Embodied design

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"What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fists and gripping toes." - Auguste Rodin, sculptor of The Thinker Paris 2010 - Le Penseur.jpg
"What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back and legs, with his clenched fists and gripping toes." - Auguste Rodin, sculptor of The Thinker

Embodied design grows from the idea of embodied cognition: that the actions of the body can play a role in the development of thought and ideas. [1] [2] Embodied design brings mathematics to life; studying the effects of the body on the mind, researchers learn how to design objects and activities for learning. [3] Embodiment is an aspect of pattern recognition in all fields of human endeavor.

Contents

Embodied design has an increasing role in mathematics education. Designers can use embodied cognition as a tool to study human behavior and create user-centered designs. Embodied design examines the meaning of abstractions, analyzing student reasoning and connecting mathematics to other subjects; for example, students can look at proportional relationships in a work of art.

Learning strategies based on embodied design rely on motion and visualization; physical activity is helpful in learning a mathematical concept. When students are physically and mentally involved in learning, they retain content better. Recent theoretical advances such as Embodied Cognitive Load Theory have been suggested to harvest the potential advantages of embodied interaction modes for learning without filling up cognitive resources. [4] Embodied design frequently includes trial-and-error learning.

Embodied cognition is a tool designers can use to study "human behavior normally unobservable in order to create human-centric designs". [5] For teachers, embodied design is planning experiences for students with lesson plans, curricula, activities and lessons. [6]

Mathematical manipulatives

One aspect of embodied design is the use of manipulatives in learning. Manipulatives allow students to explore mathematical concepts by working with physical objects, linking their discoveries to abstractions. Although manipulatives are primarily used to illustrate modern elementary mathematics, educators use objects to represent abstract topics taught in high school, college and beyond. [7] A function of embodied design is to expand the use of manipulatives to foster the understanding of undergraduate abstract mathematics.

One disadvantage of manipulatives is that students struggle to connect the physical activity to mathematical symbols and notation. Although manipulatives allow students to develop a deeper understanding of a concept, they need support to transfer that knowledge to algebraic representations. [8]

Although an influential theory in the field of instructional design, cognitive load theory, recommends designs involving lower levels of interactivity in order to save up cognitive resources for learning, the benefits of embodied interactions are evident. As a result, a synthesis, embodied cognitive load theory, has been proposed to aid in embodied design. In this model, embodied interactions are conducive to learning if the cognitive costs (such as motor coordination) are outweighed by their benefits (such as multimodal processing). [4]

Problem solving

Another application of embodied design in mathematics education is its effect on problem solving and the development of critical-thinking skills. Throughout the problem-solving process students use objects to develop understanding, conveying understanding and meaning through gestures. [9] Problem solvers use gestures to connect their thoughts to the manipulatives with which they are familiar, and changing a manipulative's shape affects how a student connects with it and uses it to solve a problem. In a study by van Gog, Post, ten Napel and Deijkers, students performed better when they used simpler objects (such as colored discs) than when they used more-complicated objects (such as animal figures). [10] Although problems can be as simple as what to wear or eat, their solutions are still a cognitive process. [11]

With manipulatives

With embodied design, mathematics is not only about correct answers but the process of finding them. Students are asked to communicate the process ("road map") they took to arrive at an answer. Typical problem-solving questions, such as "What needs do you have? What is the problem you are posed with? How did you collect information? How did you come to your conclusion? How could you have optimized your steps to reach that conclusion?" can be answered with manipulatives. One aim of problem solving in embodied design is to inspire students' creativity and curiosity, allowing personal connections to problems. [12]

If students are given a problem which involves tactile manipulation, the learning process may be more meaningful. For example, students can learn to solve a Rubik's Cube puzzle by using a series of algorithms and steps. The process involves orientation, following directions and spatial cognition. [13]

Mathematical arts and crafts

One approach to embodied design in mathematics is the use of creative tasks, such as arts and crafts. When a student has mathematics in mind while creating a unique piece, they are engaged in mental and physical learning. The concept of area can be taught with an arts-and-crafts activity, where students find leaves and trace them on paper; they are then asked to determine the number of beans (or peas) required to cover the entire leaf area. The class can then be asked which student had the largest (or smallest) leaf, and the areas can be compared. [14]

Computer programming

With game consoles such as the Wii and PlayStation Move, students can understand how moving a gaming wand can change the effects on the screen. Researchers who developing programs in mathematics use embodied design and gaming principles to help students create and manipulate mathematical models. At the Embodied Design Research Laboratory, researchers created a game in which fifth-graders learn ratios by holding tennis balls in the air. When the tennis balls are held at a 1:2 ratio, the screen turns green. [15]

Another embodied-design area related to programming is digital manipulatives. Some students feel weak in mathematics because it is not connected to the physical world, and digital manipulatives are being created to strengthen the connection between mathematics and the physical world. [16]

When students use a touchscreen with their fingers, they use gestures to create (or use) virtual objects in the program. Computers can model environments where the students imagine their bodies to be, and the mind behaves as it would on a playground. Cell phones, pads and computers provide mathematically-enhanced models everywhere, exploring everyday experiences and the curriculum in more-abstract ways. [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive science</span> Interdisciplinary scientific study of the mind and its processes

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes with input from linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, computer science/artificial intelligence, and anthropology. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition. Cognitive scientists study intelligence and behavior, with a focus on how nervous systems represent, process, and transform information. Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include language, perception, memory, attention, reasoning, and emotion; to understand these faculties, cognitive scientists borrow from fields such as linguistics, psychology, artificial intelligence, philosophy, neuroscience, and anthropology. The typical analysis of cognitive science spans many levels of organization, from learning and decision to logic and planning; from neural circuitry to modular brain organization. One of the fundamental concepts of cognitive science is that "thinking can best be understood in terms of representational structures in the mind and computational procedures that operate on those structures."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitivism (psychology)</span> Theoretical framework for understanding the mind

In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical framework for understanding the mind that gained credence in the 1950s. The movement was a response to behaviorism, which cognitivists said neglected to explain cognition. Cognitive psychology derived its name from the Latin cognoscere, referring to knowing and information, thus cognitive psychology is an information-processing psychology derived in part from earlier traditions of the investigation of thought and problem solving.

Situated learning is a theory that explains an individual's acquisition of professional skills and includes research on apprenticeship into how legitimate peripheral participation leads to membership in a community of practice. Situated learning "takes as its focus the relationship between learning and the social situation in which it occurs".

Procedural knowledge is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike descriptive knowledge, which involves knowledge of specific facts or propositions, procedural knowledge involves one's ability to do something. A person doesn't need to be able to verbally articulate their procedural knowledge in order for it to count as knowledge, since procedural knowledge requires only knowing how to correctly perform an action or exercise a skill.

The language of thought hypothesis (LOTH), sometimes known as thought ordered mental expression (TOME), is a view in linguistics, philosophy of mind and cognitive science, forwarded by American philosopher Jerry Fodor. It describes the nature of thought as possessing "language-like" or compositional structure. On this view, simple concepts combine in systematic ways to build thoughts. In its most basic form, the theory states that thought, like language, has syntax.

A cognitive tutor is a particular kind of intelligent tutoring system that utilizes a cognitive model to provide feedback to students as they are working through problems. This feedback will immediately inform students of the correctness, or incorrectness, of their actions in the tutor interface; however, cognitive tutors also have the ability to provide context-sensitive hints and instruction to guide students towards reasonable next steps.

Situated cognition is a theory that posits that knowing is inseparable from doing by arguing that all knowledge is situated in activity bound to social, cultural and physical contexts.

Distributed cognition is an approach to cognitive science research that was developed by cognitive anthropologist Edwin Hutchins during the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constructivism (philosophy of education)</span> Philosophical viewpoint about the nature of knowledge; theory of knowledge

Constructivism is a theory in education which posits that individuals or learners do not acquire knowledge and understanding by passively perceiving it within a direct process of knowledge transmission, rather they construct new understandings and knowledge through experience and social discourse, integrating new information with what they already know. For children, this includes knowledge gained prior to entering school. It is associated with various philosophical positions, particularly in epistemology as well as ontology, politics, and ethics. The origin of the theory is also linked to Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

In cognitive psychology, cognitive load refers to the amount of working memory resources used. There are three types of cognitive load: intrinsic cognitive load is the effort associated with a specific topic; extraneous cognitive load refers to the way information or tasks are presented to a learner; and germane cognitive load refers to the work put into creating a permanent store of knowledge.

Group cognition is a social, largely linguistic phenomenon whereby a group of people produce a sequence of utterances that performs a cognitive act. That is, if a similar sequence was uttered or thought by an individual it would be considered an act of cognition or thinking. The group can be a small group, such as 3–5 people talking together or working together online. The group can also be a larger collective, such as a classroom of students or a global community contributing asynchronously to an extended discourse on a problem or topic or to a knowledge repository like Wikipedia. The theory of group cognition is a postcognitivism philosophy, which considers a larger unit of analysis than an individual mind as a producer of cognitive activities such as creative problem solving.

Embodied cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field of research, the aim of which is to explain the mechanisms underlying intelligent behavior. It comprises three main methodologies: the modeling of psychological and biological systems in a holistic manner that considers the mind and body as a single entity; the formation of a common set of general principles of intelligent behavior; and the experimental use of robotic agents in controlled environments.

Enactivism is a position in cognitive science that argues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment. It claims that the environment of an organism is brought about, or enacted, by the active exercise of that organism's sensorimotor processes. "The key point, then, is that the species brings forth and specifies its own domain of problems ...this domain does not exist "out there" in an environment that acts as a landing pad for organisms that somehow drop or parachute into the world. Instead, living beings and their environments stand in relation to each other through mutual specification or codetermination". "Organisms do not passively receive information from their environments, which they then translate into internal representations. Natural cognitive systems...participate in the generation of meaning ...engaging in transformational and not merely informational interactions: they enact a world." These authors suggest that the increasing emphasis upon enactive terminology presages a new era in thinking about cognitive science. How the actions involved in enactivism relate to age-old questions about free will remains a topic of active debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of thought</span> Overview of and topical guide to thought

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to thought (thinking):

Embodied embedded cognition (EEC) is a philosophical theoretical position in cognitive science, closely related to situated cognition, embodied cognition, embodied cognitive science and dynamical systems theory. The theory states that intelligent behaviour emerges from the interplay between brain, body and world. The world is not just the 'play-ground' on which the brain is acting. Rather, brain, body and world are equally important factors in the explanation of how particular intelligent behaviours come about in practice.

Mitchell J. Nathan is Full Professor of Educational Psychology, Chair of the Learning Science program in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

E-learning theory describes the cognitive science principles of effective multimedia learning using electronic educational technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embodied cognition</span> Interdisciplinary theory

Embodied cognition is the theory that many features of cognition, whether human or otherwise, are shaped by aspects of an organism's entire body. Sensory and motor systems are seen as fundamentally integrated with cognitive processing. The cognitive features include high-level mental constructs and performance on various cognitive tasks. The bodily aspects involve the motor system, the perceptual system, the bodily interactions with the environment (situatedness), and the assumptions about the world built into the organism's functional structure.

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In philosophy of mind, the extended mind thesis (EMT) says that the mind does not exclusively reside in the brain or even the body, but extends into the physical world. The EMT proposes that some objects in the external environment can be part of a cognitive process and in that way function as extensions of the mind itself. Examples of such objects are written calculations, a diary, or a PC; in general, it concerns objects that store information. The EMT considers the mind to encompass every level of cognition, including a physical level.

References

  1. ↑ Sam McNerney "Embodied Cognition and Design: A New Approach and Vocabulary" (2013)
  2. ↑ Dor Abrahamson, and Robb Lindgren "Embodiment and Embodied Design." Accessed May 7, 2014. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/papers/2014/AbrahamsonLindgren-embodiment-and-embodied-design-in-press_.pdf (In Press)
  3. ↑ Martha W. Alibali & Mitchell J. Nathan "Embodiment in Mathematics Teaching and Learning: Evidence From Learners' and Teachers' Gestures (2011)
  4. 1 2 Skulmowski, Alexander; Pradel, Simon; Kühnert, Tom; Brunnett, Guido; Rey, Günter Daniel (2016). "Embodied learning using a tangible user interface: The effects of haptic perception and selective pointing on a spatial learning task". Computers & Education. 92–93: 64–75. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2015.10.011.
  5. ↑ Sam McNerney. "Embodied Cognition and Design: A New Approach and Vocabulary". Big Think.
  6. ↑ "Mathematics Education Research Blog". mathedresearch.blogspot.com. 25 August 2008.
  7. ↑ Michael Eisenberg “Embodiment as a Strategy for Mathematics Education” (2009)
  8. ↑ April Alexander & Larissa Co “Tangible Digital Manipulatives for Math Learning” (2009)
  9. ↑ Dor Abrahamson “Handling problems: embodied reasoning in situated mathematics” (2007)
  10. ↑ Tamara van Gog, Lysanne S. Post, Robin J. ten Napel, & Lian Deijkers “Effect of Object’s ‘Embodiment’ on the Acquisition of Problem Solving Skills through Practice or Video-Based Modeling Example Study” (2013)
  11. ↑ "Problem Solving and Decision Making (Solving Problems and Making Decisions)". managementhelp.org. 18 January 2022.
  12. ↑ "Engineering Design Processes". fie-conference.org. Archived from the original on 2014-03-25.
  13. ↑ Omar Arizpe, Jerry Dwyer, Tara Stevens “Mathematical Self-Efficacy of Middle School Students Solving the Rubik Cube” (2009)
  14. ↑ Robert E. Reys "Mathematics, multiple embodiment, and elementary teachers" (1972)
  15. ↑ "Toward an embodied-interaction design framework for mathematical concepts. - Embodied Design Research Laboratory". berkeley.edu.
  16. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-25. Retrieved 2014-03-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2014-03-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ↑ Cameron Fadjo (30 June 2008). Embodied Cognition and Video Game Programming. editlib.org. pp. 5749–5756. ISBN   9781880094655.
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