A Gallery Walk Pairs Movement and Learning
A change of scenery is good for the soul.
Sitting in a classroom can be challenging. Your mind begins to wander. Your note-taking is blah. You begin to fidget and lose concentration. We have all been there.
Movement in learning is helpful
There are loads of research articles that support the benefits of pairing movement and learning. Motion lights up areas of the brain responsible for learning and improves academic performance. The brain is more alert during movement, and neuron activity increases. We know that sitting for long periods is not great for patients. Blood starts to pool, lung function diminishes, and skin can break down. It is not great for nursing students either. Dr. Susan Hrach wrote an entire book about adding movement to college classrooms called Minding Bodies.
This idea calls for incorporating movement. The Gallery Walk is a lively discussion format with movement.
How to Implement:
To implement this, you will need a student activity where they can create a poster. I typically will give them supplies (markers, highlighters, different colored paper) and a large piece of paper. If you have poster size, that works well, but even legal-size paper will work.
Next, divide students into groups, 3-5 students is a good size.
Then, have the students create their posters. Here are some ideas:
Patient Education template
Drug Card
Venn Diagram to compare/contrast a topic (COPD vs. asthma)
To show their math for a medication calculation
Care Plan based on a case study
Once they have their poster completed, collect it from each group. Then, while students take a break, you hang their posters around the room.
When students return from break, give each student (or group) a sheet of small stickers. These will be their “vote.” Instruct them to move around the room and read each poster, discuss their favorite, most-informative poster, and use their sticker to vote by sticking it to their favorite poster.
You can structure the rotation (you prompt the movement to each poster every 3-5 minutes) or let the movement happen organically.
Once the voting is complete, bring the group back together and verbally congratulate the winning group with the most votes!
Variations:
There are a few variations on this activity.
I like, I wonder, Next Steps
In this variation, students give feedback on the posters by responding to what the author(s) did well, what they still wonder about, and what could be improved or clarified. Students can either submit their work individually or as a group. They could also write their responses on three different colored post-its and stick them to the posters.
Gallery Run
Same idea, just faster. Students present their poster with a question at the end. Then it is a race around the room to write down all the answers as quickly as possible.
Graffiti
Instruct students to leave space in their poster next to the question they create. Then, when the other groups walk around, they are encouraged to write their answer the question on the poster.
What’s wrong
Students create a poster with one wrong piece of information. Then, when the other groups walk around, they act as detectives and use stickers to indicate which information on the poster is incorrect.
Best for:
This activity is great for creating movement, working in small groups, problem-solving, and engaging with the content. It is easy to implement and does not take much planning.
Start Building
Think of a content area where students could create a poster. Give them general instructions and let them build, draw, illustrate and write. Provide some stickers, and let the voting begin! Remember, there is no perfect place to start with active learning.
Looking for ready-to-go active learning activities?
Resources
Gonzalez, J. (2019). To boost learning, just add movement. Cult of Pedagogy.
Hrach, S. (2021). Minding Bodies. West Virginia University Press.