Teachers' Viewpoints on Creative Movement in Teaching

Abstract

Educational practices exist in which teachers and students literally move around ideas, using the most universal, but severely underused educational tool available to us at all times – the body. This method of teaching and learning, through movement and the body, is the subject of this paper. Recent research of embodied cognition in various cognitive areas of education has important implications for learning and teaching and supports the wider integration of movement activity into curricula content (learning through movement). Creative movement method is one of teaching and learning approaches, which emphasizes the use of movement and dance in learning. The main goal of our research was to determine teachers’ ideas and viewpoints on creative movement in teaching and to document the student outcomes noted by teachers before and after attending the educational program. The sample included 112 teachers from various regions of Slovenia, who all took part in the creative movement educational program. The program was designed and executed as continuing professional development for education practitioners. Quantitative and qualitative research approaches were employed. The main results show that the creative movement educational program encouraged teachers’ positive attitude towards teaching with and through movement and dance. After the educational program, the teachers’ attitudes towards using creative movement in classrooms, changed in favor of holistic and experiential teaching and learning. Improvement in the teachers’ well-being was detected. Additionally, teachers reported the positive effects of this teaching method in the social-emotional and cognitive development of the children in their classes.