Dance


Dance Tutorial One
What I gained from this tutorial:
Physical, social and aesthetic strategies to engage students
Overview
I walked into this tutorial with much more confidence than the prior year, knowing that the lessons ahead, were not assessing my dance skills and knowledge, but were going to provide me with information and tools on how to create an effective dance lesson.

The main questions for this sequence of tutorials is:
What is the importance of Dance? Why should I aim to engage my students in this art form?
SO WHAT?

I created a mindmap throughout the tutorial to gather an understanding and answer to the above questions.


From my brainstorming then I suggest that Dance is:
  1. learning about; space, time and dynamics
  2.  learning about team work
  3. learning about coordination
  4.  cognitive learning, physical learning, social learning, sensory learning and cognitive learning
Although all these components are important in Dance I still haven’t answered my overriding questions.

In this tutorial I learnt about the importance of:
  1. Physical learning 
  2. Social learning
  3. Aesthetic learning 
But so what? Why is it essential to learn about coordination through dance? Physical learning through dance or even about working as a team through dance? Is it even essential to learn these skills and, if so, is dance the way to go?

I have asked question upon question, because it allows me to think in-depth and it provides a scope for my own personal growth and learning on this topic. In the end, I hope to not only answer a few of the questions I have asked, but to provide a justification for myself and others thinking the same question, SO WHAT?

In the tutorial today we used physical, social and aesthetic learning by creating a composition using a range of stimulus. Below is an example of the dance that my group created. As I have mentioned, I am not from a dancing background,however, I feel that this task is attainable for students of all ages and levels from stage one to stage three.



Critical Reflection
There are numerous meanings and reasons for dancing. A definition of dance found on the online Dictionary says that dance is the process of "moving ones feet or body, or both, rhythmically in a pattern of steps, especially to accompaniment music" (2012). So if this is what dance is, then why is it important to participate in such processes? The importance of Dance in the Primary Curriculum is strongly supported in the  Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus rationale (2006). It looks at dance as a way to develop a range of knowledge, skills and understanding which can not be developed in any other KLA (Board of Studies, 2006). The importance of dance in education is further expressed by Arora (2012), who looks at the following advantages:
  1. Increasing ones ability to memorise and thus improving overall memory
  2. Improves listening skills
  3. Improves social skills; e.g. through group work
  4. It is enjoyable
  5. It improves posture
Many of the above benefits mentioned by Arora (2012), can benefit not only students in Dance, but many other KLAs and aspects of life in general.


Reference List:
Arora, A. (2012). The Importance of Dance in Education. Retrieved from http://schools.papyrusclubs.com/bbps/voice/importance-dance-education

Board of Studies NSW. (2006). Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus. NSW, Australia

Dictionary.com (2012). Dance. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dance
________________________________________________________________________

Dance Tutorial Two
What I gained from this tutorial:
Cognitive learning strategies for dance
Overview
There are five key aspects which are crucial in the process of ‘learning through dance’. These include:
  1. Aesthetic learning
  2. Social learning
  3. Physical learning
  4.  Sensory learning
  5. Cognitive learning
In week one dance, we focused on social, aesthetic and physical learning and in today’s tutorial we looked at learning dance through cognitive approaches.  Cognitive learning is the mental processes that are undertaken that we are unaware of or cannot observe, they do however affect our learning in a significant way, and therefore are important to understand and acknowledge when teaching kids in all learning areas.

Looking at cognitive learning through dance, I begin by looking at Hetland’s (Keinanen, 2000) question: Can the study of dance lead to enhanced academic skills? Which brings me back to my question, ‘So what?’. To answer this he explores dance as a form of using and improving a broad range of cognitive skills along with other forms of intelligences (other KLAs). This can lead to cognitive outcomes in other learning areas because dance is multifaceted in its nature.
This multifaceted aspect of learning allows for extreme growth in cognitive development, forming strands of learning unlike those experienced or taught in other KLAs such as Math or English for instance.

In today’s tutorial we looked at using different stimuli to generate different dance choreography. Using different stimuli demonstrates the different cognitive structures that need to be used in order to achieve in the task. Some groups had a piece of music for stimuli, cultural, social, political and environmental stimuli. My group was allocated the book “Why the Emu can’t Fly” where we were to develop choreography representing aspects and an overall storyline of the book. My group found it difficult to break such a broad story into a 16 count sequence and thus the planning stage took a long time. We decided to create a dance piece which reflected and represented the feelings of the Emu throughout the story, using only actions and no music to represent the story. I found this task quite challenging and thus in the classroom setting, I would use this activity as part of an entire unit, where students have time to understand and reflect on the story and stimuli before creating a dance piece to it.

The following mind map created in class expresses the cognitive learning processes which my group or any group would undertake throughout this process. Looking closely at the mindmap it is evident that the cognitive abilities can be transferred to a range of KLAs strengthening cognitive processes and transformation of learning.



This reflection has begun to answer my overriding question, So what? and thus further developing my own understanding of the importance of dance in the Australian Primary Curriculum.


Below is an example of a group which created choreography in relation to cognitive learning using an auditory stimulus.




Critical Reflection
Through using a different stimulus for each group in the class, it became evident which groups found it easy and which groups found it difficult to create choreography depending on their stimulus. As a teacher then I would continually monitor the progress and level of understanding of each group throughout the process of constructing the choreography. The purpose of this is not only  for assessment but it ensures that students fully understand what is expected of them and thus are more likely to understand the content, relevance of the activity and are thus more likely to transfer knowledge onto other KLAs (McInerney & McInerney, 2010).


As a teacher, to further guide understanding scaffolding (McInerney & McInerney, 2010) of learning would take place. Where the teacher begins the lesson with alot of structure and guidance to understand students prior knowledge on the topic and to ensure that everyone begins the lesson with similar amounts of knowledge. As the lesson continues the teacher gradually takes away the guidance and students learn to work independently or in small groups. This process is linked to Vygotskys zone of proximal development which is found across many KLAs and is further appropriate in Dance (McInerney & McInerney, 2010). 

Reference List:
Keinanen, M. (2000). Teaching Cognitive Skill through Dance: Evidence for near but Not Far Transfer. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3333646?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=55937399403


McInerney, M, &, McInerney, V.(2010). Educational Psychology: Construction Learning. Fifth Edition. Australia, Frenchs Forest. Pearson Australia. 
________________________________________________________________________

Dance Tutorial Three
What I gained from this tutorial:
Answers to all my unanswered questions

Overview
Our final dance tutorial wrapped up all my unanswered questions. I know have a firm understanding of how to engage and as a result motivate all my students in a dance lesson  and thus as a result, increasing one’s learning experiences in dance and many other curriculum areas.

The discussion format of the tutorial was beneficial to my own learning, as key concepts were reinforced not only in my mind, but also on paper for myself to now reflect on in my blog and also refer to in my later teaching years.

As expressed in my previous blog we have been exploring the different ways that one learns through dance, where we explored some key dance notions; Aesthetic learning, social learning, physical learning, sensory learning, cognitive learning all except sensory which have been explored in prior tutorials. Sensory learning looks at acquiring knowledge on a topic through our senses (Kassing, 2003), and as Iris described “ Students focusing on the use of their senses to develop their expression, imagination and to stimulate creativity”. 


The task undertaken in the tutorial effectively allowed us to individually analyse a range of sources using different senses. The task looked; visual, auditory, tactile, ideational and kinaesthetic stimuli and through brainstorming we discovered that each individual experienced a more meaningful relationship with different stimuli.  I felt that this activity reflected individual learning styles and thus upon reflecting on my own learning in the tutorial I responded:
“I am usually a visual learner, however, in todays task when asked to reflect on how the visual text affected my emotions and prior experiences, I gained no meaningful connections or information from the texts provided and thus was not a meaningful task for myself. I did, however, gain the most meaning from the kinaesthetic stimuli which I found to be engaging and this as a result of this task I now see myself as a learner who interprets different learning experiences with different techniques and this as a teacher it is important to incorporate many learning styles in the classroom so that you reach all of the students in a meaningful and thus constructive manner”.

The next phase of the tutorial looked at dividing the class into groups of people who gained the most meaning from the same stimuli. Dividing the class in this manner further emphasised  different learning styles. In our groups we explore our topic in more depth, looking at our own perception of the task, where we brainstormed and critically thought about the task exploring how we would use dance elements to incorporate out topic of ‘kinaesthetic’ into a primary classroom. Whilst completing this task it was essential to remember that,  it is the way that we scaffold a lesson that makes it meaningful for particular age groups.


Below is an example of a group which found the most meaning from the tactile stimulus, they are representing a stretchy piece of elastic in this video.



Upon reflecting on the three tutorials I have answered my overriding question, SO WHAT! Which is expressed in all my blogs


Critical Reflection
This tutorial has further built on my awareness of different learning styles. I began the tutorial believing that I learnt best by visual stimulus, going through high school thinking that I only fully understood content if it was drawn or displayed in an exciting visual form. However, throughout the tutorial I began to realise that I responded strongly to the Kinasethetic stimulus. I had opened the pathway into my awareness that I learnt best not only through one particular learning style; visual learning, but also through a range of different learning styles. As a teacher then it is important to not restrict students to one form of learning. It is important to provide students with an opportunity to learn using a range of different methods and stimuli, so that you as the teacher do not restrict learning and students do not restrict themselves to one learning style. 

Reference List:
Kassing, G. (2003). Dance Teaching methods and Curriculum Design. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=bTm-W4oX0HgC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=what+is+sensory+learning+in+dance?&source=bl&ots=PEXsK5Y28w&sig=ZsKF-tyVoeo3kIKEwokEI3Msywk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yDd0T6nUIO6aiQep1LTkDw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20sensory%20learning%20in%20dance%3F&f=false
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)