Who Are We?

Our courses playfully experiment with diverse possibilities for learning on the move. In Embodied Education, which explores the integration of physical activity and academic instruction, sailing offers an introduction to fluid dynamics. In Exercise is Medicine, which showcases how varied movement genres can enhance a single subject offering (history of health and medicine), Qigong provides a route to understanding principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In Thinking on Your Feet, which investigates the possibilities of a single movement genre for teaching across disciplines, square dance scaffolds lessons in computer programming, history, and mineralogy. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is at the heart of this work! Curriculum development is a focus of course assignments, in some cases serving the educational needs of partner organizations.

Participating Instructors: Clark Baker SM '80, Andy Barlow, Johnny Blazes, Matt Breen, Brian Bubna, Benita Comeau, Ginda Fisher, Mary Fuller, Anna Grossman, Dave Hagymas, Joel Herzfeld, Dave Hill, Lewis Hou, Dave Hunter, Rob Hupp, Alex Jackson, Sarah Johnson, Morgan Kelley, Jennifer Light, Emily Lin, Matt Lindblad, Thierry Lincou, Carol Matsuzaki '95, Carrie Sampson Moore, Praneeth Namburi, Luke Olivier, Andrea Olsen, McKersin Previlus, Ezra Quinlan '14, Talis Reks, Ramel Rones, Reba Rosenberg, Charlie Salek, Guy Steele PhD '80, Cecilia Stuopis '90, Yamilee Toussaint '08, Shir Wonder.

Our classes blend readings and classroom discussions with "lab exercises" exploring creative ways to integrate physical activity into academic instruction. We invited MIT Video Production to share excerpts of what we’re doing in Embodied Education: Past, Present, Future, where our focus is the K-12 curriculum. Students had no prior exposure to the featured movement modalities; i.e., all lessons were organized with beginners in mind. We hope these examples inspire you to consider introducing movement into your academic classroom and initiating new collaborations at your institution!