The
National EYFS Conference
Sue Heron, training co-ordinator and Paediatric Physiotherapist went
to The National EYFS conference in London last week, some truly inspiring
speakers, highlighting the three core areas of learning, emotional personal and
social development, physical development and communication and language (see
below). A strong theme was the importance of play both inside and outside and
generally getting children moving to learn. Over a series of blogs I plan to
discuss my highlights of the educational conference, how they relate to Tatty
Bumpkin and my practice as a specialist paediatric physiotherapist.
Naturally I was drawn to Jan White’s passionate talk on
‘Supporting Physical Development as A Prime Area of Learning’. Jan spoke of the
joy of movement and how it underpins not only physical health but also mental
health and wellbeing, the latter being a phrase very much in the public
consciousness at the moment. For example see the Daily Mail of why “Fit is the new Rich!” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2137023/Why-FIT-new-rich-Who-cares-earn-car-drive-Now-youre-youve-run-marathon-Sahara-.html Okay, maybe
it takes the point a bit far, but it is interesting how the article discusses
‘fitness is the new status symbol’. Maybe in this increasingly material world
we are starting to realise that we need more than possessions to define
ourselves.
Physical development and movement, however, as Jan highlighted in
her talk, mean so much more to a young child and current research is now demonstrating
that being ‘on the move’ helps the learning process.
One theory suggests that movement in the early years helps the
brain to initially develop new pathways or connections between brain cells and
then to further organise them (1). In the developing foetus, these connections
(synapses) are generally seen from the 23rd week after conception with their peak
production being in the first year after birth (2). Crucially their
proliferation seems to be especially high when children are engaged in active
play (1). This early mass generation of synapses is then followed by a
reduction of the connections into fewer favoured pathways. This pruning process
is highly dependent on experience and serves as the basis of much of the
learning (3).
Think of the
emergence of sheep tracks in a pasture. In the first few days, on fresh pasture
the sheep move around making many tracks, up and down the hills, to the water
and feed troughs. As the summer wears on the shortest, or perhaps the most bounteous
routes, are favoured, so that by the end of the summer a few well-worn tracks
are left crossing the fields. Remember, these tracks were created and then
organised into ‘highways’ by the sheep moving around - no movement no tracks!
Another important effect of movement on learning, is through its
role on shaping our ‘levels of alertness’ and hence our ability to pay
attention. Studies have found that straight after active play, children are
more attentive in the classroom. This could be due in part to having had a
chance to ‘let off steam’ but it could also the result of movement helping the
child to regulate or control their ‘state of alertness’ (1).
Our ‘state of alertness’ is critical for leaning; we all know that
when we are hyper-alert, maybe very
anxious or excited, our minds are not open to learning a complex task,
similarly when we are bored or drowsy we find it hard to tackle new problems.
However, through moving, we have a strategy to either calm or energise
ourselves, depending on our need at that time and the task we have to do. We
make ourselves ‘ready to learn’.
Jan highlighted
the importance of movement in our emotional and language development. Through a
video clip she demonstrated how young child bonded with their key worker whilst
they were running up a slope together, the child actually watching their carer’s
legs and taking joy from the fact that his were moving in the same way!
Apparently, boys especially bond through moving together. This highlights the
importance not only of encouraging our children to move but also us moving with
our children!
Tatty Bumpkin & Sue & class
meeting ‘dog’
Jan then
demonstrated how movement relates to communication ‘Movement is our first and
most enduring language’. This was
brought home to us though a game demonstrating how we use movement words to
covey meaning. How many can you get?
Tatty Bumpkin ‘skips a step’ Frog ‘jumps to conclusions'
In short: Movement not only ignites a child’s curiosity it builds their capacity to learn.
References:
1 1. Center For For
Early Childhood Education. Learning to
Move and Moving to Learn http://www.aahperd.org/headstartbodystart/activityresources/upload/Learning-to-Move-brief-final.pdf
2 2. Molliver, Kostovic, & Van der
Loos, (1973), in Brain Development and
the Role
of Experience in the Early Years . A. Tierney,
C. Nelson
3 3. Brain
Development and the Role of Experience in the Early Years . A. Tierney, C. Nelson
http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/30-2_Tierney.pdf?docID=10001
No comments:
Post a Comment