Fidgeting Helps Learning

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  Fidgeting Helps Learning Robert Seith | CWK Network
 
 
“If you go into those classrooms you see kids moving around and fidgeting and being more active and I think it does enhance their learning.”

– Carol Drummond, Ph.D., Psychologist –

  Related Information What Parents Need To Know Resources

Whether
he’s studying… reading… playing the piano… it’s
hard for 9-year-old Alex to just sit still.

“What I do is like, study a little, and then I get up and
go active a little,” he says.

For fidgety kids like Alex school can be a nightmare…

“The old school view of elementary school and middle school
is that you need to just sit quietly in your seat and pay attention,” says
Psychologist Carol Drummond, Ph.D.

But a new study of 150 grade school children in England found
that for some kids, learning improves when they’re allowed
to fidget.

“Some kids who are overly active actually do a lot better
and can attend better by squeezing a coosh ball or using silly
putty, or being allowed to move around,” says Dr. Drummond.

Why? She says many children have an excess of energy, and trying not to
fidget steals their focus and attention.

A few years ago… Alex kept getting in trouble with his
teacher for not sitting still.

”I kept correlating his fidgetiness, if that’s a word,
with misbehavior,” says
Alex’s mother, Anna Bonaparte, “Because you think ‘well a child
needs to learn to sit still,”

But since then he’s been in classrooms that allow him to
tap his pencil… shake his legs… stand up if he wants…

And he’s gotten almost all A’s.

“as I’ve seem him develop over the past two years,
I’m realizing they don’t really go hand in hand… learning
and sitting still,” says Mrs. Bonaparte.

But while some fidgeting is fine…

“The main point is that they not be distracting to other
children, and interfere with the leaning of other children,” says
Dr. Drummond.

Even Alex has learned that sometimes, like during tests, he needs
to resist the urge to get up… to move around…

“Well, it’s pretty tough but you just have to think
to yourself, ‘I don’t want to get in trouble’ and
you just have to sit there,” he says.
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

Research has shown students learn in different ways. Some are visual, some
are auditory, some are kinesthetic and some are a mixture of some or all of
these. But different students in the same class are still expected to learn
the same subjects, no matter their learning style. So what can parents do to
help their children perform better academically in schools? First, it is important
for parents to understand their child’s learning style – the way
their child processes information. The three learning classes can be defined
as follows:

  • Visual learners absorb information by watching. They call up
    images from the past when trying to remember. They picture the
    way items look in their heads. Forty percent of students fall into
    this category.
  • Auditory learners tend to spell phonetically. They can sometimes
    have trouble reading because they don’t visualize well. These
    students learn by listening and remember facts when they are presented
    in the form of a poem, song or melody.
  • Kinesthetic learners are taught best through movement and manipulation.
    They like to find out how items work and are often successful in
    the practical arts, such as carpentry or design. These students
    make up 50 percent of secondary students and have difficulty learning
    in a traditional setting.

How can you determine your child’s learning style? Here’s
a simple way that might help. Ask your child (and yourself) what comes
to mind when you hear the word “dog.” Some people see a
picture of the animal, others hear a bark, while others feel the soft
fur of the animal. Those who see a picture of a dog in their mind’s
eye or see the letters are probably visual. Those who hear the bark
are probably auditory learners. Those who feel the soft fur of a dog
are probably kinesthetic. If your child is not performing well in school,
the University of Illinois Extension suggests that you explore the
way information is being presented in class and approach the subject
with your child at home using a different learning style. It is also
a good idea to discuss this with your child’s teacher.

 
By Larry Eldridge
CWK Network, Inc.

Helping students who are having trouble in school is something
parents and teachers can do by working together. Experts at ERIC Clearinghouse
say when a child is experiencing academic difficulties, parents and teachers
can assist by trying one or more of the following approaches:

  • Make time to listen to the student’s fears or concerns and
    try to understand him/her.
  • Set appropriate boundaries for behavior that are consistently enforced.
  • Emphasize the importance of study skills and hard work, and follow
    through at home and in school.
  • Arrange tutoring or study group support for the child at school
    or through community organizations such as the YMCA or a local college
    or university.
  • Provide a supportive home and school environment in which education
    is clearly valued.
  • Become more involved in school activities by attending sporting
    events, concerts, science fairs, plays, etc., to show support for
    the school.
  • Meet as a team with the student and the teacher or a school counselor
    to share expectations for the child’s future and to figure
    out how to support his/her learning environment.
  • If your child is a teenager, help him/her think about career options
    by arranging for visits to local companies and colleges.
 

University
of Illinois Extension
ERIC Clearinghouse
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution