Embodied Cognition & Enactivism: Implications for Education

AERA - Doug HoltonMay 1, 2010 1

AERA 2010AERA 2010

Embodied Cognition & Enactivism:Implications for

Constructivism & Conceptual Change

Doug [email protected] Technology

& Learning Scienceshttp://itls.usu.edu/


Embodied Cog & EnactivismEmbodied Cog & Enactivism

The idea that our cognitive processes aregrounded in sensory behavior and motor

actions.

The mind and body and world are inseparable.

(Qing Li, AERA 2010)


Embodied Cog ExamplesEmbodied Cog Examples• Hill looks steeper wearing a backpack• Holding a warm drink, people rate others as

more warm and friendly than w/cold drink• Faster to respond 'yes' when pushing lever,

faster to respond 'no' when pulling it• Right handed people view things more

positively on the right side and vice versa• More likely to recall positive experiences

when moving marbles up into box than when moving them down


Haptic AdvantageHaptic Advantage• Faster and more accurate mental

transformations when performing an action congruent with the imagined transformation, and vice versa

• Pulley & gear systems – pulling a rope blindfolded or imagining pulling a rope helps people mentally animate the behavior

• We are better at judging the volume of shapes from haptic than from visual info

• Haptics assist Piagetian conservation tasks


Other Embodiment ExamplesOther Embodiment Examples• Hundreds more published examples >20 yrs• You can probably come up with your own –

pacing when working on a paper, gesturing when giving a presentation, etc.

• Eventually you get to a point where it is hard to think of examples that are not embodied or do not involve embodiment in some manner

• philosophy, colors, math abstractions (Lakoff, Johnson, Noe, Nunez...)


Summary of Embodied CogSummary of Embodied Cog

For a summary see:Embodiment and

Cognitive ScienceRaymond Gibbs, 2006

and see:http://embodiedcog.

wikispaces.com/


Connections to Activity TheoryConnections to Activity Theory

Some of the first folks to consider issues of embodiment are from phenomenology – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Don Ihde...today: Shaun Gallagher and others

Kaptelenin & Bonnie Nardi – Acting with Technology (ch.9) found a great deal of overlap between activity theory and (embodied) phenomenology


Applying E.C. to EducationApplying E.C. to Education• What's missing are comprehensive

applications of embodied cognition & enactivism to education

• Despite the variety of research on embodied cognition, virtually all the examples I mentioned have little or no application to education.

Applying E.C. to Education

We're not going to:

•give different exam response sheets for left and right handed students

•serve kids warm drinks•give teachers warm apple pies instead of cold

apples

Abstracting to Education

One must abstract from the general principles of embodied cognition and enactivism to inspire new learning designs and other new educational applications and frameworks.

Or use embodiment as a lens to revisit existing educational theories & techniques.

Some example applications...


Applications to EducationApplications to Education• Children 'act out' a story w/figurines leads to

better reading comprehension (Arthur Glenberg)• Improved math learning when teachers attend to

the gestures they and their students use (Susan Goldin-Meadow-Hearing Gesture)

• Better understand molecular structures when allowed to haptically manipulate 3D models (Gail Jones)

• Minogue & Jones (2006). Haptics in Education• Wolff-Michael Roth – Gestures• Hasn't been a more general review or book


Applying to ConstructivismApplying to ConstructivismLet's look back at constructivism through the

lens of embodiment and enactivism.

Enactivism might be considered one flavor of constructivism, in addition to social constructivism, radical constructivism...

(see Constructivist Foundations website)


Applying to ConstructivismApplying to ConstructivismKnowledge isn't a structure you build or an

object that can be passed around or purely linguistic: “it is not knowledge-as-object but knowledge-as-action”

(Begg, 2000)Knowledge isn't “stuff” (ala Michi Chi)

in your head.Knowledge isn't an object or product

(Dewey)


ConstructivismConstructivism

Re-summarizing some advantages of constructivism:

• More student-centered• Active participation is critical• Presenting information does not mean a

student learned or understood it• Students aren't blank slates or machines to

be programmed• Students aren't a homogenous group


Q's about ConstructivismQ's about Constructivism• How is knowledge constructed?• What is the nature of this knowledge and its

relationship to the world? (epistemology)• How do we know what students

understand? (assessment) hard Q for Von Glasersfeld

• Why and when is guidance necessary?• Why do students have the “misconceptions”

or alternative conceptions that they do?


EnactivismEnactivism• May help us answer some of these Q's• May provide a better grounding for some

concepts and techniques from constructivism and the learning sciences

• Humanizes students even more: empathy• Pay attention to the whole learning

environment including gestures and the body

• Provides some (embodied) constraints on learning


Wolff-Michael RothWolff-Michael Roth“Learning environments that do not support

students’ use of body and gesture can limit what and how they learn” (Roth & Lawless, 2001).

“What is called teaching, therefore, involves not only the words and sentences a teacher utters and writes on the board during a lesson, but also all the hands/arms gestures, body movements, and facial expressions a teacher performs in the classroom” (Pozzer-Ardenghi & Roth, 2006, p.96)


Applying to Conceptual ChangeApplying to Conceptual Change

Let's look at conceptual change research through the lens of embodiment:

“Naive notions like those derived from bodily metaphors may underpin misconceptions, such as the quasi-Aristotelian notions that Alternative Frameworks researchers in science education have documented extensively” (Ernst, 2006)


Conceptual ChangeConceptual Change

See Cambridge Handbook of Concept.Change• Michelene Chi – conceiving of processes as

objects or substances (like diffusion/current)• Andy diSessa – phenomenological

primitives, “knowledge in pieces”• force as mover• force as action

• Are embodied actions central to core p-prims• Are actions coordinated, even theory-like• Is there an 'embodied physics'


Animations/Diagrams/SimsAnimations/Diagrams/Sims

Diagrams let us take our time, mentally re-animate processes. Animations/videos may be too fast or too slow.

The more realistic/complex the simulation, the more difficult for the learner to use.

More effective alternative: User-controllable diagrams or animated, controllable simulations (Lowe, 2004; Chan & Black, 2006)


Example: Graph InterpretationExample: Graph Interpretation

“graph as picture” misconception -G. Leinhardt


MBL: Microcomp-Based LabsMBL: Microcomp-Based Labs

Better understand success of MBL approach: connecting sensors with computers

Ex: Drag a car back and forth along a track, and the computer graphs its position/speed/acceleration in real-time

Within 20 minutes, students better understand how to interpret graphs of motion. Video not as successful, non-real-time also hurts perf


Controllable Circuit SimulationControllable Circuit Simulation• Move voltage “up” or “down” using a slider

or joystick or steering wheel• “Enact” a voltage source: battery (constant

voltage), AC (alternating current)• “Wiggle” the voltage and see the effects on

electrical current flow (as represented by a moving chain of dots → speed=current)

• Better understand the behavior and difference between capacitors and inductors, high/low pass filters...


Lessons LearnedLessons Learned• Embodying concepts helps for abstract, non-

visualizable, non-physical concepts, as well.• There doesn't have to be a one-to-one

spatially isomorphic congruence between the action and the thing being conceived. Temporal and causal congruence appear to be most important (see research on causal perception).

• It is not the actions per se we attend to & learn, but the constraints on our actions (similar to Vygotsky's internalization concept)


Contrasting CasesContrasting Cases

• Another highly successful instructional technique

• In the next slides, ask yourself – what do you notice in the left box?


What do you see in left box?What do you see in left box?


What did you notice?What did you notice?

A Circle

Now try it again

What do you notice in the left box?





A Smaller Circle

You noticed the size nowAnd perhaps the white color too

Try It Again





A Circle in the Middle

Now the position of the circleIs more salient


Contrasting CasesContrasting Cases

Why does this strategy work? How does it work? Why do we notice the “difference”?

Perhaps when we see 2 contrasting cases, we transform/manipulate one into the other.

For example move or grow the circle.

Similarity as [embodied] transformation (Hahn et al., 2003)


ConclusionConclusion

Embodied cognition research and enactivism may serve as a new foundation for research on conceptual change and constructivist-inspired learning environments.

Conclusion

“Learning environments that do not support students’ use of body and gesture can limit what and how they learn” (Roth & Lawless, 2001).

One should not ignore the the embodied nature of teaching and learning, even in online learning contexts (McWilliam & Taylor, 1998; Bayne, 2004; Dall'Alba & Barnacle, 2005) [e.g., presence]


Enactivism GotchasEnactivism Gotchas• Embodied cog/enactivism is not

behaviorism• There are many diverse notions of

embodiment, however, at many levels• Embodiment does not simply mean 'make it

hands-on' or 'use avatars' or 'anthropomorphize things' (embodied interactivity plus constraints on activity)

• Sometimes limited/constrained interactivity is more effective than full/unconstrained activity (Hegarty)

Design Principle

Ultimately, when designing a learning environment think about:

What are the key constraints I want students to understand, and how can I help students embody them.

This helps regardless of whether you are teaching: circuits, math problems, writing for an audience, helping students understand a historical episode, etc.

Embodiment: A New Lens

Considerations of embodiment provide a new lens on learning, teaching, educational research, instructional design, and theory.

“The content is the audience.”– Marshall McLuhan


Thank You

[email protected]

Copies of papers for this & other session at:

http://embodiedcog.wikispaces.com/
