Smart Moves (Book)
Encyclopedia
The book Smart Moves: Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head was written in 1995 by neurophysiologist and educator Carla Hannaford (revised and enlarged second edition published 2005), and includes an introduction by internationally recognized scientist Candace Pert
, whose work on neuropeptides has revolutionized the scientific view of the mind/body connection.
In Smart Moves, Dr. Hannaford looks at the body's role in thinking and learning, supporting her views with scientific research from child development, physiology, and neuroscience. Hannaford examines the ways that sensorimotor experiences effect short- and long-term memory, from infancy through adulthood, and presents the mounting scientific evidence that movement is crucial to learning.
In her book, Hannaford offers clear alternatives to enhance learning ability. Included in the list are: de-emphasizing rote learning; more experiential, active instruction; less labeling of learning disabilities; more physical movement; more personal expression through arts, sports and music; less prescribing of Ritalin and other drugs whose long term effects are unknown. She also details the roles in learning played by various areas of the brain, and examines the interplay of brain, body, and environment.
Hannaford is an advocate of movement and play in learning, discussing the importance of sensorimotor development
(visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic readiness) to the learning process. She provides several case examples of children whose learning improved remarkably through use of the Brain Gym(R) activities
, as well as including her own research done with Brain Gym.
In Smart Moves, Carla Hannaford describes in depth how emotions and the physiological stress reaction can affect the normal everyday lives of both children and adults. She invents the term SOSOH (Stressed Out, Survival-Oriented Humans) for people with learning disabilities or attention difficulties. She argues that ADD, ADHD, and all other learning problems are related to stress, as stress produces survival-oriented behavior while inhibiting the learning process.
Smart Moves puts forward simple and common sense approaches to support learning, including:
Carla Hannaford is also the author of The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand, & Foot Can Improve Your Learning (1997), Awakening the Child Heart: Handbook for the Global Parenting (2002), and Playing in the Unified Field: Raising and Becoming Conscious, Creative Human Beings (2010). An award winning science teacher and an internationally recognized educational consultant, Hannaford has presented more than seven hundred lectures and workshops in thirty countries over the past seventeen years. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages.
Candace Pert
Candace Beebe Pert is an American neuroscientist and pharmacologist who discovered the opiate receptor, the cellular binding site for endorphins in the brain.-History:...
, whose work on neuropeptides has revolutionized the scientific view of the mind/body connection.
In Smart Moves, Dr. Hannaford looks at the body's role in thinking and learning, supporting her views with scientific research from child development, physiology, and neuroscience. Hannaford examines the ways that sensorimotor experiences effect short- and long-term memory, from infancy through adulthood, and presents the mounting scientific evidence that movement is crucial to learning.
In her book, Hannaford offers clear alternatives to enhance learning ability. Included in the list are: de-emphasizing rote learning; more experiential, active instruction; less labeling of learning disabilities; more physical movement; more personal expression through arts, sports and music; less prescribing of Ritalin and other drugs whose long term effects are unknown. She also details the roles in learning played by various areas of the brain, and examines the interplay of brain, body, and environment.
Hannaford is an advocate of movement and play in learning, discussing the importance of sensorimotor development
Sensory integration
Sensory integration is defined as the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. Specifically, it deals with how the brain processes multiple sensory modality inputs into usable...
(visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic readiness) to the learning process. She provides several case examples of children whose learning improved remarkably through use of the Brain Gym(R) activities
Brain Gym
The Brain Gym program is based on the concept that learning challenges can be overcome by carrying out certain movements, the use of which will create pathways in the brain...
, as well as including her own research done with Brain Gym.
In Smart Moves, Carla Hannaford describes in depth how emotions and the physiological stress reaction can affect the normal everyday lives of both children and adults. She invents the term SOSOH (Stressed Out, Survival-Oriented Humans) for people with learning disabilities or attention difficulties. She argues that ADD, ADHD, and all other learning problems are related to stress, as stress produces survival-oriented behavior while inhibiting the learning process.
Smart Moves puts forward simple and common sense approaches to support learning, including:
- dietary awareness: drinking enough water, less sugar intake, etc.
- doing physical movement to help the brain perceive events in a less stressful way
- creating a more calm environment for people with learning difficulties
Carla Hannaford is also the author of The Dominance Factor: How Knowing Your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand, & Foot Can Improve Your Learning (1997), Awakening the Child Heart: Handbook for the Global Parenting (2002), and Playing in the Unified Field: Raising and Becoming Conscious, Creative Human Beings (2010). An award winning science teacher and an internationally recognized educational consultant, Hannaford has presented more than seven hundred lectures and workshops in thirty countries over the past seventeen years. Her books have been translated into thirteen languages.
See also
- Brain GymBrain GymThe Brain Gym program is based on the concept that learning challenges can be overcome by carrying out certain movements, the use of which will create pathways in the brain...
- sensorimotor learningSensory integrationSensory integration is defined as the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. Specifically, it deals with how the brain processes multiple sensory modality inputs into usable...
- Stress: General adaptation syndromeStress (biology)Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...
- Perceptual learningPerceptual learningThe term perceptual learning refers to the process of long lasting improvement in performing perceptual tasks as a function of experienceand practice . According to Eleanor Gibson , it refers to the experience-induced changes in the way information is extracted following sensory experience...
- Vision trainingVision trainingVision training is the training of visual perception and recognition, and is used throughout the optical world as a method of training the eye...