AIESEP Conference 26 October 2010

Physical Literacy and the Young Child

Patricia Maude MBE, Homerton College, University of Cambridge

1/2 CHILD DEVELOPMENT

Following Margaret's paper we now have an excellent context in which to turn our attention to Physical Literacy in action in the young child.

In this short paper we consider:

3 PROCESSES OF GROWTH AND MATURATION IN INFANTS

At birth, although the brain is highly active, it is still underdeveloped, being made up of billions of cells which are not yet connected up. These connections start in the sensori-motor area, at the base of the brain. Feeling and moving are key factors in sensori-motor development and sensori-motor development underpins all other areas of brain development.

Two processes dictate the sequence of physical development in infants. Cephalo-caudal development is the 'top-downwards' development, from the head, towards the feet, whereby the upper body increases in strength and control before the lower limbs, with the ankles and feet being the last to mature in this sequence. Evidence for this is the development of locomotion from lying to sitting to standing and finally to walking.

Proximo-distal development proceeds from the more central parts of the body outwards. Evidence for this is seen in the apparently indiscriminate flailing of the arms from the shoulders, in early infancy, to the later controlled use of the hands and fingers as in mastering the ability, for example, to prepare text messages at high speed.

4 ENABLING EARLY DEVELOPMENT

For the essential neural connections to take place in the brain, the cells need to be stimulated. Physical activity is the key stimulus to neural connection. Physical activity is thus the crucial stimulus to brain development in the early years and to brain maintenance throughout life.

Ratey (2008, p.4 and p.245) states that 'exercise cues the building blocks of learning in the brain' and exercise is 'the single most powerful tool to optimise brain function.' Ratey (2008, p. 4) reminds us that: 'To keep our brains at peak performance, our bodies need to work hard'.

Successful cephalo-caudal and proximo-distal developments are essential both for complete sensori-motor development and for the achievement of movement competence. Ratey (2008. p.3) states: 'we are born movers' and suggests that we are 'at peril of dulling the brains of the next generation' if we fail to ensure that every young child continually builds on their physical competence birthright through frequent physically active play.

Physically active play, includes weight-carrying activities such as balancing, running, jumping, rolling, climbing, swinging, which work the large body muscles. Large muscle maturation precedes and underpins the maturation of smaller muscles controlling activity such as in the fingers.

Hoeger and Hoeger, (1993, p.148) state that: 'Movement and physical activity are basic functions for which the human organism was created.'

Physical activity and exercise are thus paramount for the optimum development both of the brain and of well-coordinated and controlled movement competence.

5 ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS

Indoor and outdoor environments, enriched with appropriate resources, both natural and manufactured and with play partners, both adults and children, are key to the promotion of physical competence and physical literacy.

Clear indoor spaces enable infants to navigate safely in their early explorations. However, Perry, J. (2001, p.118) suggests that 'Outdoor play settings may be the one place where children can independently orchestrate their own negotiations with the physical and social environment and gain the clarity of selfhood necessary to navigate later in life.'

The variety of outdoor environments may include gardens, parks, streets, playgrounds, woods, fields, puddles, pools, sea, snow, trees, grass, sand, beach, ice.

Here, children can be engaged meaningfully, purposefully and with imagination. If we add to these the benefits to be gained in terms of developing their physical literacy through enhancing confidence, motivation, creativity, knowledge, understanding and communication we have overwhelming evidence for the benefits of outdoor play.

6 ENABLING ACTIVITY

Vygotsky (in Singer 2006) suggests that the act of play extends far beyond the recreational factor. Play enables children to learn many skills, beyond movement competence, such as decision making, turn taking, language acquisition and social interaction.

A rich play experience can be achieved through:

7 LANGUAGE AND MOVEMENT

The significance of language acquisition through moving cannot be underestimated. We therefore turn our attention now to the development of language through movement and the development of movement through language. As Kiphard and Schilling (1994) remind us that 'Movement is a child's first language', and 'movement is the first medium of expression of the physical and emotional condition of an individual.' (Asher 1983: 3) states that 'children decode language through the intimate integration and subsequent relationship of language and bodily movement.'

Earliest forms of communication are non-verbal and are also highly significant in facilitating the conveying of messages from the infant to the carer and vice versa.

Bee (2010. p 205), suggests that in the Prelinguistic Phase - 'babies successfully use gestures and body language in consistent ways to communicate meaning'. Evidence includes:

This early use of gestures, often acquired from copying those used by carers, establishes the skill of observing and translating observation into bodily actions.

8 ENABLING LANGUAGE LEARNING THROUGH MOVEMENT

MacIntyre (2010) states that 'the spoken word includes body language which enables it to be readily assimilated...'. Body language remains an influential factor in learning language through movement. In acquiring language, young children readily relate to the vocabulary used by their carers, to which language they are exposed on a daily basis. Typically this is vocabulary associated with movement, including:

Dean and Goss (in Guildenhuys 1996) claim that 'movement-based learning has the capacity to generate empowering environments for the learning of language.' Hopper, Grey and Maude (2000: 91) suggest that' translating movements into spoken language in a variety of contexts offers a treasure chest of descriptive, directional and action words for children to explore, experience and use.'

9 ENABLING MOVEMENT LEARNING THROUGH LANGUAGE

According to Asher (1983) 'Language is orchestrated to the choreography of the human body.' Thus, movement learning through language has the potential for ready assimilation.

This is supported by Bruner (1983) when he writes that 'Movement based interactions provide an environment in which the learner is immersed in understandable messages, where language can be placed in context naturally and meaningfully'. However, learning movement through language depends on the suitability of the language used.

For example, choice of accurate vocabulary facilitates a quick response time, as it precludes the need to translate the spoken word before applying it to movement. A common example of failure in this in the UK is that of asking children to 'point their toes', when the intended movement outcome is to 'extend the ankles'. To achieve this action, neural messages need to go to the receptors in the ankle, rather than to those in the toes. In another example, confusion in movement response can arise where a non-specific term is used, such as 'roly-poly' or 'somersault', when tasking children to roll, rather than employing the technical vocabulary for rolling, such as roll sideways, roll forwards, roll backwards.

Failure to provide readily applicable vocabulary can inhibit movement learning. Consider the relative ease with which Chinese speakers learn numeracy. The vocabulary of numbers beyond 10 in Chinese is straightforward, simple and readily recalled. Eleven is ten-one, twelve is ten-two and so on, whereas in English vocabulary a different set of terms must be learnt, such as eleven, twelve, thirteen and so on, as numbers beyond ten are not all related to their corresponding units. When it comes to the addition of thirty-seven and twenty-two, Chinese children only need to add three-tens-seven and two-tens-two, whilst English speakers must first convert the terms into numbers and then start the task of addition. Gladwell (2008) reports that Chinese children are thereby up to four years ahead in tasks of addition and in numeracy in general.

McIntyre, in discussing the Lucidity Principles, suggests that lucid speaking is highly explicit, using' the same word or phrase for the same things....and different words or phrases for different things'.'Lucidity enables context to be built before new points are introduced.'

'Lucidity accelerates perceptual processing, pruning the enormous combinatorial tree of possible internal models in the listener's brain as quickly as possible, ahead of conscious thought.' This is of paramount importance in providing verbal explanations of movement, in order to minimise intervention in the movement experience and in comprehending as rapidly as possible the movement task being set.

Robert Stenwell (in Gladwell(2008) refers to Practical Intelligence in effective communication. Practical Intelligence, he suggests, includes knowing what to say to whom and knowing how to say it for maximum effect. For example, if the intended movement response to an instruction is not to run, it is preferable to say, 'Walk', since to say 'Don't run' almost inevitably results in running, as the last word heard was 'run'. In movement learning the choice of vocabulary and content of the language used in task setting should be both succinct and positive.

10 EXAMPLE of MOVEMENT CATEGORIES and VOCABULARY (see Powerpoint)

Movement vocabulary is to movement as the dictionary is to the spoken vocabulary of words. There are millions of movements that are capable of human performance and it is the responsibility of all movement facilitators to enable young children continually to increase their repertoire of movements, in building both a rich movement vocabulary and a rich vocabulary of spoken words with which to communicate movement.

By allocating individual movements to named categories, it is possible to cluster related movements. The example shown here includes a series of fundamental movement categories, balance, locomotion, flight, manipulation, projection, construction and non-verbal communication.

11 EXPRESSIVE MOVEMENT VOCABULARY (see Powerpoint)

This example focuses on a vocabulary of verbs that can be interpreted and built into expressive movement, as might be experienced and observed in creative dance

12 PHYSICAL LITERACY THROUGH MOVEMENT AND LANGUAGE

In conclusion, using our understanding of the processes of early childhood growth and development, of factors that enable children to acquire an extensive and rich movement vocabulary, we can maximize their language and movement development and can guide children as they continue their physical literacy journey incorporating increasing movement competence and a physically active lifestyle, supported by their intrinsic self-motivation and confident self-esteem.

AIESEP Conference 26 October 2010

Physical Literacy and the Young Child

Patricia Maude MBE

Homerton College, University of Cambridge, England

REFERENCES

Asher, J. (1983) Learning Another Language through Actions, Los Angeles: Sky Oaks.

Bearne, E. (ed) (1998) Use of Language Across the Curriculum, London: Routledge. (Chapter 15 - Maude, P Language and Physical Education)

Bee, H. (2010) The Developing Child, New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Bruner,J. (1983) Child's Talk: Learning to Use Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Cheatum,B. (2000) Physical Activities for Improving Children's Learning and Behaviour, Champaign: Human Kinetics

Gladwell, M. (2008) Outliers London: Penguin.

Goddard Blythe, S. (2005) The Well Balanced Child, Stroud: Hawthorn Press.

Guildenhuys, C. (1996) Movement and Second Language Acquisition' in Sport, Education and Society 1 (2): 12-16

Hopper, B., Grey, J., and Maude, P. (2000) Teaching Physical Education in the Primary School, London: Routledge Farmer.

McIntyre,M. (2010) Lucidity and Science Parts I and II, www.atm.damtp.cam.ac.uk

Maude, P. (2008) Physical Children, Active Teaching, (2001) Berkshire: Open University Press.

Ratey, J. (2008) Spark, New York: Little Brown.

Stenberg R. (1997) Successful Intelligence, New York: Plume

Adrian Voce, Director of the Children's Play Council (Play England 2006, p.2)

Whitebread, D (Ed). (2008) Teaching and Learning in the Early Years London: Routledge (Chapter 11 - Maude, P. From Movement Development into Physical Literacy)