Using Dance & Movement to Enhance Spatial Awareness Learning

Abstract

By accessing creative portions of the brain through dance, Pre-K students can more easily learn math concepts like spatial awareness and critical math knowledge prior to formal assessment in elementary school. This early foundational learning creates educational equity by resulting in a month of additional math learning before ever stepping into an elementary classroom. At a very fundamental level, when students have access to math learning in Pre-K through the performing arts, they are more than a month ahead of their non-Pre-K peers when they enter a Kindergarten classroom, (Ludwig, Marklein, & Song, 2016). Arts-integrated math learning engages both hemispheres of the brain and all types of students, especially English Language Learners (ELL) and those from lower socioeconomic status, benefit academically from such experiences. Math and movement residencies bring equity and access to the classroom by preparing students with critical foundational knowledge in math prior to encountering formal math concepts in Kindergarten.

Keywords

• dance & movement
• geometry
• kinesthetic learning
• social constructivism
• spatial awareness