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1
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Develop a school-wide program
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Given that scientific
evidence verifies the benefits of movement, play, and cardiovascular exercise,
develop a school program embracing each grade level, accommodating both content
area learning and
psychomotor development. The present system in most schools is tilted more in
favor of classroom instruction with a daily recess and alternating days of art
and physical education. Coupling movement, play, crafts, and cardiovascular
activities with your daily curricular program will have far reaching benefits
that encompass health, academic, and behavioral realms. Providing choices aids
in the prioritizing and agenda-setting elements that empowers students because
they have a sense of control in their school environment.
2
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Use your physical education personnel as a resource
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Your physical education
teachers incorporate movement and cardiovascular exercise in their curriculum
and can assemble a daily, tailor-made program for each grade level and
individuals.
3
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Research validates the benefits of movement in the
classroom, gymnasium, or playground. Among them:
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Spinning, rope jumping,
balancing, somersaulting, rolling and walking on balance beams, swinging on low
jungle gyms, climbing, skating, and performing somersaults, trampoline,
throwing and catching, crawling, obstacle courses.
4
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Recommended time for elementary school
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An instructional day
should include twenty to thirty minutes of free play recess and one or two
instructional fifteen-minute vestibular motion sessions.
5
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Cardiovascular
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Students participating
in a sport get ample amounts of cardiovascular conditioning. However, many
students are involved in just one sport or none per school year. Again, your
physical education teachers can set up a personalized cardiovascular program
for the middle and high school students. In addition, a few established workout
regimes targeting cardiovascular benefit are available. One of them is
conducted in the Naperville, Illinois school district and received national
acclaim for demonstrating how sustained periods of raised heart rate couples
improved fitness and academic performance.1
John J. Ratey, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at
Harvard Medical School, has written about the brain-fitness connection and
feels that schools should incorporate a daily conditioning regimen.2
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Fine motor skill development
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Like the movement
activities mentioned in 3, fine motor development has relevance as the child's
brain matures. In the context of vestibular and proprioceptor
growth, procedures that incorporate hand-eye coordination improve the circuitry
between the motor and frontal cortex regions of the brain. 3,4,5,6
Here is where your art department can provide assistance, not just in their
classes but a large list of crafts that can be available throughout the school
day in the art rooms and other places. Some that will enhance fine motor skills at all ages are
coloring within the lines (crayons or paint), tracing pictures, as well as
redrawing pictures free-hand, cutting images perfectly along their edges with a
scissors, origami, and threading a needle. Along that line 'shop' classes, or
industrial arts and home economics curricula fit the bill and need to be
revisited, particularly mechanical drawing, woodwork, drafting, printmaking,
metalworks, sewing, and cooking.
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Facilities
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Can your current
gymnasium, auxiliary, and art facilities accommodate the above recommendations?
Do you have the equipment for an all-inclusive movement, cardiovascular, and
fine-motor crafts implementation?
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Play areas
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In the lower grades a
play area with soft equipment would allow students to perform a wide range of
motions on apparatus and interactive play. There are several manufacturers that
specialize in distributing a variety of set ups that range from shopping malls
to large indoor playground facilities. I have witnessed many children from
toddlers to nine-year-olds performing spontaneous maneuvers in an
enthusiastic manner at these venues not feasible at home. The leaping, jumping,
crawling, running, and cooperation is inspiring.
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Game room
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The Board Game
Barrister, a retail shop for games, puzzles, and toys, maintains a significant
amount of table space for competitions and welcomes people of all age groups to
participate. Similarly, a game room to accommodate ping pong, board games,
foosball, Legos, and other hands-on activities would be
appreciated by students in your school.
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School Fitness Center
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Many schools have large
fitness centers with a range of devices. Yours may contain any combination of
strength-training machines, free and plate-loading weights, as well as cardio
equipment such as upright bikes, recumbent bikes, ellipticals, treadmills, step
mills, stretch trainers.7
If the budget for a
school district is limited, booster clubs and ticket revenue from athletic
competitions can be a source of revenue to purchase equipment. Schools are
authorized to provide an environment that maximizes the academic and physical
wellness of children. Procuring a complement of equipment and space that
stimulates neurological growth should be considered by school boards and
administrators before, during, and after school hours.
References
1. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULciZ8jSgHA
2. Retrieved from:
http://www.johnratey.com/
3. Watson, M.,
Black, F., Good balance is often taken for granted. Vestibular Disorders
Association.
Retrieved
from:
http://vestibular.org/understanding-vestibular-disorder/human-balance-system
4. Grissmer, D.,
Grimm, K., Aiyer S., Murrah, W., Steele, J. (2010). Fine Motor Skills and Early
Comprehension of the World: Two New School Readiness Indicators. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 46, No. 5. 1008-1017.
5. Adolph, K. E.
(2005). Learning to learn in the development of action. In J. J. Rieser, J.
J. Lockman, & C. A. Nelson (Eds.), Action as an organizer of learning and
development (pp. 91-122). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
6. Carlson, A. G.,
Rowe, E., & Curby, T. W. (2013).
Disentangling fine motor skills’ relation to academic achievement: The
relative contributions of visual-spatial integration and visual-motor
coordination. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 174, 514-533.
7. Retrieved from:
https://www.ajcity.net/DocumentCenter/Home/View/273
