The Body-Brain Connection

Evidence-Based Ways to Reduce Anxiety, Boost Engagement, and Increase Comprehension Across Classrooms
First Edition
Gravity Goldberg
The Body-Brain Connection
April 2025 | 280 pages | Corwin
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eBook
ISBN: 9781071989074
Available from January 0001
Paperback
ISBN: 9781071976913
Available from January 0001

Description

Embrace movement, big and small, to fuel learning success.

Learning happens in our whole bodies, not just in our heads. Movement, both big and small, unconscious and conscious, fuels our success, and yet we don’t often acknowledge the body’s role in learning. In The Body-Brain Connection, author Gravity Goldberg explores the powerful relationship between physical activity and cognitive function. This comprehensive guide delves into evidence-based strategies that can help reduce anxiety, boost student engagement, and enhance comprehension in all K-12 classrooms. Helpful features guide your learning with:

  • Prime Yourself personal experiences to bring your attention to key ideas in each section
  • Guiding questions to set the purpose for your learning
  • A Look in the Mirror self-reflection feature to encourage application of the material into your own life and teaching practice
  • Summaries of key ideas and practices for each chapter

Whether you're a teacher or school administrator, this innovative book offers valuable tools and techniques to foster a holistic approach to education, ensuring that students thrive both mentally and physically. It’s time we start paying more attention to our bodies to create an environment where we can all feel safer, be more integrated, and be more successful as readers, writers, and thinkers.

Contents

Section I: Why Focus on the Body and Brain Connection

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Students Learn Through Their Bodies

Section II: How To Create More Body and Brain Connection

  • Chapter 3: Students Learn When They Feel Safe
  • Chapter 4: Students’ Bodies Help Them Handle Difficulty
  • Chapter 5: Students Learn Through Movement
  • Chapter 6: Students Use Gesture to Create and Communicate Understanding
  • Chapter 7: Students Learn in Places

Section III: Designing Learning Experiences Based on the Body and Brain Connection

  • Chapter 8: Putting It All Together

Appendix

Appendix

Description

Embrace movement, big and small, to fuel learning success.

Learning happens in our whole bodies, not just in our heads. Movement, both big and small, unconscious and conscious, fuels our success, and yet we don’t often acknowledge the body’s role in learning. In The Body-Brain Connection, author Gravity Goldberg explores the powerful relationship between physical activity and cognitive function. This comprehensive guide delves into evidence-based strategies that can help reduce anxiety, boost student engagement, and enhance comprehension in all K-12 classrooms. Helpful features guide your learning with:

  • Prime Yourself personal experiences to bring your attention to key ideas in each section
  • Guiding questions to set the purpose for your learning
  • A Look in the Mirror self-reflection feature to encourage application of the material into your own life and teaching practice
  • Summaries of key ideas and practices for each chapter

Whether you're a teacher or school administrator, this innovative book offers valuable tools and techniques to foster a holistic approach to education, ensuring that students thrive both mentally and physically. It’s time we start paying more attention to our bodies to create an environment where we can all feel safer, be more integrated, and be more successful as readers, writers, and thinkers.

Contents

Section I: Why Focus on the Body and Brain Connection

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Students Learn Through Their Bodies

Section II: How To Create More Body and Brain Connection

  • Chapter 3: Students Learn When They Feel Safe
  • Chapter 4: Students’ Bodies Help Them Handle Difficulty
  • Chapter 5: Students Learn Through Movement
  • Chapter 6: Students Use Gesture to Create and Communicate Understanding
  • Chapter 7: Students Learn in Places

Section III: Designing Learning Experiences Based on the Body and Brain Connection

  • Chapter 8: Putting It All Together

Appendix

Appendix

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The Body-Brain Connection

Evidence-Based Ways to Reduce Anxiety, Boost Engagement, and Increase Comprehension Across Classrooms

Gravity Goldberg
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April 2025 | 280 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Paperback 01/02/2026 9781071976913 $40.95
Lifetime 01/02/2026 9781071989074 $37.00

Embrace movement, big and small, to fuel learning success.

Learning happens in our whole bodies, not just in our heads. Movement, both big and small, unconscious and conscious, fuels our success, and yet we don’t often acknowledge the body’s role in learning. In The Body-Brain Connection, author Gravity Goldberg explores the powerful relationship between physical activity and cognitive function. This comprehensive guide delves into evidence-based strategies that can help reduce anxiety, boost student engagement, and enhance comprehension in all K-12 classrooms. Helpful features guide your learning with:

  • Prime Yourself personal experiences to bring your attention to key ideas in each section
  • Guiding questions to set the purpose for your learning
  • A Look in the Mirror self-reflection feature to encourage application of the material into your own life and teaching practice
  • Summaries of key ideas and practices for each chapter

Whether you're a teacher or school administrator, this innovative book offers valuable tools and techniques to foster a holistic approach to education, ensuring that students thrive both mentally and physically. It’s time we start paying more attention to our bodies to create an environment where we can all feel safer, be more integrated, and be more successful as readers, writers, and thinkers.


Table Of Contents:

  • Section I: Why Focus on the Body and Brain Connection
  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Students Learn Through Their Bodies
  • Section II: How To Create More Body and Brain Connection
  • Chapter 3: Students Learn When They Feel Safe
  • Chapter 4: Students’ Bodies Help Them Handle Difficulty
  • Chapter 5: Students Learn Through Movement
  • Chapter 6: Students Use Gesture to Create and Communicate Understanding
  • Chapter 7: Students Learn in Places
  • Section III: Designing Learning Experiences Based on the Body and Brain Connection
  • Chapter 8: Putting It All Together
  • Appendix

Recent Product Reviews:

Gravity Goldberg reminds us that our schools must be supportive of our students in their entirety - their brains and bodies. With practical recommendations to improve students' regulatory skills, mental health, and focus, this book empowers teachers and school leaders with tools to students' communication, collaboration, and comprehension.
Molly Ness, Author, Teacher Educator, CUNY Brooklyn College
In The Body-Brain Connection: Evidence-Based Ways to Reduce Anxiety, Boost Engagement, and Increase Comprehension in the Classroom, Gravity Goldberg offers a transformative approach to teaching that honors both students' humanity and the educator's role in fostering connection. By emphasizing safety, embodied learning, and productive struggle, Goldberg provides actionable strategies and reflection practices to reduce anxiety, boost engagement, and build a supportive community. This book is an essential guide for educators seeking to create grounded and impactful learning experiences that nurture both the mind and body.
Afrika Afeni Mills, Founder and CEO of Continental Drift LLC and author of Open Windows, Open Minds: Developing Antiracist, Pro-Human Students
Traditionally, the role of teachers has been to help students develop their minds. Gravity helps us understand that learning actually happens in a synergy between our minds and our bodies and offers teachers a wealth of practical strategies for supporting this connection in their day-to-day teaching, whatever grade and subject they teach.
Carl Anderson, Educator and author of Teaching Fantasy Writing: Lessons that Inspire Student Engagement and Creativity K-6
Do you have stressed and anxious students? Students who are disengaged and not understanding lessons? If this sounds like some of the students in your classroom, Gravity Goldberg’s newest book is for you. It offers compelling evidence and advice for creating a learning environment in which students are supported to engage.
Douglas Fisher, Professor, San Diego State University, and coauthor of Engagement by Design

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