Thank you for a thought provoking podcast. Although I think I must disagree that there is no such thing as a kinesthetic learner. As an educator and long time teaching artist conducting dance-integrated residencies in public schools in New Mexico, I have seen how some students become very engaged in creating short choreographies about plate tectonics, or the science behind the Valles Caldera massive eruption, or finding the movement phrases that express poems, or stories. All students can do this, but some seem more at home expressing their thinking and understanding through movement. It has nothing to do with skin color or culture or economic background. I believe Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is real. But it does not mean that we are stuck in one “learning style” or that we cannot get better at another intelligence. In the early 2000’s I, along with four others, helped found a public elementary charter school in Las Vegas, NM. We were an Expeditionary Learning school (in those days ELOB - Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound) and our students came from all sorts of backgrounds - some very tumultuous. What we were able to do was deeply engage our students through New Mexico based 8-9 week “expeditions” that were exciting and vibrant. We were in classrooms, but also in the dance studio, art studio, as well as outdoors, camping, hiking, observing, reflecting and journaling. We created our own curricula. No one was labeled as a this learner or that learner - but everyone took part in all ways of teaching and learning. I cannot help but think of dance educator Anne Green Gilbert’s BrainDance - a simple series of movements based on the developmental patterns that all babies go through if they are allowed tummy time. These movements are key to brain development. Anne says “Movement is the architect of the brain”. In other words - the original kinesthetic learning!
Thank you for a thought provoking podcast. Although I think I must disagree that there is no such thing as a kinesthetic learner. As an educator and long time teaching artist conducting dance-integrated residencies in public schools in New Mexico, I have seen how some students become very engaged in creating short choreographies about plate tectonics, or the science behind the Valles Caldera massive eruption, or finding the movement phrases that express poems, or stories. All students can do this, but some seem more at home expressing their thinking and understanding through movement. It has nothing to do with skin color or culture or economic background. I believe Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is real. But it does not mean that we are stuck in one “learning style” or that we cannot get better at another intelligence. In the early 2000’s I, along with four others, helped found a public elementary charter school in Las Vegas, NM. We were an Expeditionary Learning school (in those days ELOB - Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound) and our students came from all sorts of backgrounds - some very tumultuous. What we were able to do was deeply engage our students through New Mexico based 8-9 week “expeditions” that were exciting and vibrant. We were in classrooms, but also in the dance studio, art studio, as well as outdoors, camping, hiking, observing, reflecting and journaling. We created our own curricula. No one was labeled as a this learner or that learner - but everyone took part in all ways of teaching and learning. I cannot help but think of dance educator Anne Green Gilbert’s BrainDance - a simple series of movements based on the developmental patterns that all babies go through if they are allowed tummy time. These movements are key to brain development. Anne says “Movement is the architect of the brain”. In other words - the original kinesthetic learning!