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The value of kinesthetic learning

Laura Massa

One of my goals this year is to incorporate more interactive experiences into Big History. I teach this course to 9th-grade students, and they seem to enjoy and learn better when they are actively engaged. For the first threshold, I use a plasma ball to help students visualize and remember the early state of the universe and a balloon to simulate the process of universe inflation. When I taught the origin of stars and the process of fusion, some of my students weren't very enthusiastic, so I decided to label sheets with the hydrogen and helium symbols. I asked them to simulate protons of hydrogen moving in a cloud of gas before fusion. One student held a sign reading "10 million degrees Celsius," and then the students simulated the fusion process. As the process continued, when hydrogen fused, it was the turn for helium protons.

It was a simple activity, but my students had fun doing it. Days after the lesson, they remembered the process better.

When I introduced the solar system to scale, I took them to the football field to represent it. With the extreme heat in Miami, taking so many sections demanded a lot of stamina, but it was worth it. Here are some pictures and videos.

Does anybody have a kinesthetic activity to teach the origin of stars and chemical elements? I would love to learn from you.    

 

  • Those sound like fun and I'm definitely in agreement with you Laura that experiential lessons help students understand concepts and leave them with better memories of important content.  I don't think this is exactly what you were asking about but, when I give students their elements for the Superhero element project, I do so by writing down the chemical symbols of elements on a bunch of starburst candies.  I then fill them inside a large envelope with a picture of a star on the outside.  I rip it open and then students reach their hands in and every student takes one starburst/element.  Hopefully, it helps them remember that elements come from exploding stars.  It also helps that the candy is actually called a star burst.  

  • in reply to Todd Nussen

    This is a nice activity  I will save it for next year.

  • in reply to Todd Nussen

    I am so borrowing this idea this year!!! What a fun way to roll out one of my favorite activities- but also such a great way to have students remember how chemical elements came to be.

    Laura- I have never tried this fusion simulation. I also plan to try out something similar this year! 

  • in reply to Adriane Musacchio

    It's simple, fun and students get to eat some candy.  Just a heads up, starbursts contain gelatin so any students that have certain dietary restrictions should be aware (especially those those that can't have certain types of animal products).