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The effects of teaching /learning environments on the creative process of learning evidenced through a movement analysis tool: The Kestenberg Movement Profile

Rebecca R Burrill, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

This research looks at the effects of learning environments on the creative process of learning. The literature search addresses fundamentals of, and relationships between learning, creative process and art-making through neurophysiological, aesthetic, and psychobiological theory. These three things are further tied together through a movement analysis tool—the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP)—which underscores the common tie between the three: bodily movement in the forces of space, weight, and time of the three-dimensional world in which we live. The Kestenberg Movement Profile was used to analyze the movement of preschool children in three activity categories of movement: formal activities, improvisational dance, and art-making. A gestalt notation of group movement was done; the notation was scored and plotted separately for each activity category. An interpretation of each activity profile was done for KMP factors related to the creative process of learning. These factors were: developmental age being expressed in each activity, as well as affect, self-esteem, learning styles and structures, creative and social intelligence, and agreement between internal states and the effective communication of those states. Results showed formal activities as hindering the creative process of learning. Formal activities required highly controlled bodily movement of the children. This research study indicates, as the literature suggests, that children of this age group—ages three-and-a-half to five years—develop a healthy self-identify and intelligence through bodily movement and creative spontaneity.

Subject Area

Educational psychology|Preschool education|Art education

Recommended Citation

Burrill, Rebecca R, "The effects of teaching /learning environments on the creative process of learning evidenced through a movement analysis tool: The Kestenberg Movement Profile" (2001). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3012118.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3012118

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