Moving minds and body: thesis writing in action

In the era of fast-paced technological change, short messaging and AI-enhanced education, sparking student interest in thesis writing requires a blend of human creativity and collaboration. This article reflects on a week-long orientation to thesis writing held in Chongqing, China, as part of the joint BBA programme between Haaga-Helia and Chongqing University of Science and Technology.

With the orientation to thesis writing course, we wanted to make students less anxious about thesis writing, as well as engage them through innovative and active pedagogical methods involving their mind and body in the process.

The mind-body bond in learning

Chinese students often have long days at school, stretching from 8 am to 10 pm. Despite the demanding schedules, there is a strong cultural tradition of group exercise — be it tai chi in a park, dancing in public squares, or campus-wide sports activities. Chinese culture places a strong emphasis on the role of unity of body and mind, embodied experiences and physical activity in shaping knowledge and promoting well-being (Kong 2025). This aligns well with Finland’s ‘Liikkuva Opiskelu’ (2025) initiative, which promotes physical activity during studies.

Our course embraced this synergy by integrating movement and creativity into academic learning. We aimed to energise, engage and empower our students and make them even a little excited about thesis writing.

Creativity in learning requires divergent thinking, time to generate ideas and solve problems (Grant 2016). Embodied cognition suggests that learning is not just mental but also physical — movement, gestures, and sensory engagement enhance understanding. When your brain and body work together (like when you move while learning), it can help you understand and remember things better (Castro-Alonso et al. 2024.) Lectures are often not the best way to learn and will most likely not inspire students to become life-long learners (Grant 2021). Our pedagogical approaches were grounded in these theories.

Action energises and engages

Activities like snowball fights, drawing feelings, freewriting, and movement cards were designed to activate both the body and mind, fostering deeper engagement and active learning.

As we had already met the students during the previous semester, we wanted to reconnect and bring a bit of Finland to them. Therefore, we started off the lecture with a snowball fight. The students wrote their goals on paper, crumpled them into ‘snowballs,’ and tossed them around. This playful activity broke the ice and encouraged students to read and share each other’s goals.

Next, students drew their feelings about thesis writing. Common themes included anxiety, confusion, and worry, represented by question marks, broken hearts and exploding heads. These drawings were displayed on the wall, creating a visual gallery of emotions.

These creative and physical activities helped reduce anxiety and build a sense of community before starting with academic content.

Moving and empowering our students

During the week, students worked in teams to analyse and assess previous theses using Haaga-Helia’s criteria. Each group presented their findings, fostering peer learning and critical thinking.

To maintain energy and focus, we used wellbeing cards from the ‘Liikkuva Opiskelu’ initiative (Liikkuva opiskelu 2025). These included movement breaks, brain boosters, and relaxation exercises. Students eagerly participated, appreciating the physical activation during long sessions. Indeed, this approach seemed to resonate with the Chinese students, who are accustomed to structured group activities and value physical exercise as part of daily life.

Throughout the week, we shared tips for academic writing, and also tried to sell the idea of starting writing and writing on their own. The American psychologist Adam Grant (2021) has a wonderful TED Talk about procrastination: how to stop it and how to find flow instead. Students often say that putting off thesis writing is a serious issue for them.

The magic of freewriting (Wagner 2017) is something that we wanted to share with the students and often started the day with for a creative mood. We asked them to write about anything in their mind for 10 minutes, without stopping, without checking for spelling or grammar, just to keep writing.

We also introduced the students to the Pomodoro Technique (Savitsky 2019) as it modells hyperconcentration for 25 minutes and then taking a break. Many students are accustomed to doing things for shorter periods of time.

Question marks turned into light bulbs

At the end of the week our students discussed what they still need to learn to write a thesis. They drew themselves and their feelings after the intensive week of working together. There was a big change in the drawings compared to the beginning of the week. The most common words to describe their feelings were: happy, calm, clear. Instead of question marks, there were light bulbs.

After this class, I feel like Einstein.

Embarking on the journey of academic writing feels much like setting sail on a voyage filled with both challenges and rewards. Participating in Learning Camp 4 – Orientation to thesis writing has been a transformative experience, shedding light on the path to becoming a more proficient writer while also highlighting areas in need of improvement.

As facilitators of this intensive week, we feel that the combination of fun activities, short breaks, and content in form of lectures and interactive workshops was a successful one. The embodied approach to learning proved effective in energising, engaging and empowering students. The thesis writing process seemed just a little bit more enjoyable for them and we even sensed some excitement.

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