Action Based Learning at Burton Pack Elementary - Columbia, SC

Author: Janae Frazier

Columbia, SC (WLTX) – One Midlands school is changing the way they teach their students with Action-Based Learning. The educators at Burton-Pack Elementary School are using the energy of their high-strung, jittery children and channeling that into learning. “They're always on the go so you want to feed into that energy, you don't want to keep them isolated and still because then again they're not being intrigued so if they're able to constantly move,” Fifth Grader Math Teacher Lukisha Hickman explained. “Hopefully with that movement their learning would be fun then hopefully they'll be able to learn more.”

The school is using two Action-Based Learning Labs and a kinesthetic classroom. Where the children are learning math, science or English, they are also pedaling on a bike, balancing on a snowboard or exercising on a work out machine.

“The main thing that it is doing for them is helping them focus, they have much better focus when they come in here. They're excited. They're energized. They’re engaged,” Action-based Learning Lab Coordinator Carol Tyler Watson said. “The sitting is not good for them, because we know research has shown that our blood flow when we're sitting goes to the bottom part of our body and our brain is up here so we need that blood to circulate so our brain can function properly.”

It is kid-approved too. “It's really fun for me because I'm doing my work focusing at the same time while moving so it really helps me a lot and it helps my brain get better,” Fifth grader Joshua Bates explained. “I think my classes should be like this because I think people will get to learn better and be more concentrated at what they do,” fifth grader Jadann Hill said.

“If you ask the children they'll tell you they definitely prefer this way as to sitting in a desk,” Watson said. Not only are they learning better, the added plus is that they're exercising their bodies too. The Action Based Learning Implementation is in partnership with the University of South Carolina.