What if I told you that you could substantially increase your students ability to remember content in the classroom? Not only that, but you could also dramatically increase your students critical thinking capability? And the most exciting part is that you would not have to add even one extra minute to your instruction. You wouldn’t have to remove anything from your curriculum either. Feeling incredulous? I don’t blame you. How is all this possible?
The simple answer is integration. When concepts are presented repeatedly from different contexts, the students gets more repetition with vocabulary and concepts, and they are able to make better connections with the content. Students are able to see how different areas of the curriculum work together, and are not separate pieces, which builds the skill of synthesis. In Montessori education, there is an excellent example of how powerful integration can be with a series of elementary lessons called the Great Lessons. These five lessons cover the entirety of the all the concepts learned in elementary. It is a grand story that covers the creation of the universe and Earth, delves into the creation of life, then the creation of humans, and finally their two greatest inventions of language and math.
Classroom integration in co curricular classes like physical education, art, drama, and music is touchy subject. When I ask professionals in those co curricular areas if they integrate classroom concepts into their curriculum, many scoff at the idea or they have a bad taste in their mouth from a previous experience. They already have their own set curriculum and do not want to change anything. Many (rightfully) do not feel respected by classroom teachers or their administration, and don’t want to build bridges if there is no reciprocation within the relationship. The time that it takes to conference with classroom teachers to try and follow their curriculum is daunting, and most cocurricular teachers do not want to take on that burden, or even have the time to do so.
Despite these objections, integration is worth it!
My mission has been to create fun and easily understood games and merge them with concepts from the classroom. By sharing these lessons, I hope to remove the most significant barrier to what I believe is an incredible teaching tool. I believe that for some students, integrated physical education, or learning through movement, is the optimal way for them to learn. Integrated PE may help make a connection with the classroom content they otherwise would not have made in the classroom alone. Even if integrated PE doesn’t help every student, it also does not hurt, for the students are still practicing fundamental gross motor skills and having fun with the peers. I had preliminary research, which you can read here, which outlines how I used a relay race scavenger hunt game to improve younger students ability to remember the planets in order. That research was a good start, but I saw that the benefits were experienced primarily by the 1st and 2nd years, and not so much by the 3rd years. Was integration only good for the youngest students? I had to find out, so I conducted an experiment with upper elementary, and the results were astounding.
Without further ado, here is a slideshow presentation of experiment and the results:
Again, I want to highlight that every single class that had the integrated PE intervention did better than the control group!
The results speak for themselves. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you are as excited as I am about the potential for integrated physical education and its application in your classroom. It can dramatically enhance your classroom curriculum while enriching your PE program as well. It’s a win-win for teachers and students.
If you are interested in these specific PE science fair lessons, a free sample of one can be found here, and the collection of Human Body Experiment Lessons can be purchased as a bundle, and they are also included in Montessori Physical Education Volume II.