This week's article explores whether combining physical movement with mathematics instruction can increase both student engagement and physical activity levels. Riley et al. (2017) present compelling evidence for this approach through the EASY Minds Program. During a six-week intervention, 4 teachers and 66 students in Australia participated in lessons that integrated physical activity with mathematics. This qualitative study involved interviews with teachers and focus groups with students to explore their perceptions and experiences after participation. Before lessons were designed and implemented, teachers received one day of training and were encouraged to be creative in incorporating physical activity within mathematics instruction. The results clearly demonstrated that the approach was highly beneficial. Most students reported more time on task, a deeper understanding of concepts, and more enjoyment. Teachers also commented that lessons were more enjoyable for both themselves and their students. The lessons in this project were conceived within the framework of the NSW Quality Teaching model, in which lessons “promote high levels of intellectual quality, establish a quality learning environment and generate significance by making learning meaningful for students” (p.1656). This study suggests that movement-based mathematics instruction can address both declining student engagement in mathematics and insufficient physical activity levels in schools.
A moment to note: teachers in this study received one day of professional development, along with a bag of goodies—stopwatches, tape measures, bean bags, all the things they'd need to actually do this. And honestly? That's huge. Because here's what usually happens at PD: we get excited about some new idea, and then we go back to our classrooms and realize we have no clue how to actually make it happen. Or worse, we feel like we're doing everything wrong because there's so much newness coming at us all at once.
But giving teachers actual resources—a literal bag of gear—takes some of the time burden off, and I can't stress this enough. I get 120 minutes of prep time a week, and the rest of the time I'm with tiny humans who need my attention constantly. I don't have time to reinvent the wheel, even though that's precisely what I long to do. So any scaffolding—like that bag of gear—makes it way more likely I'll actually embrace the change.
Here's the other cool part: teachers were given just a few sample lessons, and that was by design. At first I thought, wait, don't we want the whole thing prescribed and written out? But then I realized—being creative is a joy in itself. Just like our students take more ownership when they come up with ideas, we teachers feel pride when we design something that came from our own understanding. That creativity gets lost when we're trying to plan a lesson plan in every subject area. It doesn't have to be innovation all the time in everything, but purposeful innovation some of the time increases our ownership and makes us want to work harder.
This article feels like the antithesis of negative math experiences that are still so pervasive in our schools. This contrast hit me hard this week when I went to the high school as a parent, and one of the vice-principals started talking about math by saying, “I know that many of us don’t like math and have had negative math experiences, and I promised the math teachers I wouldn’t make this painful.” Then he went on to describe AP math: "If your kid eats, breathes, sleeps, and is always excited about math, then this could be the program for them."
That framing troubled me. My eldest child is taking Pre-Calc 12 this year and plans to continue with Calculus—he doesn't eat, sleep, and breathe math, but he's always felt a sense of pride in being able to do well in it. The problem is the attitude that both parents and teachers have about math as this dry, boring subject that's just pencil and paper.
The idea that we could increase enjoyment and participation in math by getting outside and moving our bodies? This is what I’m passionate about. It reminds me of the Math and Mingle event I organized in September—outdoor stations, games, weaving, obstacle courses– all math. As families rotated through activities, many didn’t even recognize they were doing math, and I think that’s doing a disservice. We need to engage families and students around what math is and can be. Yes, it needs to be balanced with pencil and paper, but we need to do a better job of increasing the joy.
There's this quote from a student that connected with me so much: "EASY Minds stands for its name. It lets your mind relax and go through things, as you're doing fitness, or you're doing something else that you actually like and you're mixing it with mathematics. That just makes it a whole lot different to what we normally do" (p. 1662).
This reminded me of memorizing long monologues for theatre. One of the tricks is to be busy doing something else—folding laundry, cooking, whatever—because when your body is occupied with a familiar task, your mind relaxes and the words flow more naturally. The same principle applies here: when students’ bodies are engaged in movement, their minds may actually be freer to grapple with mathematical concepts. The key is: relax, relax, relax. Joy matters for everyone–for the student and for the teacher. I can’t wait to give some outdoor activities a try with my grade threes.
What small change could you make to bring movement or joy into your math teaching–even just once this week?
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I really appreciated your reflection about the “bag of goodies.” That detail hit me when I read this article, and honestly, in my new role leading numeracy pro-d in the district, it feels like something I need to take seriously. Inspiration alone isn’t enough. If we want teachers to actually try something new, we need to make it easier for them.
ReplyDeletePrep time is limited. Energy is limited. I appreciate after I give an in-service, when teachers invite me into their classrooms to model or co-teach a lesson. Seeing it with their own students makes it feel doable. It’s not just another idea floating in the air.
I’m also planning a fact fluency book club and hoping to provide bins with all the materials needed to play the games from the book. Reading this article just reinforced for me how important that is. Time and supplies really matter.
As for your question about one small change this week, I’m lucky to be working with a class using Youcubed’s Basketball Data project. The students are actually practicing basketball moves before we watch part of a game and collect stats. They then get to work on a project decided on a GOAT in a sport of their choice, using stats to back up their choice - think Messi vs Ronaldo. This is the 3rd grade 6 class I've done this project with and they all have so much fun doing it:)
Even something as simple as letting students stand up, walk around, or step away from their desks can change the energy of a math lesson, especially for younger learners. I’ve seen teachers ask students who are having trouble focusing to take a short walk or “shake it out,” and it often helps them re-engage. I think small movement changes like a math scavenger hunt or stations around the classroom seem like a nice way to bring movement and joy into math without completely restructuring the lesson.
ReplyDeleteI really like your question about one small thing to add in a week to utilize movement with mathematics. In my role as numeracy support in my district, this week I was putting together a series of short activities related to circles for Pi Day. My stretch for myself was ensuring there was movement in some of the activities in addition to cross-curricular integration.
ReplyDeleteThe movement idea that really stuck with me, was around circle geometry. The standard if often looking at pi, radius, circumference, and diameter and having students use a formula to find the unknown value. Instead, the activity I am suggesting is asking students to make a perfect circle outside and give them items like cones, skipping ropes, meter sticks and other tools to allow them to explore what a circle really is and experience it!