Peer Review: Developing a relatedness-supportive learning environment in dance: Small group learning activities

Previously published in Volume 82, Issue 4

Abstract
Dance within physical education can serve as an avenue to create a relatedness-supportive environment – one in which students have opportunities to develop healthy relationships with others. This article presents ideas to assist teachers with the implementation of small group dance activities in a high school physical education class. These ideas are grounded in the concept of relatedness - the feeling of being connected to others in a social context. Sample dance activities that focus on enhancing students’ sense of social connectedness are presented.

Many teachers are intimidated when it comes to teaching dance and many students are intimidated by the thought of learning and publicly performing dance in physical education (PE). Traditionally, the majority of dance taught in PE utilizes a command style, with the teacher in front leading, and the students behind following. While there is certainly value in using this style while teaching dance choreography, when used exclusively, it does little to make the students feel comfortable and supported by their peers and teacher.

Activities that help to create a relatedness-supportive environment — one in which individuals have the opportunities to develop healthy relationships with others — help students to feel connected to their peers, give and receive feedback, and develop interpersonal communication skills (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

In this generation of screen time and virtual communication, there is a need for activities that promote positive face-to-face interactions. The purpose of this article is to help teachers incorporate dance activities that promote relatedness – the feeling of being connected to the classmates and teacher - into their high school PE program. We will provide a number of dance activities that are completed within a pair or group, emphasize solving a problem or completing a task, and focus on working together.

What is relatedness?
Ryan and Deci (2002) define relatedness as the feeling of being connected to others in a social context. Goulimaris, Mavridis, Genti, and Rokka (2014) say the need for relatedness “reflects the necessity of a person to feel that there is a reciprocal relation of confidence and respect with others, during the performance of an activity and a sense of belonging in a group of interacting people” (p. 278). In turn, a relatedness-supportive environment is one in which individuals have the opportunity to develop healthy relationships with others. Relatedness support in the PE classroom include those strategies teachers use to develop supportive and respectful relationships with their students, and actions to help students develop positive relationships with their PE classmates.

The concept of relatedness is grounded in the self-determination theory [SDT] of motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Self-determination theory proposes a three-part model to describe how motivation develops and its influence on behaviour. First, there are three innate psychological needs – autonomy, competence, and relatedness that determine the state of motivation an individual will display (Deci & Ryan, 2000). If an individual’s need for autonomy (having a sense of choice), competence (a sense of efficacy), and relatedness (sense of social attachment) are met, they will be intrinsically motivated to engage in certain behaviour.

Strategies for relatedness support in dance
Physical educators have found that the concept of relatedness within the SDT of motivation to be particularly helpful to understand and encourage student engagement in dance. First from a general perspective, Weiss and Stuntz (2004) suggested that it is important to include instructional strategies in the physical activity context that focus on communication, collaboration, and problem solving because they offer promise in enhancing social connectedness through emphasis on group trust and social support. As well, Gibbons (2014) emphasized the importance of consistently using a range of teaching strategies in PE to help students feel socially connected to each other and to the physical activity. Examples of suggested strategies included collaborative learning activities (e.g., create a dance, gymnastics routines), self-assessment, peer teaching and peer assessment, and group warm up and cool down routines. Gibbons further emphasized that experiencing these strategies allow students the opportunity to work together in a respectful and supportive manner.

Bajek, Ressler, and Richards (2016) provide a range of practical student-centered strategies for teaching modern dance in secondary PE. They suggested that a student-centered approach to modern dance is designed to “consider students’ motivation and comfort in participating in dance activities” (p. 52). Examples of specific relatedness-supportive strategies included informal choreography exercises, formative group discussions on dance process and technique, and journal prompts that focus on engagement in the creative process. These authors suggest that these types of strategies help students feel that their contribution to the dance lesson is respected. By encouraging students to create their own choreography, allowing them to work in pairs and groups, providing them choice in movements and genres, and designing activities which are relevant to their lives helps to create a student-centered tone and foster a sense of relatedness within dance in PE.

Relatedness-supportive strategies in dance lessons
This section offers a selection of six dance activities that include a range of relatedness-supportive strategies. Each activity is designed to show practical and theoretically-grounded strategies that provide relatedness-support in a specific part of a dance lesson. In particular, these activities were developed in order to shift toward using a more student-centered approach to teaching dance. In addition to a focus on relatedness, these activities were selected because they include components of fitness, require little equipment, are easy to implement, and are favourites among students.

The first two activities (1-2) focus on the warm up phase of a lesson. These activities allow students to warm-up their bodies for the upcoming dance lesson while interacting and completing cooperative tasks. The next three activities (3-5) are designed for the skill development phase of the lesson. These activities ask the students to cooperate and communicate to learn dance skills and solve a task. The final activity focuses on assessment (6) and this activity allows students to show what they have learned in their dance lessons in an inclusive manner rather than a public performance.

In order to ease implementation, the description of each activity includes (a) name of the activity; (b) equipment required; (c) number of students (d) description of the activity; (e) rules (f) assessment/debriefing ideas; (g) extension/adaptation suggestions; and (h) focus on relatedness.

Warm-up activity: follow the leader

Equipment: 30-second music clips, stereo

Number of students: Groups of five or six

Description:

• Arrange students in groups of five or six.
• Have them stand in a line.
• First person in the line is the leader (dance any moves s/he likes) and others must follow.
• When the music changes, the leader drops to the end of the line and the second person in line becomes the leader.
• 30 seconds to lead and five seconds to switch to the back of the line.
• Complete two rounds so everyone has a chance to lead their group twice.

Rules:

1. Leaders: You must keep moving/dancing the entire time.
2. Followers: You must follow the moves of your leader.

Assessment/debriefing:

• What dance moves did you lead?
• From what genres were they?

Extensions/adaptations:

• Change the group size
• Choose music from a specific dance genre
• Ask students to select moves previously learned in class

Focus on relatedness

• Involves working on specific relational skills such as: using peripheral vision, taking the lead, playing the lead role, and following someone else’s movement (Lord, 2001).
• Uses peer modeling/demonstrating (Gibbons, 2014).
• Includes explicit expectations of positive behavior (Gibbons, 2014) – i.e. students must respect and follow their leader. It is a group warm-up routine (Gibbons, 2014).

Warm-up activity: musical hoops

Equipment: Any music the teacher desires; if possible, music clips of 30 seconds interspersed with periods of silence for 30 seconds; a variety of dance cards with moves on them.

Number of players: The entire class

Description:

• Review dance moves quickly to ensure that students know them; ask for demonstrations.
• During the 30 seconds of silence, move around the gym in any way the teacher calls (running, skipping, walking etc.), then when the music comes on (30 seconds), move to whichever hoop you are closest to – it contains a dance move – perform that move for the duration of the music.
• There may be more than one person around the hoop - maximum four people – and it cannot be the same four people every time.
• If a member of the group does not remember the dance move, another group member must quickly demonstrate it for him/her.
• Possible dance moves:
  • Air Guitar, The Running Wo/Man, The Lawn Mower, The Q-Tip, Walk Like an Egyptian, The Robot, The Macarena, Mime   Artist, The Chicken Dance, The Lasso, The Shopping Cart, Greased Lightnin’, Lasso, Y.M.C.A, V-Sign, Grapevine, Sprinkler, or Twist

Rules:

1. Remind students of the boundaries of the space
2. There are only allowed a maximum of four people per hoop and it cannot be the same four people each time
3. Do not stand inside of the hoops
4. Do not touch the hoops while moving around the space

Assessment/debriefing:

• What were your favourite moves? Can you demonstrate them?

Extensions/Adaptations:

• Students must change the way they move each time the music stops (i.e. move in a new locomotion for each period of silence)
• Shorten or lengthen the time for dance or movement in between

Focus on Relatedness

• It is a group warm-up routine (Gibbons, 2014).
• Helps students develop positive connections with classmates.
• Provides a balance between allowing students to benefit from the support of friends, while also getting to know other students in the class.

Instructional activity: Hip-hop dance stations
 

Equipment: 3 or 4 IPads, tablets, or TVs/DVD players; break-dance task cards

Number of players: Groups of 4 or 5

Description:

• Goal: To learn four different hip-hop dances that range in styles and difficulty.
• Students will spend 10-12 minutes at each station (then rotate to next station).
• Explain to students that there will be a “quiz” at the end of the lesson in order to make sure they have learned the dances/moves.
• Rotate and explain each station to the students.
• The teacher chooses 4 from the following station options:
  • Break dancing moves and stalls (on mats) – use break-dance task cards
  • Hannah Montana – “Hoedown Throwdown” 
  • “Crank That”
  • How to do the Dougie 
  • “Cat Daddy”
  • “Gangnam Style” 
  • Spongebob Hip Hop Dance
• Designate each group to a station.
• Start the timer to keep track of 10-12 minutes at each station.

Rules:

1. If using tablets/IPads, students must only watch the instructional video designated to that station – they cannot go onto others
2. Students must be busy learning and practicing during the entire station

Assessment/debriefing:

• Quiz time! Bring all students into the center of the space. Explain that you will play the music for the dances that they just learned and they will perform the dance. For example:
• Play "Teach Me How to Dougie" by Cali Swag District and the students will show you the Dougie dance (and perhaps the Cat Daddy and a breakdance stall or move)
• Play “Gangnam Style” by PSY and they will show you the dance

Extensions/adaptations:

• This lesson could be adapted in order to teach students any genre of dance (ballroom, contemporary etc.)

Focus on relatedness

• Utilizes collaborative learning (Gibbons, 2014).
• Provides opportunities for students to interact in discussions (Bajek, Ressler, & Richards, 2016).
• Helps to keep students actively interested and engaged in PE class by incorporating relatable and popular dances.

Instructional activity: Perpetual Motion Machine

Equipment: None

Number of players: Groups of five or six

Description:

• Groups must decide upon which machine they want to be.
• Create a sequence of five to six movements with each movement being performed by a different group member.
• The sequence of the movements represents the machine creating its product.
• Student 1 must initiate Student 2s movement, while student 2s movement initiate’s Student 3s movement and so forth.
• After practice, the machine should become perpetual.
• This warm-up is a great way to practice the concept of transitions in dance.

Rules:

1. One student’s motion must perpetuate the next and so on.
2. Every student must be involved in the machine.

Assessment/Debriefing:

• Each group will perform their machine while the other groups guess what it is

Extensions/Adaptations:

• The teacher could provide the groups with the machine or action

Focus on Relatedness

• Emphasizes teambuilding concepts – communication and cooperation (Gibbons, 2014).
• Provides opportunities for students to interact in discussions (Bajek, Ressler, & Richards, 2016).
• Offers time for students to feel like their opinions are being considered because it is an opportunity for them to have a voice (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
• Utilizes a strategy to increase participation (Gibbons, 2014) – all members must be equally involved in the “machine”.
• It is a collaborative learning activity (Gibbons, 2014).
• Provides opportunities for students to develop positive connections with classmates.

Instructional activity: Transitions in dance: “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

Equipment: Numbered poly spots or stackable cones; “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler; “Total Eclipse of the Heart” Lyrics – each lyric (numbered) on a separate slip of paper.

Number of players: Entire class

Description:

• Define “phrase” for the class: a short series of movements that connect (Kassing & Jay, 2003).
• Define “transition” for the class: the way in which a movement phrase connects to the next. Organic transitions involve a growing out of one movement into the next (Kassing & Jay, 2003).
• Number stackable cones or poly spots 1-24 and spread them out in a line across the length of the gym.
• Provide students (in pairs) with a lyric from the song – also numbered.
• Play the song for the students so they know the rhythm, speed, and preceding lyric.Have each pair create choreography, a phrase, for their lyric.
• Move down the line of cones transitioning from one phrase to the next (different choreography will be performed by each pair).
• If there are more cones than pairs, provide a few pairs with two lines and they will have to move to their next numbered cone in order to perform their next phrase.

Rules:

1. Students must dance for the duration of their lyric.
2. Students need to time their choreography to the music so that they do not conflict with another pair’s phrase and therefore the transition between phrases can be smooth.

Assessment/debriefing:

• What did you enjoy about performing this way?
• What did you learn about the importance of smooth transitions in dance?

Extensions/adaptations:

• This activity can be adapted to any song/genre of music
• This could be completed in smaller groups

Focus on relatedness

• Provides opportunities for students to interact in discussions (Bajek, Ressler, & Richards, 2016).
• Offers time for students to feel like their opinions are being considered because it is an opportunity for them to have a voice (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
• It is a collaborative learning activity (Gibbons, 2014).
• Provides a balance between allowing students to benefit from the support of a friend, while also performing choreography with the rest of their classmates.

Assessment activity: Perform and Point

Equipment: Point and Perform Cards (cards with dance move names on them); a song of your (or the students’) choosing

Number of players: Full class

Description:

• Play the selected song the groups will be performing to so the students can analyze the music for meter and tempo.
• The teacher will provide the students with nine cards (possible moves to include on cards: grapevine, step clap, steps forward, slide, raise the roof, heel turn, kick, hip isolations, hip flicks, shoulder isolations etc.).
• The cards each have a dance move on them – all groups will get the same seven moves and two wild cards. The two wild cards will be specialty moves (e.g. breakdancing stalls, or a move from a current, popular dance) learned throughout the lessons and each group will have unique ones.
• Review each of the moves quickly and have the students follow along.
• All of these moves should have been covered during previous lessons.
• Each group will arrange them in any order they like in order to create a dance.
• The dance must be at least 48 counts and contain all of the moves – each group will decide how many counts each move will have.
• The dance must also contain a minimum of two levels (demonstrate).
• The trick after students practice and master their dance will be to perform, but to take the pressure off performing they are going to perform then point.
• As soon as a group is pointed at they must dance (be ready!).
• Choose a pose to hold until pointed at, then the group will perform, point at the next group and then move back into the pose (have students pretend they are mannequins – perfectly still when not performing).
• Divide into groups of three to five (maximum six groups).
• Designate each group a space in the gym – that is the space that they will perform from.

Rules:

1. Students have to be perfectly still (in their poses) while not performing

Assessment/debriefing:

• Optional: video tape the final performance or perform in front of another group.

Extensions/adaptations:

• Complete in pairs instead
• Do not provide the students with cards – they choreograph the entire dance from scratch

Focus on Relatedness

• It is a collaborative learning activity (Gibbons, 2014).
• Includes a motivational technique to maintain excitement (Gibbons, 2014) – it assesses the students’ choreography in a unique, but low-stress environment – students perform together as opposed to in front of classmates.
• Offers time for students to feel like their opinions are being considered because it is an opportunity for them to have a voice (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
• Provides a balance between allowing students to benefit from the support of friends, while also performing choreography in a semi-public setting.

Conclusion
This article introduced how to implement group dance activities that foster students’ sense of relatedness into a PE curriculum. With some planning, creativity, and little equipment, dance activities that promote relatedness can easily and successfully be integrated into PE. Students who experience a relatedness-supportive learning environment in dance are positioned to become better communicators, team members, leaders, and more confident individuals.

References

Bajek, M., Ressler, J., & Richards, K. (2016). Student-centered strategies for teaching modern dance in secondary physical education. Journal of Physical Education and Recreation, 87(2), 52-54.

Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.

Gibbons, S.L. (2014). Relatedness-supportive learning environment for girls in physical education. LEARNing Landscapes, 7(2), 139-150.

Goulimaris, D., Mavridis, G., Genti, M., & Rokka, S. (2014). Relationships between basic psychological needs and psychological well-being in recreational dance activities. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 14(2), 277-284.

Kassing, G., Jay, D.M. (2003). Dance teaching methods and curriculum design. Windsor, ON: Human Kinetics,

Lord, M. (2001) Fostering the growth of beginners' improvisational skills: A study of dance teaching practices in the high school setting, Research in Dance Education, 2(1), 19-40.

Richards, K.A.R, & Leveque-Bristol, D. (2014). Advocacy in action: Student learning and motivation in physical education. Strategies, 27(2), 43-46.

Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2002). An overview of self-determination theory. In E.L. Deci & R.M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp.3-33). Rochester, NY: The University of Rochester Press.

Weiss, M.R. & Stuntz, C.P. (2004). A little friendly competition: Peer relationships and psychological development in youth sport and physical activity contexts. In M.R. Weiss (Ed.), Developmental sport and exercise psychology: A lifespan perspective (pp. 165-196). Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technolog