Sarah Dickison
Capstone 1
Assignment 1
Due January 24, 2011
Part One
-How has movement been proven to enhance cognitive functioning in elementary-aged children?
Part Two
-What are the basic movement patterns that should be addressed in order to facilitate the physical activity that elementary-aged children need to improve cognitive functioning?
Part Three
-In what ways can the “Basic Six” movement patterns be applied to sport, game, or art to help children experience movement?
Goals for Thesis
1- Write a paper on how movement has been shown to enhance cognitive functioning.
2- Make pamphlets to explain the importance of movement in the development of young children.
3- Put together short videos with examples of how the Basic Six movement patterns can be applied into sport, game, and art.
Explanation
Movement has been proven to be beneficial to the cognitive development of young children.
Physical Education and Dance programs have been gradually squeezed out of elementary education curriculum in the past few years. Without school-based activities to promote movement in elementary aged children, many children are not experiencing the full range of movement patterns necessary for them to enhance their educational experience. My goal is to explain the importance of movement on the cognitive development of young children.
Research
-Anne Green Gilbert
- Dee Dickinson
- Marian Cleeves Diamond
-Stewart G. Trost
-Anne Dunkin
- Philip Morgan
- Debra Viadero
- Erin M. Hall
- Pamela V. Tremarche
- Kathleen Vail
Sarah, this feels like a good project.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't know the field, I'm guessing that movement like you're introducing is in fact good for cognitive development.
But you'll want to step back a step and ask WHETHER OR NOT it has that effect. It's possible, for instance, that it has similar effects as do music and sports and art and math and playing video games and cooking and digging ditches and so on.
If you find that, then what?
I'm just suggesting that you approach this critically at the beginning. That will make your findings later more powerful. You'll want to address critics of the idea all the way along.
Having said that, you've got a very good start here.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI'll second Scott's cautionary remarks about the research on whether movement does improve cognitive function in children. Assuming that the latest research supports this position, and seeing that you already have gone a long way toward actually developing the movement program, I would also like to raise the question of whether pamphlets are the most effective product as end result of all this work. You will have to produce promotional material for this cause. What items will work most effectively for your target audience? Who is your target audience? These questions are important to shaping your end product from this project--they're equivalent to the rhetorical problems facing a traditional thesis paper, i.e., "Who is your audience?" "What will be persuasive to that audience?"
Thank you for your suggestions and questions! I will address some of them in my next post.
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