Working with kinesthetic learners

Hello everyone,

I think one of the biggest problems we have in managing academic classes is trying to figure out how to handle the kinesthetic learners.

These are the kids that have to touch everything; they are not necessarily hyperactive, but they think better on their feet, moving around, than they do sitting. They almost require movement or tactile contact in order to learn.

Some of them may also be above average in kinesthetic intelligence, or they may feel more comfortable in situations requiring movement rather than the traditional sitting still that academic teachers seem to prefer.

For PE teachers, dance teachers, and coaches, they're terrific. For math and English they can be difficult. (Science and history often require students to get up and do things, which are great ways of allowing kinesthetic learners to participate in their comfort zone.)

What do teachers do with the kinesthetics?

First, value their skills. The almost stereotypical battle between the English teacher and the athlete isn't good for either one. There's no reason why an academic teacher can't learn to appreciate a student's talents for athletics, dance, cheer, or other movement.

Second, look for excuses to have the entire class moving around occasionally. For many students, combining movement with cognition is essential. For the rest, the powerful associations that come from movement combined with learning are useful.

Some teachers use games to great effect; one teacher I knew combined sports activities with concept learning (it doesn't work with skill learning that I can think of); role playing is exceptionally effective in a wide variety of subjects; staged readings of almost anything.

There are classroom management tasks that kinesthetic learners are delighted to do. Let them write on the board for you, pass out papers, direct the clean up, set up labs.Suggestions and tricks aside, the point is that kinesthetic learning and kinesthetic intelligence ought to be valued, even outside the activities that demand them.

Jeff Combe