Creative dance can confer important benefits on students of preschool age. The aim of this research was the implementation of a creative dance unit for preschoolers (five-year-olds) and the examination of its impact on the development of their bodilykinesthetic intelligence. Because of the lack of previously established tests of bodily -kinesthetic intelligence, the goal of the present study is to offer new information about the evaluation of bodily -kinesthetic intelligence for students of pre-school age. Observation was made across three creative dance sessions in order to document any progress particularly in the expression and development of their bodily -kinesthetic intelligence. Data collection methods used within the study were: observation in classes, video recordings, photography and diary. By these means we arrived at the conclusion that these creative dance sessions gave pre-school children the opportunity to employ and develop their bodily -kinesthetic intelligence.

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used for the first time to investigate the relations between plant functional groups and social structure of grazing sheep. The research was conducted on a grassland in Crete's island Lefka Ori, Greece during 2016. A flock of 20 sheep of Sfakion race was analysed as a network and the sheep as nodes. The focal sampling technique was applied during four experimental periods of four consecutive days × eight hours/day. The plant species selected by sheep during grazing were categorized into four functional groups (grasses, broad‐leaved forbs, shrubs and trees), and the proximity and conflict relations that were developed among the flock members were recorded. The tools of SNA were defined and interpreted in the sheep flock, and the Visone software is used to calculate the network variables of proximity and conflicts relations of nodes. Correlations between the plant functional groups and network variables were examined by Spearman's bivariate correlation test. Sheep collectivity was enhanced while grazing grasses and simultaneously, a tendency for hierarchization within the flock was identified. Similarly, the proximity of sheep increased during forbs’ grazing while their individualism was strengthened. When grazing shrubs, the proximity of sheep was only in part maintained while the grazing of trees seems as the most deconstructive forage option of sheep proximity relations. In general, the grazing of all plant functional groups decreases conflicts among sheep except that of trees, which was insignificant for developing such relations.

The study focused on the presentation of an instrument developed to assess bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of pre-schoolers. There are presented activities and their evaluative procedure for the assessment of bodily-kinesthetic intelligence of preschool children. A secondary aim of this study was to evaluate, with the use of this instrument, a creative dance intervention programme which focused on the development of pre-schoolers’ bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. The sample of this study consisted of 28 preschool children in total, split into intervention and control groups. In the intervention group there were 15 preschool children (7 boys and 8 girls), with an average age of 5 ± 0.5 years, and in the control group 13 children (7 boys and 6 girls). To examine the effect of the creative dance intervention program on the development of children’s bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, data were analyzed with RM-ANOVA. By these means, we arrived at the conclusion that these creative dance sessions gave pre-school children the opportunity to employ and develop their bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0976/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>