This article debates how muscles happen in early childhood education. Drawing on post-developmental pedagogies and feminist science studies, this article integrates moments from a pedagogical inquiry with movement in early childhood education to trace how muscles matter as complex and active ethical, political, and pedagogical concerns. After…

The purpose of this insight article is to explore the relevance and value of some of Bruce Lee's ideas that influenced his coaching philosophy, (re)viewed through the lens of contemporary discussions in movement skill acquisition. To achieve this aim, we highlight empirical and anecdotal examples of many of the important concepts that support…

The following article looks at the role movement and sensorial stimuli do play in the educational approaches of Dr. Maria Montessori and Dr. Emmi Pikler as well as the Sensorial Integration and Psychomotor Therapy. The author of this paper has been studying, applying, and teaching all four approaches for many years and used her expertise in all…

The aim of this paper was to examine the influence of picturebooks on children's "physical literacy" (PL). Fostering PL in early childhood can promote a physically active lifestyle in children and later adults. Picturebook use is a great opportunity for movement exploration in physical education classes, and recent research findings…

The article highlights connections between music and movement activities and emergent literacy development among infants and toddlers. I review how music is linked to phonological awareness, oral language, vocabulary, and other related skills that support reading, like executive function. I also highlight the benefits of including…

The SHAPE America National Physical Education Standards have long been the foundation for best practices in quality physical education. Following the 10-year cycle for revising the standards, a task force with diverse professional backgrounds convened to update the National Standards with special consideration for stakeholders who will be impacted…

This article seeks to expose the unconscious exclusion of the joy of movement in PE curriculum, using the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) as a case study. The article discusses the joy of movement, the social construction of movement pleasure and the role of movement pleasure in the physical education setting. An analogy of the 'non-participant' is…

This article aims to provide practical strategies and examples for pre-service early education programs and early education teachers to develop music- and movement-based curricula for teacher preparation programs and early childhood music classrooms. To address the inconsistencies in early childhood music programs, the authors developed the…

Laban Movement Analysis is a common resource used in dance education curricula in the United States. When used to analyze dance forms that are created outside the Eurocentric lineage, the application of this system must be contextualized as a perspective stemming from beyond the mores of the cultural creators of that dance form. This article…

The article discusses the role of body movement, perception and kinaesthesia in mathematical thinking and accounts for the virtuality of mathematical concepts. A first person experience with a graphing motion software (WiiGraph), which involves ample body movements and is used to draw a circle, is presented. To study the unfolding of the…

This article investigates how particular conceptions of physical development (PD) are enacted in early childhood studies in Toronto, Canada. Following critical childhood studies scholars who emphasize the urgency of re-formulating relationships with taken-for-granted concepts in the field, we argue for a practice of noticing, tracing, naming, and…

Background: Nonlinear Pedagogy, underpinned by concepts in ecological dynamics, is a pedagogical framework that advocates an exploratory approach to acquisition of movement skills with an emphasis on individualised movement solutions. Its key principles have been successfully implemented in sports teaching and coaching and are currently being…

In world music ensembles such as African and African Caribbean percussion ensembles, the Gamelan ensemble, and the Latin marimba ensemble, members may sing a song, play instruments, and dance simultaneously. This practice is known as music multitasking. For musicians in Western art music traditions, music multitasking can be a challenge. This…

In this article, Allison Upshaw presents an interdisciplinary arts-based inquiry, an inquiry she undertook as part of the work for her PhD, focused on the instruction she offered her preservice teacher (PST) students in the integration of dance/movement with literacy practices. In this class, the movement was based explorations on the reading of…

This article follows a university dance educator's journey through shifting pedagogy to create a more equitable learning environment, turning traditional didactic dance education models inside out. Inside-Out Prison Exchange Pedagogy, designed to facilitate dialogue across differences, was utilized for a movement-based course of university…