Dance Ensemble's 2nd Time at Galaxy

The second time we visited the Galaxy and Stars students, we started right on time! This workshop resembled the DNA definition workshop I had done with the Dance Ensemble a few weeks earlier. After introducing ourselves with movement, like we start every workshop, we did a couple of warm up activities playing with shape, levels, and positive and negative space within our bodies. Then we sat back in the circle and I revealed from my pocket something I had been collecting in my kitchen earlier that afternoon: apple seeds! I thought this would be a great way to get us thinking about how DNA works. Small, yet in charge of something grander, seeds contain the material that allows trees to grow and apples to form. I then explained that each seed contains DNA. 

The definition of DNA that I was working on was one from Merriam-Webster:

“Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms.”

Even for those who have been introduced to DNA, this sentence packs a punch. Again, referring to the day that I carried out this workshop with the Dance Ensemble I wanted us to focus on the parts of the definition that we did understand, rather than become intimidated by the words that perhaps we didn’t understand. I simplified the definition even further with the kids to relate it to the seed I had brought in. We looked at three words:

Contain

Instructions

Grow

One of the boys in Celeste’s group asked what “contain” meant.

“Well,” said Celeste, “do you know what a container is?”

“My juice box!” the boy answered.

‘So what do you think contain means?” further inquired Celeste. The light bulb went off in his head. “Oooh, my juice box contains juice!”

Looks like we were teaching them more than just science!

Zoe’s group on the other side of the room was getting a little more distracted. They were just starting to look at “instructions” when they discovered the pile of beanbags in the corner of the room. Immediately, they forgot about all else and began throwing, jumping and laying on the beanbags. Instead of trying to stop them from playing with these new diversions, Zoe used it in her favor, as they became the props within their dance. Perhaps none of the kids saw the beauty of what they had done, but to the audience the bags became the seeds, as the dancers became the invisible forces manipulating them. The bags were stacked as if being planted, the dancers “grew” out of the bags as they became trees and at moments when some kids came into contact with a bag, they would become engulfed within the squishy seat, contained inside it.

In my group, we played with movements that were performed in unison and in canon. We used our own movements and even tried some movements that other groups were working on on ourselves.

Even though the idea of DNA was lost within the exercise, the skill of understanding the words that make up its definition remained critical nonetheless.  Exploring a word that might convey a convoluted or abstract instruction is still a learning process that we undergo throughout our lives. In this instance, if we could use movement with the kids to understand what these words mean, this is just the first step in an ability to later connect these same words and ideas with scientific concepts. Once these students are confronted with these ideas again in different contexts, perhaps this experience of kinesthetic learning will give them even just a slight understanding of how to synthesize the information they are given and connect the ideas.