Do you plan your own movement, every day?
Lockdown has meant more of us are locked behind desks for large chunks of the day - getting out and moving on a regular basis can become tricky.
In Dylan Wiliam’s BBC series, The Classroom Experiment, you’ll find quite a few provocations: ways of teaching and learning that seem counter to every obvious thing we've ever done. But they work, and have formed a foundation for NoTosh's work over 11 years in the classroom and in industry learning, too. Wiliam implements several initiatives in the school that features in the show; no grades, no hands-up and movement every day.
What’s interesting is that, in our experience of trying to help people change their approach to learning and work, only one of these three initiatives sticks. It's not that the others don’t have merit, it's just that not putting your hands up in class and not having grades meets with early resistance... from students.
At first, there are plenty of students who don’t join in the daily movement. But uptake increases over time. Not only that, concentration increases and extreme (mis)behaviours decrease.
What’s going on here?
According to The Journal of Neuroscience, cardio activity increases neuroplasticity. The movement of our bodies produces BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) which, in turn, makes new neurons and strengthens existing neurons to grow, reshape and form synapses.
It’s not a long bow to draw also to assume that lack of movement slows the production of new neurons and makes it harder to form synapses.
If that’s not motivation to get moving, I’m not sure what is.
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