What do we know without language?

This was the question Year 8 students sought to unpack during their unit on Somatic Knowledge.

Though students understood from their previous unit that a newborn is not born as a blank slate, but rather as both a product of human evolutionary process and a rich constellation of inherited traits and abilities, language and concepts are not yet within its cognitive remit. Instead, a newborn’s primary ways of exploring and forming impressions about the world come primarily through its senses and experiences, with knowledge then stored somatically in the body. This knowledge can be referred to as tacit knowledge: knowledge that is ‘felt’ and cannot be explained using language or concepts.

With this understanding, students engaged in various hands-on, sensory activities that focused their attention on being more attuned to their bodies and feelings—a practice that regularly encouraged mindfulness and presence. Students began with a series of physical exercises that tested their balance and awareness of their own bodies, followed by a routine practice of committing to memory a sequence of movements to accurately perform ‘The Human Machine’, which allowed them to become more aware of how repeated actions become automatic and stored tacitly within the body.

Students also listened to various musical pieces, reflecting on how the different genres, tempos, and durations affected their emotional states. They were then exposed to the music again, this time introducing richer vocabulary to articulate their experiences and observations. This activity culminated in students creating their own musical playlists to influence their moods for happiness and alerted them to how powerful music can be in shaping their emotional well-being and daily lives.

Throughout the unit, students were also introduced to the meditative art of rock balancing that required their patience, precision and some creativity to achieve a balanced structure.

Along with other experiences that included art, blindfolds, touch-boards, walks and other activities that asked students to step out of their normal classroom practices, students in Year 8 fostered a deeper appreciation for themselves and how humans interact with the world beyond the confines of language. In doing so, they gain invaluable technologies for self-awareness and emotional intelligence, illustrating that while words are powerful, some of the most profound knowledge is felt, embodied, and interwoven into the fabric of their everyday lives.