Heather's Matrix

Heather's Matrix

Introduction

It is common for parents to reprimand their children for touching things in their surroundings. Children are curious by nature and, therefore, they touch the things around them because it is a natural way of satiating their curiosity. Hence, they interact with different objects and learn about them by applying all their senses. From an educator's point of view, encouraging this habit among children can prove to be pivotal in their learning of the environment. The habit of touching objects to educate oneself about his surroundings is known as kinesthetic learning. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether incorporating gross kinesthetic activities into the daily kindergarten routine will increase academic achievement in language arts as checked by DIBELS.

Research Question

Will incorporating gross kinesthetic activities into the daily kindergarten routine increase academic achievement in language arts as assessed by (DIBELS)?

Hypothesis

50% of kindergarten students who receive daily gross motor kinesthetic learning activities that focus on language arts will gain 25% more knowledge in phonological awareness, word recognition and an increased reading ability as assessed by Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills

Discussion

Over the years, numerous researchers have been conducted in order to assess the efficacy of kinesthetic activities in helping children develop stronger phonological awareness, word recognition and reading skills. In “Motor skills, attention and academic achievements - An intervention study in school years 1-3”, the author studies the effects of extending motor training and physical education on the motor skills of participant children studying in the first, second, and third grade. The study examines the cognition and attention skills of the children over a three year period, using two different intervention groups that are based on motor training and physical activity. Using a hypothetic-deductive method, the study confirms that there is a strong link between kinesthetic activities and improved learning skills, particularly with regards to motor training and physical activity. However, that children develop improved attention as a result of kinesthetic activities cannot be confirmed. For example, while the students demonstrated better attention in years 1 and 2, there was a serious and unmistakable attention deficit in year 3. Therefore, the hypothesis could not be proved effectively.

The article regarding teaching in different curriculum follows similar guidelines in its exploration of the effects of kinesthetic activities on the development of motor training and physical activity in young children. In this particular study, children between the ages of 4 and 6 were selected for an experiment. The children were assigned to language-enriched physical activity interventions and physical activity interventions. The motor skill and language-based performances of the selected children were measured prior to the test, and right after the intervention had concluded. These skills were also measured immediately after a 3-month period. The results of the study were conclusive as they highlighted a significant change in the development of motor and language skills of participants. In fact, the results proved that educators could add language instructions to lessons on physical education without worrying about whether it would demand increased time ...