This week’s Cool Tools for Schools is geared towards movement, learning, and supporting special education students. Movement-based learning is a ground-breaking approach to educational games for pre-K-5 students with special needs. It is based on the premise that all children are born with the ability to move, and that this ability is essential to their learning and development. 

Michael Boloudakis is the founder of Kinems, a company dedicated to enhancing learning outcomes for special education students by gamifiying individual education plans or IEPs.

I had the chance to see some of the brand’s products at ISTE this summer. They are designed to promote movement, communication, and social skills, while a learner is highly engaged in multisensory learning. Using them is a highly effective way to engage pre-K-5 students in learning and to promote their social and communication skills. Kinem’s platform simplifies the development of individual education plans and provides kinesthetic learning analytics to occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

Michael shares how the platform works and is used in schools across the United States. We discuss the importance of movement-based learning and how it can help improve behavioral issues in the classroom, since students who move while in traditional classes are less likely to misbehave or be off task. Students also prefer movement and transition to sit still and to lecture; the latter is an effective teacher practice in specific situations.

—William Jeffery is curating Flipboard EDU Podcast

“Coach Jeffery” is an award-winning digital learning educator and principal at Columbia High School in Texas. His tech pedagogy continues to drive him to curate educational content on Flipboard that highlights teaching strategies, edtech, and ways to improve student success. He hosts the “Flipboard EDU Podcast” as yet another way to share resources with peers.