Tai Chi changing learning perceptions

A UQ lecturer has begun using a unique learning technique with her students to help develop their teaching skills.

The Chinese martial art of Tai Chi is being used by Dr Lisa Hunter as part of the Middle Years of Schooling Bachelor of Education degree that started in 2003 at UQ Ipswich.

Dr Hunter said Tai Chi was used in the Health and Physical Education and Maths curriculum frame of the course to change perceptions of what learning involved and to open up new ideas and methods of teaching.

“The benefits to the students are played out through learning how the curriculum can be integrated and how the body and movement can become central to what kids learn at school. This is something that kids indicate is very important to them,” she said.

“The students also practice teaching a movement to the rest of the class. They are building their language and demonstration skills around the movement.”

Dr Hunter said she had been practicing Tai Chi for four years and other similar arts for 20 years. She said it helped improve her breathing, balance, flexibility and mobility.

“Initially learning the movements in sequences challenges how people understand their bodies and movement,” she said.

“However, it’s not so much about how many movements you do, it’s about applying the principles of flow, balance, posture and breathing that’s important. It’s the doing that counts rather than the knowing about it.”

Dr Hunter said some of the students had expressed initial concerns that they wouldn’t be able to do Tai Chi’s sequential movements. However, she said they had overcome their anxieties and could see the benefits within the wider school curriculum.

“As the pre-service teachers in the course are not health and physical education specialists and indeed many have had quite negative experiences with movement and their bodies Tai Chi is an activity that is able to challenge them without turning them off,” Dr Hunter said.

“The course is attempting to look at integrating curriculum areas and therefore we’ve not only focused on the movement of Tai Chi but also how it can be used across all curriculum areas.”

Dr Hunter said teaching the movements of Tai Chi to the students was the easiest part of the course.

“The biggest challenge was trying to change their perceptions of what physical education and maths could be like and trying to open up their ideas to include both in whatever work they do with kids,” she said.

For photos, contact Photo Library Coordinator Diana Lilley (telephone 07 3365 2753, email: d.lilley@mailbox.uq.edu.au).

Media: For more information, contact Dr Lisa Hunter (telephone 07 3365 6985, email: lhunter@hms.uq.edu.au) or Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email: c.saxby@uq.edu.au).