Trainer - Writer - Facilitator - Instructional Designer

Good training thrives on variety. Trainers know that getting people up and moving around can create a “break” that helps stimulate learning.

Whenever learning involves physical activity, we call it “kinesthetic” or “tactile” learning. What we often don’t think about is just how involved the physical activity might be and how much that involvement stimulates learning. Consider the differences in meandering, walking, power walking, running and racing…..all kinesthetic, but with different outcomes.

Often trainers create what I call “kinesthetic lite” activities and check it off their list as, “My training supports all the learning styles.” What they may not realize is that a higher level of kinesthetic activity can create a higher level of learning.

I’ve created a scale that will help you gage the kinesthetic level in a specific learning activity. For a real life example, click here and download the complete free pdf file.

Level 1 – Walking from one place in the room to a different place in the room, talking, taking notes.

Level 2 – Moving to a different place in the room to work with a team. Working on a project that involves writing, sorting objects such as cards or discussing.

Level 3- Moving to different places in the room multiple times, writing, talking, some form of acceptable physical contact like shaking hands.

Level 4 – Moving to different places within a building, walking for more than 10 minutes to the various locations, using different forms of transportation such as elevators or escalators, reading directions or office numbers to locate specific places, moving to view or search for items, touching various objects, operating various objects, talking, presenting.

Level 5 – Moving to different places including inside and outdoors, experiencing variance in temperatures and light sources, touching a variety of man made and nature items, putting on items such as climbing gear, costume, etc., climbing, reaching, balancing, stretching, walking, talking, coaching, reacting in a physical manner to feedback.

Here’s to creating training with strong Kinesthetic components!

© 2011 Linda M. Farley

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