Movement Education in the Primary School - GB

Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Movement is fundamental to life and is the basis of every activity of the human being. Without it, the body ceases to be alive. Movement is an activity of the whole person. The physical, the intellectual and emotional aspects being brought into play. Children derive great satisfaction and enjoyment from natural activities. Julia children in particular abound with energy, enjoying challenges to both mind and body. [Applause] To help each child achieve his movement potential, we must encourage inventiveness and exploration, ensuring variety of experience and all round activity. The basic principles underlying all movement are the factors of space, weight, time and flow. This is an analysis derived from many years of study by Rudolph Lin. Through these movement factors, development will continue. Movement should be clear and appropriate to the task set which brings about the discipline of the work and consequently the individual. Movement demands response from the whole person and is in itself education. Body awareness is one of the first essentials in gymnastics to realize how and where different parts can move and how the whole body can move. Simple tasks are now being explored with different parts of the body. Can we take an elbow, knee, etc. up high round about. The children touch the floor with parts other than the feet, the seat, the head, and discover parts of the body which can meet. Head to foot, foot to seat, knee to chest, foot to knee, toe to head and so on. The children explore how different part of the body can begin a movement and how the rest of the body then follows. On the left of the picture, the hips lead the movement and the front of the body follows. On the right, the boy's hand leads the movement and the arm, shoulder, and back follows. The knee leads the movement and the side and back follows. Having achieved some awareness of working on the floor, the children experiment with different ways of using the body with the challenge of apparatus. They are already building up some vocabulary of movement and will soon be ready to interpret more specific movement tasks. This movement is showing very clearly awareness of parts of the body in contact with the mat. Some children have already built up patterns or sentences of movement. Each pattern, like each child, is different. As the children experimented in the playground with different parts initiating a movement, we can now see the same thing happening on the apparatus. We can see how one part of the body can be used to start a movement. How the rest of the body may follow or how a different part may be used for getting off. Of paramount importance is the teacher's observation of the efforts of the class in order that he may subsequently assess and develop what he sees. Space surrounding the body is the personal space and forms a base from which the body may explore all directions and levels. Christine is working on her own pattern of movement in space. In the background, the whole class is practicing freely using the conal space of the playground. Here are two examples of children working from a confined space near the wall to the large space in the playground. Children experiment in using space in the air resulting in a variety of shapes. Children show their individual ways of getting across the space between two walls. The space outside these high trestles affords particular challenge to these boys. The general view of the whole class responding to the challenge created by a variety of apparatus. A group of three uses the natural environment of the walls and gate. The girls match their movements whilst the boy adapts his work and use of space accordingly. Two big girls work happily and successfully with their own interpretation of the use of space. Apparatus creates different spaces in which the children may work traveling around, along, through, outside and inside the apparatus. Children evolve their own patterns. Heat. Heat. And the work ends with a pattern which requires strong movement. and considerable effort. The body has the ability to be strong or light according to the amount of muscular tension employed. The body is also able to transfer its weight from one place to another and take weight on different parts. The children balance on one, two, three, and four parts. The management of one's weight from various levels and starting positions is shown in the following examples. Here the movement is started high up. Weight reception and the ability to roll not only develops confidence but is also a very important safety factor in movement. As a result of the learning process, the child is able to join together simple movements and form a pattern or sequence. All patterns should have a definite beginning and ending. This pleasing sequence of the girl in the foreground is a good example of management of body weight. The task set on the apprentice follows that on the floor. This pattern shares a clear beginning and ending and illustrates transference of weight on apparatus. Transference of weight and balance is being interpreted on the benches. Children experiment to find parts of the body which can support or suspend. Swinging helps to link one movement to another. These girls show development in working together, still interpreting the task of weight transference. Children enjoy working together, sometimes matching their movements and at other times showing complete contrast. All action takes time to be performed. The quantity of time will obviously vary. The quality of time will be quick or slow. Children usually move with a variety of timing, producing the effect of acceleration and deceleration. The concentration here is obviously on moving the feet quickly as well as making sudden swerves and dodges with the body. Each individual child is now accelerating and decelerating according to his own valition. The group practice is now experimenting with sudden changes of movement on the spot. Quick movement is in itself stimulating and encourages quick thinking. And now we see a complete contrast that is moving in a slower sustained manner. Slow movement may be calm and help to develop concentration. Heat. Heat. The group tries to show a variety of quick and slow movements which calls for a great deal of practice and control of mind and body. Progression leads us to relate the floorwork with the apparatus work. And the children's first experiences of moving at speed in conjunction with apparatus is to try to move on, off, over, and around the obstacles quickly. We shall now see more specific examples of movement patterns on the apparatus. Steven has evolved his own pattern of movement on the bars. moving as quickly as he can. The children have started to meet the challenge of showing both quick and slow movements in their patterns. These children show a more advanced appreciation of movement patterns. The aim of the primary school should be to lay a broad foundation. Lesson planning should give opportunity for free practice at the beginning of a lesson, exploring tasks on the floor, followed by the development of these tasks with large apparatus.