Abstract:

Several studies have shown the difficulties involved in teaching natural and experimental sciences in the first years of compulsory education. The excess of new vocabulary as well as the more abstract aspects of some scientific topics are some of the barriers that teachers must overcome in order to be able to teach in a meaningful way the concepts that are prescribed in the educational curricula of Primary Education. There are many didactic tools to work on these aspects in a motivating way, some of which have shown good educational results. This paper proposes a different way of bringing science closer to pupils at this educational stage, so that not only scientific aspects are worked on but also interdisciplinary treatment allows activities that reinforce positive attitudes (empathy, cooperation, etc.) and have a direct impact on the physical and mental health of our infants and youngsters. There is evidence that mankind was already dancing and expressing itself through gestures and dances before writing existed. This fact and the studies carried out so far show how dance and corporal expression can be two very effective ways to transmit feelings and to reinforce our emotional and physical health, reducing problems such as childhood obesity and improving motor skills. Several workshops have been held in which dance and corporal expression have been integrated into the teaching of science. These activities have managed to capture the attention and interest of the pupils. Preliminary results show a greater learning of specific science vocabulary. One of the aspects that can be highlighted is that these activities have succeeded in getting absentees (mainly immigrants recently incorporated into the education system or children of gipsy ethnicity) to attend school more regularly. Dance has a large number of variants and modalities, however, in order to achieve our initial objective of also working on the creativity of the students, we have opted for styles such as urban dance (Hip Hop, freestyle...), which not only allows greater freedom of movement as there are no established steps or choreographies, but also has a certain philosophy of companionship and healthy competition associated with it, favouring fun and mutual learning. One of the activities that has shown the best results in terms of attitude and scientific learning has been the "cockfight". In this activity, two groups of students had to compete against each other by dancing and playing rap about scientific topics to see who could best explain the scientific concepts proposed by the teacher. It is undeniable that the relaxed atmosphere and creativity have played a very important role in this beginning of the learning process of science.

Keywords:

Sciences teaching, urban dances, motivation, creativity, children motricity.