The Effect of Kinesthetics on Student Engagement and Retention of Skills on Elementary Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of kinesthetics on student engagement and retention of sight words. The participants in this study consisted of sixteen first grade students who served as their own controls. The participants were provided with sight word instruction and practice aligned with the Common Core State Standards as well as the local school system’s English Language Arts curriculum. The study was conducted over a period of one month with two different lists of words and a total of fourteen words. A group of seven words were taught using traditional methods and seven words taught incorporating. Kinesthetics. Sight word knowledge score was measured by word recognition and spelling accuracy. The mean sight words knowledge score under the kinesthetic condition (Mean=13.31, SD=1.08) was significantly higher than the mean sight word knowledge score under the traditional rote instruction condition (Mean=12.13, SD = 1.59) [t(15)=3.45, p=.004]. Implications, threat to validity, and ideas for future research are discussed.