The Psychology of Movement and Learning: an Introduction

with Dr Peter Lovatt

This module provides an introduction to the Psychology of Movement and Learning, as it explores how moving our body can lead to fundamental changes in the way we think, feel, behave and learn. The content is delivered online by Dr Peter Lovatt through a series of short videos and accompanying slides. Pause & Reflect activities and Active Learning exercises are interleaved between the videos. The module includes two suggested readings and the Learning Outcomes are assessed by a Multiple-Choice Quiz (MCQ). Successful completion of the module leads to the award of five hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) (CE/CPE) and a Certificate of Completion. The Movement in Practice Academy, and this module, are both accredited by CPD Standards.

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What to Expect

  • What you'll learn

    In this introductory course you'll learn about the psychology of movement and learning. You'll learn about the impact that movement has on social engagement, thinking, our emotions and our physical make-up; essential elements for effective learning.

  • Expert Instructor

    Dr Peter Lovatt is an expert educator, dancer and Dance Psychologist. With over 25 years of university-level teaching and research experience, which extends from Cambridge University to the Royal Ballet School in London, he'll lead you through the course, from novice to expert.

  • Easy to follow lessons

    The Movement in Practice Academy has created bite-size videos, pause and reflect activities, active learning exercises, recommended readings and quizzes, so that your learning is perfectly choreographed for CPD (CE/CPE) success, every step of the way.

Who is the course for?

Movement and Learning an Introduction is designed for anyone with an interest in the use of movement as part of the learning experience in educational, health and corporate business environments. For example, it is appropriate for teachers and educators at all levels and for people who are interested in the relationship between movement and learning.

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Course Aims

This introductory course in the Psychology of Movement and Learning provides 5 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) through video-based lectures, Pause and Reflect Activities, Active Learning Exercises, Recommended Readings and a Quiz. The aims of the course are:

  • To provide an introduction to the relationship between movement and some psychological processes underlying learning.

  • To provide a working definition of Psychology

  • To provide a basic introduction to four areas of Psychology

  • To describe the science of movement and learning within a four STEP framework

  • To provide exercises for self-reflection and active learning

Psychology of Movement and Learning

Course Curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to Movement and Learning an Introduction

    • Welcome to Movement and Learning an Introduction
    • How to use this course
    • Module Guide for Movement and Learning an Introduction
    • Meet your Instructor
    • Lecture Aims
    • Dance Break - Sir Duke - First Eight
  • 2

    The Psychology of Movement and Learning

    • What is Psychology?
    • Developmental Psychology
    • General Guide to Pause and Reflect Activities
    • Pause & Reflect on Developmental Psychology
    • Social Psychology
    • Pause & Reflect on Social Psychology
    • Dance Break - Sir Duke - Second Eight
    • Biological Psychology
    • Pause & Reflect on Biological Psychology
    • Cognitive Psychology
    • Pause & Reflect on Cognitive Psychology
    • Dance Break - Sir Duke - Third Eight
    • Psychology Reading Activity
  • 3

    The Science of Movement & Learning

    • STEP
    • Moving Socially
    • Active Learning Exercise - Finding your Groove
    • Moving and Thinking
    • Active Learning Exercise - Convergent & Divergent Thinking
    • Dance Break - Sir Duke - Fourth Eight
    • Moving and Emotion
    • Active Learning Exercise - Emotion in Movement
    • Moving Physically
    • Active Learning Exercise - Heart Rate and Daily Activities
    • Dance Break - Sir Duke - the whole thing
    • Movement and Learning Reading Activity
  • 4

    Summary & Quiz

    • Lecture Summary
    • Quiz for Movement and Learning
  • 5

    Student Evaluation

    • Student Evaluation
Watch Intro Video

Psychology of Movement and Learning an Introduction

Welcome to the course

Recognition of Learning

Upon successful completion of the course you will receive a Certificate of Completion and official recognition of five hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity.

Accredited CPD training means the learning activity has reached the required Continuing Professional Development standards and benchmarks.

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Principal Lecturer

Peter Lovatt BSc, MSc, PhD

Peter Lovatt

Principal

Peter Lovatt

Dr Peter Lovatt is an award-winning lecturer with over 25 years of university teaching experience. Peter recently left his post at the University of Hertfordshire, where he was Principal Lecturer and Reader in Psychology, to set up Movement in Practice. Peter started out as a teaching assistant at Stirling University in 1993, where he ran seminars on Cognitive Psychology and had his first experience of marking coursework. This was followed by a Psychology Teaching Fellowship at Essex University where he taught Psychology undergraduates, while he completed his PhD. At the same time Peter was also involved with teaching at the Centre for Continuing Education, which provided a range of open access courses for people to complete in the evenings and at weekends. Peter got his first full-time lectureship in 1996 in the Department of Psychology at the University of Greenwich, where he taught Cognitive Psychology and Research Methods. In 1998 he moved to the University of Cambridge, where he taught on the MA in Applied Linguistics and supervised PhD students in the Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics (Faculty of English). From 2001-2003 Peter was a visiting Lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he taught the Psychology of Language to undergraduates, and from 2001 to 2004 he held the full-time post of Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Kingston University. In 2004 Peter moved to the University of Hertfordshire to take up the post of Reader in Psychology where, in 2008, he set up the Dance Psychology Lab and established a course in the Psychology of Performing Arts, which included lectures on Dance Psychology. In 2009 Peter’s teaching was Highly Commended in the Vice Chancellor’s Awards. From 2008 to 2019, Peter taught the Psychology of Performing Arts and Dance Psychology at every level of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching (from first year undergraduates to PhD candidates) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. In 2017 Peter started to teach Dance Psychology at the Royal Ballet School in London, to both the vocational dance students as part of the Healthy Dancer course, and also on the Diploma in Dance Teaching.

Perfect Preparatory Reading

Dr Peter Lovatt has written two books on the relationship between dance and psychology.

The Dance Cure

The surprising secret to being smarter, stronger, happier.

Dame Darcey Bussell wrote of The Dance Cure "Peter has brilliantly put into words what I have felt my whole dancing life; that the power of dance can liberate and change all our lives"
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Dance Psychology

the science of dance and dancers

Dance Psychology is the study of dance and dancers from a scientific, psychological perspective. Written by Dr Peter Lovatt (AKA Dr Dance), this Dance Psychology textbook provides a general introduction to the Psychology of Dance and then it delves in to eleven of the most central questions concerning Dance Psychology. Are humans born to dance? Does the way you move your body change the way you think? Will dancing make people happier? Can dancing put people in to a trance-like state? Will a person's dance confidence change across the lifespan? Does dancing make people healthier? Why do we enjoy watching some dance performances more than others? How do dancers remember so many dance routines? Why don't dancers get dizzy? Will dancing improve a person's self-esteem? How do we communicate emotions with our body? Drawing on academic literature, this book is engaging, technical and, in places, critical; it is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Dance Psychology.
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