Dance and movement theater in schools put to the test
So far, little is known about how motor creativity develops in children and how this affects their personality. A team from the universities of Marburg and Münster and the Cologne University of Music and Dance wants to shed some light on this.
As part of the project, trained dance teachers will teach the basics of dance and movement theater to children in 3rd and 4th grade at all-day elementary school. In particular, children from migrant backgrounds at disadvantaged schools, who otherwise receive little support, will be included.
In a further step, the scientists want to determine whether they can measure and record the artistic-creative aspect that the children contribute. Finally, they want to determine how the promotion of creativity through dance and movement theater affects the children's motor and cognitive development.
Mainz sports scientist Claudia Steinberg is part of a four-person research group with Martin Stern from Philipps University Marburg, Nils Neuber from Westfälische Wilhelms University Münster and Yvonne Hardt from the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Together they have raised 190,000 euros from the Mercator Foundation to study the development of creativity and personality in more than 250 schoolchildren in Mainz.
Contact: www.sportpaedagogik.uni-mainz.de/dr-claudia-behrens
