasingly, research is indicating that a holistic, “embodied” learning experience may be more beneficial for students who truly want to learn. Enter the emerging phrase “embodied education”.
About Embodied Education
An embodied education involves learning with more than just a mind – it involves a kinesthetic, body-learning, too. Psychology Today writes that “thought processes… can be constricted in a constricted body”¹. Toward counteracting constricted thoughts, embodied learning aims to incorporate movement, or, intentional motions that will solidify learning concepts.
Implementing Embodied Education
Educators are finding ways to apply embodiment to more traditionally cerebral disciplines, like math or reading. But researchers are also finding that engaging in fully-body learning as an extra-curricular activity can dramatically help develop broader skills that students need in the classroom.
For example, let’s say a student gets involved in acting classes as an extracurricular activity. Drama has amazing benefits for developing a kind of cognitive flexibility that’s essential for learning all kinds of subjects. One researcher writes that “drama as a learning medium…[allows] young children [to] actively gain skills in dialogue, collaboration, and creative problem solving by collectively pretending…”². By developing these skills that allow students to connect with their instructor or the material, they are more likely to retain the information.
Similarly, dance classes can accomplish many levels of learning at once. Attila³ theorizes that dance as embodied education achieves the following things (beyond learning actual dance):
- negotiation
- decision-making
- opinion-stating
- demonstrating own ideas
- performing difference
- appreciating diversity
Overall, students have much to gain by implementing embodied activities to supplement learning. If you are interested in enrolling your child at one of our Olathe, KS locations, let us know! We are offering some exciting acting classes and dance camps for our 2019 summer term – learn more here.
Sources:
¹https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/body-sense/200910/embodied-education
²https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10632913.2016.1244780
³https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3s7118mr#main
by admin | Apr 2, 2019 | Blogroll
Music classes benefit students well beyond actual musical expertise. Earlier in this series, we’ve talked about how studying music can teach everything from motor skills to life skills. Today, we specifically want to focus on how music classes (especially musical theater classes) can help teach students valuable social skills.
Building Friendships
One of the more overt benefits of musical theater classes is that they offer students the opportunity to build friendships. There’s plenty of group interaction, all revolving around this shared interest in theater. After all, what better time to make a friend than when you’re both trying to navigate a new, exciting experience together?
Overcoming Obstacles
Another way that music classes can develop social skills is in the fact that everyone is working toward a common goal. Students are practicing everything from cooperation to problem solving skills together. As they watch others, they are also learning that nobody is perfect. This grows in students the valuable knowledge that everyone has room to improve.
Playing Their Part
Learning how to be around others can result in friendships and a mutual sense of “me too!”. It’s equally likely that learning to overcome obstacles together may give students a chance to exercise patience and tolerance with one another. (What more fun opportunity to exercise these qualities than in a light-hearted musical theater class?) Finally, as students learn how to fill their roles in each musical theater performance, they are gifted with the knowledge that individuals have a part to play in the whole. While simple, this is an essential concept to social skills that serves students well beyond their music class experiences.
Supporting Your Student: Is your student over-the-moon enthusiastic about musical theater? Seeking out live theater events locally is a great way to encourage their passion and to bond over shared experiences. Additionally, it provides great opportunities for constructive conversation. What stood out? What made the performances work? Talking about these things can get your student thinking about how to improve their own musical theater skills.
Are you interested in enrolling your child in music classes at either our Cedar Creek or our South Olathe, KS locations? Click here to find out more about current class offerings and enrollment.
