Educational Implications of Movements

¶ … Education Implications of Movement by Bryant J. Cratty. Specifically, it will include a report on the book. Author of this book, Bryant J. Cratty, is a professor emeritus from UCLA and a doctor of education. He has written numerous books, and is an expert on motor development and movement in children. This book concerns motor activities of children, and how they relate to education. A basic thesis of this book comes early in Cratty's discourse.

He writes "The manner in which man manifests himself in measurable tasks is often multi-faceted" (Cratty 16). Thus, movement in education is based on several criteria, including perception and movement activities. The book covers experiments in educational movement, the child's interaction, and the relationship of motor learning to cognitive development, along with some thoughts and studies on motor movement in children, along with some opinions on the relevance of physical education in the curriculum.

This book is quite interesting and useful for teachers because it brings up some theories that are often overlooked in classroom development. Often educators are concerned with how to teach and how children learn, but they overlook some of the very physical aspects of teaching and learning, including how children develop motor and movement skills. As the author notes, there are many ways teachers can help children learn through an understanding of motor activities (Cratty 30), and these skills should not be overlooked in the classroom environment.

He also discusses the relationship between complex motor skills and IQ (Cratty 31), and so, shows that complex motor development can also affect other areas of learning. This is interesting, but it is also very valuable information for teachers, and the importance of this book should not be overlooked. There are several main concepts in the book, including, obviously, the importance of motor skill development, but the author also notes how effectively developing motor skills can help immature and mentally disabled children do better in the classroom and on the playground.

He stresses the importance of physical education in the curriculum, and notes "Movement is an important component of the total personality" (Cratty 51). Thus, if we ignore movement and its development in the classroom, we are robbing the child of development both intellectually and physically. The book certainly covered the topic in depth, and the author shows how his theories apply to both normal and atypical children (Cratty 111).

He illustrates just how movement and thought are components of higher beings rather than animals, and notes "To disregard thought processes when program planning is to ignore the finding emanating from a multitude of experimental studies... (Cratty 113). He also discusses how to take these theories into the classroom and put them to good use, which is useful for anyone who plans to teach in the classroom environment, and includes information on research in a variety of areas, including motor learning and its correlation to athletics.

There is also information on how to deal with atypical children, such as blind and special.