Moving school
The concept of the moving school goes back to the Swiss Urs Illi. At the beginning of the 1980s he advocated bringing more movement into the traditional “sitting school”. His reasoning mainly related to a compensation idea . In the meantime there is a broad discussion in the sports science and educational literature about the moving school . This approach plays an important role, especially in the context of school program development and the autonomization of schools. Originally developed for the primary sector , in recent years more and more attempts have been made to establish elements of a moving school in the secondary sector as well.
Justification pattern
The patterns of justification for a school in motion are varied. However, there are essentially three different categories to be found in the specialist literature, which in some ways overlap:
- developmental and learning-theoretical justification patterns,
- medical and health science justification patterns and
- school programmatic justification pattern.
Patterns of development and learning theory
Patterns of justification that refer to developmental and learning-theoretical aspects of movements assume that from an anthropological perspective, movement represents a basic human need. It thus fulfills an exploratory function. Children learn better when the learning process is holistic and includes more than just the visual and acoustic analyzer. The kinesthetic sense of perception in particular , whose receptors are in the muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints, can improve learning. The more senses are addressed, the better information can be absorbed, processed and stored. In addition, exercise improves blood circulation and supply to the brain, which should lead to improved mental performance.
Medical and health science justification models
Medical and health science advocates of the idea of a school in motion essentially argue on the basis of deficit analyzes. Above all , lifestyle diseases that are attributed to a lack of exercise , such as obesity , back pain , poor posture, diabetes , but also ADHD , play a role in this context. In addition, more exercise in everyday school life is intended to improve the motor skills of the pupils and thus also make a contribution to accident prevention. In general, exercise is seen as beneficial to health and, from a salutogenic perspective, understood as strengthening resources.
School programmatic justification patterns
Patterns of justification for the school program relate to the demands of various educators ( Hartmut von Hentig , Klaus Hurrelmann ) that the school should not only be a space for learning, but also for living and experiencing. The school must therefore be designed in such a way that children and young people feel comfortable in it and are offered opportunities for experience on a holistic level. The concept of the moving school in particular offers individual educational institutions a chance to distinguish themselves. It should be established as an element of the school program and thereby create an educational framework that affects all areas of school life. The aim is to establish a lively school culture .
Structural features of a moving school
There are no uniform criteria that can be considered constitutive for a school in motion . However, certain elements appear in almost all publications, although not all of them have to be present in every institution if it is to be considered a moving school . Typical features that affect teaching include: a. active learning , movement breaks, active (dynamic) sitting, relaxation and relief phases (for example with yoga ) and active homework . Features outside of the class include, for example, moving breaks as well as activities outside of class ( e.g. working groups) or cooperation with the out-of-school environment. In addition, a concept for religious instruction in motion has existed since the 1990s .
Active learning
In 'moving learning', a basic distinction can be made between learning through movement and learning with movement . Learning through movement affects the absorption of information through additional channels, especially the sense of movement. Learning with movement aims to ensure that information processing can be improved through movement. In a moving school, both aspects should be taken into account in every single subject in the classroom. With the concept of body and space-oriented visual aids , the potential of learning through movement can be described more precisely and used more specifically. Moving learning receives a theoretical foundation here and thus moves closer to considerations of subject didactics.
Moving / dynamic sitting
A central element is moving or dynamic sitting. This idea already occupied a large part in Illi's proposals. Illi attributes the back pain that occurs more frequently, even in elementary school children, to the fact that at school people mainly learn in a rigid sitting posture. This leads to a one-sided strain on the muscles and ligaments and thus to a slackening or shortening of the muscles. In addition, the intervertebral discs depend on being supplied by physiological diffusion , since they have no vascular ability to 'feed' themselves. In other words, if they don't move around, they become undersupplied and degenerate. Another negative effect of a rigid sitting posture is poor blood circulation, especially in the lower extremities. The moving seats to counteract this stress symptoms. This is done by regularly changing work postures using a variety of seating options and integrating certain tasks in alternative positions lying down, kneeling, standing or walking in the work behavior. In addition, ergonomic seating furniture that is adapted to the height of the students is particularly important. The European standard EN 1729, which defines guide values for the dimensions of school furniture in relation to body size, provides orientation in this context . The use of so-called physical or sitting balls is also recommended, although this can only be a supplement to ergonomic furniture.
proof
- ^ Ansgar Thiel / Hilke Teubert / Christa Kleindienst-Cachay: The moving school on the way to practice . 3. Edition. Schneider Verlag, Baltmannsweiler 2006, p. 60ff.
- ↑ Dominique Högger: Body and Learning. How movement, body awareness and spatial orientation support learning. Schulverlag, Bern 2013, p. 37ff.
- ↑ Urs Illi: Moving School . In: Sportunterricht, 44/10, 1995, p. 409.
literature
- Ansgar Thiel / Hilke Teubert / Christa Kleindienst-Cachay: The "Moving School" on the way to practice: Theoretical and empirical analyzes of an educational innovation. Schneider-Verlag, Hohengehren 2002, ISBN 978-3834001030
- Christina Müller / Ralph Petzold: Moving School: Aspects of a didactic of movement education in grades 5 to 10/12 . Academia Verlag, Sankt Augustin 2006, ISBN 978-3896653741
- Oliver Ludwig / Dieter Breithecker: Investigation of the change in blood circulation in the upper body while sitting on chairs with a movable seat. Posture & Movement (3) 2008, 5-12 (PDF file; 1.00 MB)