NIH SciEd Blog

Dance Your Science, for Students of all Ages!

By: Cynthia | October 15 2009 | Category: Science and the Arts

It’s official now. Interpreting science through dance is no longer far-fetched – it has become a creative and entertaining way to teach and learn science.

While working as a part-time substitute teacher several years ago, I thought about teaching mitosis through dance. I was limited by time and resources then, so I had to set the idea aside. Fast forward to DNA Day last year, when I finally had my chance to create a replication dance. NIH partnered with the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

to present a day of workshops about science for high school students.

A dancer, an educator, and a scientist (me!) teamed up to lead the mitosis workshop. We reviewed the phases with students and had them assign “movement verbs” to each phase. The dancer led students through some warm-up exercises. Then, we asked students to create their own movements for each phase using the assigned verbs as inspiration. They put all the movements together with some hip music, and -- ta-da! -- they were dancing science. All the students seemed to enjoy the event. One student was quite reserved at first, but by the final performance, he was hamming it up and reveling in his chromosomal role.

Students beyond high school, professors, and researchers are dancing science, too. Some are actually dancing their Ph.D. theses and publishing papers! Even the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has gotten in on the act by sponsoring the 2009 AAAS Science Dance Contest. (See “Dancing Scientists Invade YouTube” in the November 20, 2008, issue of Science

.)

Dancing science could work in any school with whatever resources are available. Teaming up with the school band and theater groups to create a performance for the community can work well. Brainstorming with community organizations, such as local dance troops, science clubs, colleges, or universities, will enhance your dancing adventure, too. The performance that caps off the dancing-science activity engages the student dancers and the audience and gives them both a new way to discover and appreciate the marvels of science.