The Importance of Balance
July 2, 2019
Written By: Barbara Eaton (Academic Development Co-ordinator of ADvTECH Pre-Primary Schools)
Balance is the ability to maintain the body’s centre of mass over its base of support. A properly functioning balance system allows humans to see clearly while moving, identify location with respect to gravity, determine direction and speed of movement, and make automatic postural adjustments to maintain posture and stability in various conditions and activities.
Balance is achieved and maintained by a complex set of sensorimotor control systems that include sensory input from vision (sight), proprioception (touch), and the vestibular system (motion, equilibrium, spatial orientation); integration of that sensory input; and motor output to the eye and body muscles.
Balance begins in infancy as babies begin to hold their heads up and raise themselves up on their arms. It develops steadily with opportunities to run, jump, climb, balance and play. Development stabilises at approximately 10-11 years. There are balance milestones to achieve by certain ages. Eg, a child should be able to balance on one leg for more than 12 seconds by the age of 5.5 years. At pre-school girls appear to have slightly better balance than boys.
Balance is basic to physical fitness as it is the ability to maintain and control body position while stationary or moving.
Good balance and core muscle tone enables a child to sit at a desk for academic tasks and to persevere for reasonable periods of time. This is called static balance. Without it the child will fidget, rock on the chair and need frequent excuses to stand and walk.
Dynamic balance is the ability to maintain postural control during movement so is important to all sport and dance.
Giving children lots of time to play freely outside, to climb, swing and roll, is essential for developing good balance and posture.
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Every Student learns differently! Think about it like this; In the real world, we customize our coffee orders, hairstyles, our music playlists, and occasionally take our own clothes to the tailor to get a perfect fit in line with our our tastes. All this is done to provide the best customer service as well as for the customer to cherish it. So, why should our children’s educational journeys be treated differently? From time immemorial until now, the education system has evolved drastically from the former traditional teaching where the teacher was ‘ Mr. I know it All , where learners were just like passive passengers on an intellectual train to the current modern approach known as Personalized Learning. When put together, Personalized Learning’ means teachers provide targeted learning towards each student’s unique learning needs, interests, learning styles and modify their experiences. Personalized Learning ensures every lesson is resourceful, relevant and engaging with all students, which helps them grasp concepts taught more effectively leaving them with a touch of confidence in themselves. How Do Personalized Learning Approaches Support Different Learning Styles and Learner Progress? As educators at Gaborone International School, we understand that learning how our learners process information is not just beneficial to them, but it is a crucial part of our work to become excellent at our jobs and in ensuring every student succeeds in their academic journey. At GIS, we adopt these fou r famous and common learning styles for our learners: 1. Visual Learners These are learners who understand and remember things best when they see them. Thus, as teachers at GIS, we make use of PowerPoint Presentations, use information in diagrammatic form, images/pictures and videos while teaching our students. Our growing innovative techniques with digital equipment; for example, making use of projectors and iPads with learners has proven very helpful to these specific learners. 2. Auditory Learners : These learn best by hearing information and they remember spoken words. For these students, we make use of assigning group tasks to certain subtopics in a topic/question and once a set time is over, we push for students to teach it /explain it to the whole class (peer teaching). Additionally, rather than the teacher delivering all the information, learners are given a chance to collaborate with each other, and this makes them retain concepts taught easily. 3. Kinesthetic Learners: These learners enjoy hands-on activities, they learn quicker by doing & moving or changing seating positions. DIY Ferris Wheels by Std 3 Learners during a Robotics lesson As teachers, we try to make this possible as they engage in different specialist subjects. For example, However, we can make these learners get involved as we take them to the labs, Music, Art, PE and making use of buildings blocks/models. This way, learners can 10 channel their energy productively without disrupting their concentration span. 4. Reading /Writing Learners: These are learners who understand better when they read and write things down. This one is a classic traditional style where students write notes during class, read out loud what is on the board, and they love reading articles. In the Lower Primary school, particularly Standard 1 to 3, our Guided Readers program takes care of such learners. By adding all these techniques to how we teach learners, it has helped us to answer a lot of questions our parents had and remove anxieties as they drop off their children at school each day. This makes them confident that their children are treated as individuals with unique talents and goals and are given room to thrive in a system that values them more and allows self-advocacy and the best to come out of them.
A message from the Deputy Principal: Hillary Siandula
It is the outcome of a carefully designed ecosystem that supports learners every day.
