Kinaesthetic Learning in Early Childhood

Georgina Barton is a professor of literacies and pedagogy at the University of Southern Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Before being an academic, Georgina taught in schools for over 20 years including teaching English in South India. She has been an acting principal and a lead teacher in the areas of literacy and numeracy. Georgina also has extensive experience in teaching the arts in schools and universities and often utilises the arts to support students’ literacy learning outcomes.Susanne Garvis is a professor at the School of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University. She is a specialist in Early Childhood education and has been involved with many national and international projects around policy, quality and learning with young children. Her most recent was a large meta-analysis exploring teacher qualifications and environmental quality. She has worked in many countries and currently lives in Australia.

• 1. The importance of kinaesthetic learning for early childhood 2. Kinaesthetic learning: A systematic review in early childhood education contexts 3. Learning by doing: a self-narrative approach to children's experiential learning 4. Practice-based approaches to kinaesthetic learning 5. A kinaesthetic approach to teaching mathematics education in the early years 6. An investigation of the use of arts-based embodied learning in early years classrooms 7. The body as an instrument of knowing: Kinaesthetic learning with and through the arts 8. Digital technologies and kinaesthetic learning for early years boys 9. Building a bridge: LEGO as a kinaesthetic tool to facilitate play-based learning in early childhood and beyond 10. Embodied scaffolding and kinaesthetic learning in Finnish early childhood education 11. Concluding comments

'As this book consistently aims to provide the reader with varied research studies that promote the learning benefits of kinaesthetic education, so too does it simultaneously advocate for play-based early learning environments. A preschool or kindergarten teacher looking to reaffirm their use of hands-on learning and incorporate new ideas for it would gain insight into developing their practice from reading this book. Drawing from the detailed chapters, they could apply the myriad of ideas and strategies to content-related elements in their classrooms. This book would also serve as a good option in a pre-service setting to set a foundational understanding of early childhood theoretical concepts for students while increasing awareness of the importance of kinaesthetic learning in early childhood education.'Lori Blake, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, Central Connecticut State University, USA.