Movement Strategies for meaningful engagement in embodied learning. Deliberately attentive approaches to scholarship & pedagogy

Movement Strategies for meaningful engagement in embodied learning Deliberately attentive approaches to scholarship & pedagogy

The Story So far. Embedded Curriculum: activities based in observation of dominances and gaps in movement repertoire, eg, midline crossing, firm & sustained movement qualities, unstable and highly absorptive surfaces, backward directions, high and low levels, intense gross motor activity, time and space containers, low stim environment (lights, patterns, noise, odours)

Embedded Curriculum Embedding the movement patterns that need attention. Example: Midline Crossing Typically, children begin midline crossing as infants (e.g., two hands grabbing one foot) and continue on with thousands of repetitions over the years. With an embedded curricular strategy..

Embedded Curriculum, cont d. we can set an environment where midline crossing happens regardless of the activity that is scheduled. We cannot expect teens and TAY to engage in high repetition of midline crossing on demand or command. Instead, we must make it inevitable and unavoidable within the activity they are doing.

Embedded Curriculum, cont d Examples include pulling with two hands on a rope or pushing with two hands on a stick or deliberate cross body reaching for objects or cross body striking or arm swinging. In this way midline crossing is embedded and does not have to be requested.

So far.. Movement Education concepts, eg, body, space, effort quality and relationships with objects and others Conceptual learning and maximizing the stimulus value of the learning materials ( eg, showing connections across contexts )

Movement Education.. is based on the premises that there are overarching themes of the moving body BODY, SPACE, QUALITY, (EFFORT), and RELATIONSHIP which are always present, regardless of the movers, the context, or the activity. These existential movement themes allow the teacher to plan activities that are inclusive, i.e., which operate at a conceptual planning level.

Movement Categories Our approach is based in activity contexts and uses a spectrum of dimensions of movement, all of which can relate to each other in scaffolded, progressive, and/or sequential ways. These dimensions are: GAMES SKILLS, FITNESS AND CONDITIONING, GROSS MOTOR SKILLS, BODY MANAGEMENT SKILLS, FINE MOTOR SKILLS, SENSORIMOTOR DEVELOPMENT

So far. Station based pedagogy, eg, breaking down skills into simpler components and chaining them together progressively in a series of activities embedded in one activity station Blending the station-based activity with carefully phrased, open ended tasks (ie, tasks that can have more than one correct response) Narrating activity as it unfolds with keywords or cues

So far. Motor milestones, eg, using the developmental milestones of the first 12 months as guidelines for baseline or fundamental movement patterns Using other movement fundamentals as loose guidelines for ongoing progress

Station Based Pedagogy Station Based Pedagogy (SBP) is an approach to learning and teaching based in task breakdown and distributed practice. A basic skill that can be more easily learned in its entirety can be practiced at a station designed specifically for that skill. A more complex skill that presents challenges can be broken down into smaller elements or components and each element or component can be practiced at its own station, allowing for greater overall practice of a skill that would be more elusive if practiced in entirety only. A basic or more complex skill that requires more elaboration of difficulty can be practiced at stations devoted to increased challenge and/or variation on the skill.

So far.. Working with phenomenological and semiotic orientations, eg, attempting to imagine the physical world from an embodied (insider s) perspective. Behavior/comportment/posture/gesture seen as meaningful engagement with the world (as opposed to seeing it only as a problem in itself)

Some new developments Parallel curriculum- skills that have to be learned to accompany things a person wants to do (eg., bus ride, hygiene, carrying own stuff) Buddy pedagogy- 2 instructors & 1 learner; show, replace, repeat; change places in regular rotation Social roles & interactive media

and other considerations Threshold concepts/motor patterns(ie, necessary for cumulative progression) Contextualized sequencing Task breakdown Station construction

A sample instructor preparation training activity Choose a concept or skill Situate it developmentally Break it down into smaller components Create a station with 2-4 miniactivities that contribute to multiple practices of a whole skill

Discussion and Wrap up Q&A Thanks for your participation mconnolly@brocku.ca

References Embedded Curriculum Connolly,M. and Craig, T. ( 1999 ) Implementing a least restrictive environment in a movement education camp for children and youth with ASD. Bridging the divide: disability in the new millennium. Disability Studies Quarterly,19,1.( published in Fall, 2000) Connolly,M. ( 2000), Implementing an invisible curriculum in movement education programs for adults, youth and children with ASD. Proceedings. NAFAPA conference New Orleans, LA. November. Connolly, M. (2008) The remarkable logic of autism: Developing and describing an embedded curriculum based in semiotic phenomenology. British Journal of Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, Vol. 2, No. 2, 239-256. Station Based pedagogy Connolly, M.( 2004) Bridging the divide across cognitive and human sciences frameworks: implications and applications. NAFAPA conference. Lakehead University. Thunder Bay, Ontario.October.

References Connolly, M.(2010) Constructing a curriculum of place: embedding meaningful movement in mundane activities for children and youth with ASD. In Lester Embree, Michael Barber, & Thomas J. Nenon ( Eds) Phenomenology 2010, Volume 5: Selected Essays from North America, Part 2, Beyond Philosophy. pp. 107-134. Bucharest, Romania: Zeta Books (Paris Division) Connolly, M., Lappano, E., Morrison, H., Hogan, B., Lenius, A., Caione, M. ( 2013) Station Based Pedagogy-progressive part-whole learning using task breakdown, scaffolding, chaining and sequences. Unpublished Manuscript. St. Catharines: Brock University. Movement Categories Connolly, M.,( 1995) Phenomenology, physical education and special populations. Human Studies,18. 25-40. Connolly, M. and Craig, T.( 1997) Doing phenomenology in the wild: Bodily contingency and the politics of sensory integration. In the panel Erwin Strauss, Phenomenological Psychology. Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Conference and AGM. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.October.