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Preschool

Social and Behavioral Sciences

2015

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Education

Effects Of Integrated Physical Exercises And Gestures On Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning, Myrto F. Mavilidi, Anthony D. Okely, Paul A. Chandler, Dylan P. Cliff, Fred Paas Jan 2015

Effects Of Integrated Physical Exercises And Gestures On Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning, Myrto F. Mavilidi, Anthony D. Okely, Paul A. Chandler, Dylan P. Cliff, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Research suggests that integrating human movement into a cognitive learning task can be effective for learning due to its cognitive and physiological effects. In this study, the learning effects of enacting words through whole-body movements (i.e., physical exercise) and part-body movements (i.e., gestures) were investigated in a foreign language vocabulary task. Participants were 111 preschool children of 15 childcare centers, who were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. Participants had to learn 14 Italian words in a 4-week teaching program. They were tested on their memory for the words during, directly after, and 6 weeks after the program. In …


Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning By Embodying Words Through Physical Activity And Gesturing, Konstantina Toumpaniari, Sofie M. M Loyens, Myrto F. Mavilidi, Fred Paas Jan 2015

Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning By Embodying Words Through Physical Activity And Gesturing, Konstantina Toumpaniari, Sofie M. M Loyens, Myrto F. Mavilidi, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Research has demonstrated that physical activity involving gross motor activities can lead to better cognitive functioning and higher academic achievement scores. In addition, research within the theoretical framework of embodied cognition has shown that embodying knowledge through the use of more subtle motor activities, such as task-relevant gestures, has a positive effect on learning. In this study, we investigated whether combining both physical activities and gestures could improve learning even more in a 4-week intervention program on foreign language vocabulary learning in preschool children. The main hypothesis that learning by embodying words through task-relevant enactment gestures and physical activities would …