AllKinestheticLearners

Targeting the physical or kinesthetic modality needs to be more than just allowing students to get up and walk around the room. True kinesthetic teaching needs to have students interact with the content in a meaningful, kinesthetic way. Kinesthetic teaching provides the physical learner the opportunity to think, organize, express, and analyze information through movement or by physically interacting with the information. Physical learning can engage either fine motor skills or gross motor skills.

[|The Washington Post carried an article describing how all students need to move around and not just be passive in class all day.]. Just moving around isn't enough for kinesthetic learners, it has to be about being involved in the content in a kinesthetic way.

__**Other Physical Learning Activities**__
 * **"Traditional" Learning Activity** || **Same Learning Result Achieved in a "Physical" Way** ||
 * Create a Venn Diagram or give students a pre-made Venn Diagram and have them "fill it in"--write in the answers. || Students write each idea/concept/attribute on a sticky note (small notes for individuals or partners, larger notes for class Venn Diagram) which allows for ideas to be physically separated/compartmentalized. Then place the sticky note in the correct area of the Venn Diagram. Sticky notes also allow for easy movement of ideas. Put the sticky note in the first area; evaluate it; try it in the next area; evaluate it; put it in the third area; evaluate it; determine which was the most appropriate; move the sticky note to its final area. ||
 * Practice vocabulary words and definitions from a list of vocabulary words by having someone read aloud the definition to a vocabulary word and partner/class tries to guess the word || Someone acts out (charades) the definition to a vocabulary word and partner/class tries to guess the word. //(In my personal experience, verbal learners tend to play charades with clues about the words themselves (how many syllables, "sounds like," etc.) while kinesthetic learners tend to act out the meaning of the word or phrase.)// ||
 * Draw a line on paper to connect the right answers: match the word to the definition, match the date to the historical event, match the vocabulary word to the picture/diagram || Play Memory (Concentration) with cards that have the words/definitions, dates/historical events, vocabulary word/diagram on them. Or for students who can't "remember"--just allowing them to physically move the information around, match cards and set them aside, use the process of elimination to determine the last "matches". ||
 * Identify the parts of speech; grammar || Diagramming sentences is a great way for students to physically interact with grammar. They *physically* take apart a sentence. (Diagramming is also good for logical.) If you can use magnet words to move them around, even better. ||
 * Write a description of the flow of blood through the heart (aorta, chambers, vein, valve, etc.) || Write the name of each part on an index card. (Bonus for the visual learner: Color code them by writing in red for parts carrying oxygenated blood, writing the words in blue for parts carrying not oxygenated blood, and half red/ half blue for transition parts.) Allow students to lay out the cards in order. This could even be used as a summative assessment. Students call the teacher over for her to "check for understanding" when they're done. //[Thank you to Patty Veayo, science teacher at Mt. Blue Middle School, whom I actually observed doing this in her class.]// ||
 * Practicing addition or subtraction with trading (or even understanding place value) with problems on a worksheet || Teach students about using an abacus and allow them to use it when solving the problems. It's okay if they don't mark the trades (the cross out and borrow) on paper because they're physically interacting with the trades on the abacus. Many a shop in Chinatown in San Francisco still uses an abacus instead of a cash register. It's a skill and definitely makes math a "hands-on" activity. ||
 * Teach the formula rate = distance/time and then solve word problems || Mark off a 20 foot distance on the floor. Teams of students walk the 20 feet at a fast, medium, or slow rate and time themselves to calculate their rate. After gathering several rounds of data, have teams answer problems such as "What was the rate that you walked 20 feet? How long would it take you to walk 200 feet if you kept the same rate?" //[Thank you to Sean Cabaniss, Fall 2013// //Block 1, who actually did this in his Practicum mentor's class.]// ||
 * build a model
 * Total Physical Response (TPR) in foreign language
 * use manipulatives in math
 * give a demonstration
 * act it out, pantomime
 * use memory techniques that require movement such as hand gestures (think YMCA)
 * engage in body demonstrations where a motion means a concept
 * tap out syllables or tap to determine poetic style (iambic pentameter)
 * take discovery walks

__**Not as Directly Related to the Learning But Better than Nothing**__
 * the act of writing (taking notes, making your own vocabulary cards, tracing the letters) is sometimes effective for kinesthetic learners
 * use flash cards -- this can be effective when the kinesthetic learner has made the cards him/herself and especially when the learner gets to be the one who physically handles the flash cards (puts the old one at the bottom of the stack, etc.)
 * move from one center to another center OR have a stack of word problems/questions in the middle of the room with one question per card...students get up to go pick a card, go back to their seat to complete it, take the card back to the stack and get a new one (pretty weak for having kinesthetic learners interact with content but it does allow students to physically "move on" to the next activity and everyone can benefit from the chance to get the blood flowing)
 * clap, snap (clap out spelling words - vowels clap hands in the air, consonants clap on lap)
 * take a dance break
 * sing songs with motions