Why children learn better when they move
By P.hd. proffessor Ole Henrik Hansen, Professor of Education
For generations, educational systems have largely been built upon a sedentary understanding of learning. The dominant assumption has been that academic achievement is best supported when children remain seated, attentive, and cognitively focused on abstract content.
However, contemporary research within Embodied Learning, Physically Active Learning (PAL), cognitive psychology, and neuroscience challenges this assumption.
The evidence increasingly suggests that movement is not merely a beneficial supplement to learning. Rather, movement can function as a central mechanism through which learning takes place.
This distinction is important.
Too often, physical activity is positioned as a break from learning—a way to improve concentration before returning to the “real” academic work. Yet from a learning-theoretical perspective, this separation between body and mind is difficult to defend. Human cognition develops through interaction with the surrounding world, and learning is fundamentally shaped by both mental and physical experiences.
To support large community events and family-focused activities, the museum wanted an interactive solution that could combine learning, movement, and independent play in an engaging and flexible way. This led to the implementation of ActiveFloor as part of the museum’s interactive learning environment.
Learning as a Social and Physical Process
The theoretical foundation for this understanding can be found in the work of Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner.
Vygotsky argued that learning does not occur in isolation. Knowledge is constructed through interaction with tools, environments, and other people. He described learning as a mediated process, where cognitive development is supported through external structures that help learners operate within what he termed the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Bruner later expanded this understanding through the concept of scaffolding. Effective learning environments provide temporary support structures that enable children to accomplish tasks they would not yet be capable of completing independently.
The critical question for educators today is therefore not whether technology should be used in education.
The question is whether educational technologies function as effective scaffolds that support learning, or whether they create additional cognitive barriers that students must overcome.
Why the Body Matters in Learning
One of the most significant developments in educational research over the past decade has been the emergence of Embodied Learning.
Embodied Learning is based on a relatively simple observation: learning is not confined to the brain. Cognitive processes are closely connected to bodily experiences, sensory input, movement, and interaction with the physical environment.
When students actively move while engaging with academic content, they create stronger cognitive representations of what they are learning. The body effectively becomes part of the learning process.
Research demonstrates that physical interaction can function as a somatic anchor that strengthens memory formation, increases engagement, and supports deeper understanding.
In practical terms, this means that a child learning mathematical concepts through movement may develop a more robust understanding than a child who encounters the same concepts solely through symbolic representations on paper or screens.
The same pattern is observed in language learning, where physical interaction with vocabulary and linguistic concepts contributes to stronger encoding and long-term retention.
What the Research Shows
A growing number of peer-reviewed studies have investigated the educational effects of movement-integrated learning environments.
The findings are remarkably consistent.
Within language education, students who physically interact while solving learning tasks demonstrate deeper linguistic processing and stronger emotional engagement. Longitudinal studies indicate that these effects can be sustained over several years.
Within mathematics education, movement-integrated instructional designs have been shown to improve problem-solving performance while simultaneously reducing mathematics anxiety. This is particularly relevant given the well-documented relationship between anxiety and reduced academic achievement.
Furthermore, research on Physically Active Learning consistently demonstrates improvements in student engagement and classroom participation. Several studies report significant increases in “Time-on-Task”—the proportion of time students remain focused on the learning activity itself.
From an educational perspective, these findings are difficult to ignore.
They suggest that movement is not competing with learning. Instead, movement may be one of the most underutilized resources available to educators seeking to improve learning outcomes.
Rethinking the Modern Learning Environment
As schools continue to invest in educational technologies, it is important that decisions are guided by learning theory rather than technological novelty.
The objective should not be to digitize existing teaching practices.
The objective should be to create learning environments that align with how children actually learn.
For many students, particularly younger learners, this means creating opportunities to think through action, explore concepts through movement, and engage with knowledge using both mind and body.
From this perspective, movement-based learning technologies represent more than an innovative classroom tool.
They represent a return to a fundamental educational principle: that learning is most powerful when children are actively engaged in constructing knowledge through meaningful interaction with the world around them.
The evidence increasingly points in the same direction.
When children move, they are not stepping away from learning.
They are often moving directly into it.