Why Math Classes Should Learn From Dance Classes

This is not a lesson plan about how to dance with math, although I have seen it done and have been thinking about it.  There's a lot of studies on the relationships between gestures and conceptual understanding of mathematics.  For example here, or here.  But anyway, that's not my focus here.

I had an opportunity to cover a dance teacher's senior class recently (hip hop, grade 11 + 12), since she's away.

It was an amazing experience.

Beyond just the understanding of multiple intelligences, there's a lot of things I drew parallels about learning and took away from this experience.  Let me give some background first.  The dance teacher is away, and there are 3 former students who basically handled the class (I didn't do anything besides taking the attendance)

Ideas I took away

1. Differentiation

There is a huge amount of differentiation taking place on the stage when the kids were training.  Everything seemed like a personalized learning experience.  Students each pick up different details from the instructor as they try to learn the moves.  There are some slight differences in how they personalize the movements.  Almost all the students get the main ideas, but the swagger, attitude, minor muscle movements are all slightly different.  Some students commit more to certain parts of the movements.  It's a bit hard to describe without showing you what I saw (and I couldn't just take a video and show you what I mean...).  What I will do is show you what I mean by giving an example from a Kaba Modern Workshop:

All three of them are doing the same thing, but there are slight differences.  Near 20 seconds, for example, their arms don't come up to the same distance away from their head.  All the movements are the same, but the execution is different.

There are other aspects with respect to differentiation as well -- in terms of different backgrounds.  During the class, one of the instructors makes a comment saying "I don't count, I use beats."  Instead of being comfortable counting "1 2 3 4, 5 6 7 8" he was more comfortable with just going with the beats of the song, and also where the notes of the song happen to land.

There's a lot that I took away with respect to this.  There's a lot that we can learn from the way the differentiation is achieved in a dance class.  Each student picks up the moves in a different way, and they work towards "perfecting" it in the way that makes the most sense for their bodies and proportions.  In a math class, this is definitely what should happen.  Each student begin learning a concept through different venues.  There are different difficulties with a given concept, and they need to all struggle and persevere in different ways.


2. Assessment

One thing that is quite apparent to me was that during the dance class, there was consistent and frequent instructions, immediate formative assessments and feedback, and a meaningful summative assessment.

The instructors go over the choreography a few times, and they go over the main ideas of each move.  While they are doing this, students are getting constant feedback to their own movements.  It is not necessarily the instructor picking out and pointing out what's wrong with each individual's movements, but more that the students are seeing the differences.  The students are noticing the movements and they are constantly comparing those of their own, and modifying their movements as they go along.  The feedback, in that sense, is immediate.  Students also constantly have others in their group doing the same moves, so they have a way of comparing their movements to others.  In math, the calculations and mathematical manipulations are less visible. When other students are working on problems, words are not appearing on the top of their heads.  Other students don't have such a visible and obvious way to compare their own answers to others.  A lot of us are mediating this by sharing student work periodically, or using ideas like stickies to give some formative feedback.  However, it is quite a different experience from dance, where the comparison and immediate feedback can be much easier.

In terms of another aspect of assessment, their summative assessment are also easier to present as meaningful.  In mathematics, some students are always challenging the utility and relevance of the topics they learn.  In dance, they don't ask "when are we ever going to make these dance moves in real life?"  There is not only an embedded appreciation for dancing as just a form of expression, kids don't even associate this with the need of making it relevant.  I have been struggling with the concept of relevance for a while, and this was quite an interesting way to think about these issue.

Dance also has an immediately relevant summative.  They will be performing at an assembly at the end of the year.  The goal is clear.  To the students, the goal is also meaningful.  There is an event that will mean something.  It also ties in the social aspects of student lives which math has a hard time reaching -- and in the lives of teenagers, these social aspects are absolutely priority number 1.

3. Engagement

Yeah, I know... not the right engagement.  But it gets people engaged too.  This one is kind of an interesting one.  I am sure there are people who hate dance classes -- if they are mandatory.  It isn't the case for the class that I observed.  Granted, there was one student who was significantly behind, and was constantly lost on what he should be doing next (we'll talk about this kid later) -- but most of the time all the kids are absolutely engaged.  They love every minute of it.  They didn't even mind that it was getting hot, or that they were sweating.  They love what they were doing.  How do we get kids learning mathematics to the same level of engagement?  In dance class, these kind of engagement is almost automatic, it seems.  They are focused on the moves they learn.  Even their jokes and distractions are very brief.  Is it even possible to get kids this kind of engagement in the mathematics class room?  I suppose if we want to be fair, we'd have to compare it to a mathematics classroom that is voluntary.  But I think there's a lot of good in trying to compare this to a regular mathematics classroom.

4. Learning environment

It's a generally positive learning environment that I am seeing.  The instructor has humor, and the atmosphere of the class is pretty positive.  I haven't been with this class for long enough to know about whether there are issues hidden behind the positive surface, but I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Beyond just the positives, though, there are still issues and problems that I am thinking about.

Issues I am wondering about

1. students left behind? confidence building?

As I mentioned before, there was 1 student who was just completely lost.  It seems like he wasn't picking up the moves fast enough, and he's just generally moving to the spots that he's suppose to, without knowing what to do.  What exactly happens in a dance class for these kids left behind?  What about their confidence?  This reminds me of lecture-type mathematics classrooms when kids are left behind.  Without group work and opportunities for teachers to help them one-on-one, the students are expected to sink or swim.  And they often sink.

2. speed of instructions?

The instructors were the dance teacher's (the one that was away) former students.  they were going super fast.  They basically went through the entire last half of the routine during this period.  I am unsure if they just wanted to impress the dance teacher, or that's just how fast they do these routines, or it's because they wanted to go through the routine while they were still able to help... But it was definitely going by very quickly.  This draws parallel to when math "lessons" goes way too fast for students to fully grasp the understanding.  A lot of teachers do this.  I do this sometimes too, and I hate myself for it.  It's unintentional, but it has a profound effect of student understanding.

3. lack of detailed feedback?

I mentioned before that one of the strengths of a dance class was constant feedback.  however, this was not personalized.  The instructors didn't really have time to go over with individuals what they were doing wrong.  Students were getting feedback, but they were visual feedback that they had to obtain on their own.  I am wondering if there is a way for them to get detailed feedback in this kind of setting.

5. Becoming individuals?

We want our students to become their own mathematicians.  We want to them to be able to construct mathematics from their own ideas, and become capable, confident, and effective problem solvers

I think the same thing should be, and could be said for dance classes too.  In the class that I observed, students were following a set choreography, there wasn't really a freedom for them to explore their own movements or ideas.  But at the same time, I can appreciate a beautifully choreographed song.  Does the same thing apply to math classrooms then?  Some tasks which are organized and planned are perhaps essential for scaffolding learning?