Movement & Cognition: Enhancing Skills Through Neuroeducation & Movement

What exactly is the research saying and how do classroom teachers combine more movement into the school day without impacting their programme?

Join Dr. Lynne Kenney and Wim van Gelder for two days of engagement in practical applications of the latest research from the fields of neuroscience, kinesiology, cognitive science and neuroeducation.

Participants will have the expertise of two specialists during this two-day workshop. Dr. Lynne Kenney will share the integrated research findings from the fields of neuroscience, kinesiology, cognitive science and neuroeducation and demonstrate how to strengthen students’ executive function skills through movement. Wim van Gelder will facilitate a hands-on and brains-on session based on the Dynamic School Day model, packed with practical applications of the research that supports teachers to structurally combine learning and movement.

Dress comfortably, as we will be moving to think and calming to learn with balls, bean bags, desk percussion, rhythm activities, music and more.

DAY 1 with Dr. Lynne Kenney, PsyD

Dr. Lynne Kenney, Psy,D, pediatric psychologist, author and international educator, integrates the newest research in neuroscience, kinesiology, cognitive science and neuroeducation to strengthen students’ executive function skills. You will experience over 20 cognitive skill coaching strategies and developmentally progressive cognitive-motor activities developed by Dr. Kenney and her colleagues in the past 25 years. Applying brain coaching strategies and worksheets with music, songs, and rhythmic coordinative movement from Musical Thinking™, CogniSuite™, Cognitivities™, and CogniMoves™ you will enliven your classroom, home and clinic with research-based tools and activities. Learn how to improve cognition, enhance learning, and empower children to be more confident thinkers with self-regulation, attention, sequencing, and memory activities.

• Learn about the critical relationship between executive function skills and academic achievement.
• Practice the CogniSuite™ cognitive-motor activities to alert the brain and engage executive function skills.
• Teach children the “felt-sense of slowing down” with Cognitivities™
• Explore the research regarding co-existing diagnoses including dyslexia, dyspraxia,
• dyscalculia, ADHD, and ASD from a data-based perspective.
• Improve how children learn by teaching them how their brains work.
• Learn how to teach children to improve their self-coaching skills with research-based activities to improve attention, memory, planning, organization, time management, cognitive flexibility & self-regulation.
• Experience CogniMoves™ the first animated executive function & self-regulation program for students in grades PreK-3.
• Learn how to use narrative, declarative, and imperative language with students to support cognitive skill development.
• Learn how to have the “cognitive conversation” about executive function skills including self-control, attention, memory, and cognitive flexibility with your students.

DAY 2 with Wim van Gelder

Wim van Gelder has conducted extensive research on the effects of physical activity on cognitive development and overall health in children. He will share his expertise with participants in practical ways.

• Explore practical elements of incorporating activity into the school day that promotes executive functioning and self-regulation.
• Explore the Dynamic School Day model and learn about “moving between energizers” (brain breaks), “moving while learning” and “moving for learning”.
• Experience hands-on and practical activities that can be incorporated into the classroom context in order to build a more dynamic school day for the wellbeing of your students and yourself.
• Outdoor Play Specialist and advises playground design in Dutch schools.
• Cooperation and collaboration between PE and homeroom teachers

Presenter(s) Bio:

Dr. Lynne Kenney is the nation’s leading pediatric psychologist in the development of classroom cognitive-physical activity programs for students grades K-8. Dr. Kenney develops curriculum, programming, and activities to improve children’s cognition through coordinative cognitive-motor movement, executive function skill-building strategies, and social-emotional learning. Dr. Kenney’s current educational program is CogniMoves® a classroom cognitive-motor movement program, co-developed with Benjamin S. Bunney, MD, Former Chairman Department of Psychiatry at Yale University. CogniMoves® is designed to strengthen executive function skills in K-3 students. Dr. Kenney is a pediatric psychologist on the Language & Cognition Team at Wellington-Alexander Center for the Treatment of Dyslexia, Scottsdale, Arizona. She has advanced fellowship training in forensic psychology and developmental pediatric psychology from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and Harbor-UCLA/UCLA Medical School. As an international educator, researcher, and author, Dr. Kenney is dedicated to improving the trajectory of children's learning, particularly in high-need, under-resourced communities. Dr. Kenney’s books include Brain Primers, 2020 (Kuczala & Kenney); 70 Play Activities for Better Thinking, Self-Regulation, Learning and Behavior (Kenney & Comizio, 2016); the Social-Emotional Literacy program, Bloom Your Room™; Musical Thinking™; and Bloom: 50 things to say, think and do with anxious, angry and over-the-top-kids (Kenney & Young, 2015). Dr. Kenney’s most recent endeavour is Cognitivities™, an original collection of portable mats that combine music, art, and movement developed with Fit and Fun Playscapes. Launched in 2024, this is the first Roll-Out Activities® mat of its kind, helping children with cognitive skills, executive function, and self-regulation in a calming and engaging way. Since 1985, Dr. Kenney has worked as an educator in community service with national organizations including the Neurological Health Foundation, Head Start, Understood.org, HandsOn Phoenix, SparkPE, the First Nations in Canada, and Points of Light (Generation On) Dr. Kenney values working with Title I Schools.

Wim van Gelder is a passionate advocate for children's physical activity and well-being. With a background in education and sports science, he has dedicated his career to promoting healthy lifestyles among young people. Wim's work focuses on addressing the sedentary habits of modern-day children and the importance of outdoor play. He has conducted extensive research on the effects of physical activity on cognitive development and overall health in children. Wim has over two decades of experience as a PE specialist teacher and has worked as a consultant in the municipalities of Heerenveen and Beemster, as well as at the Wegwijzer school in Alkmaar. He provides training and advice, coordinates and teaches in the Two-Year MRT (Motor Remedial Teaching) programme at Alles in Beweging and provides trainings in Dynamic School Day. He is also a lecturer at InHolland University of Applied Sciences and chairman of the MRT in Motion Foundation and at PABO(elementary teacher training school) in Leiden. Wim is a co-author of Basic Lessons in Physical Education, Movement and Play Monitoring System, and Stimuliz.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

International School of Amsterdam, 45 Sportlaan, Amstelveen, Netherlands