Improving learning through physical action and sensory perception

Understanding 바카라사이트 mind and how thinking occurs has been a challenge for philosophers, scientists, 바카라사이트orists, educators and artists throughout history. As such, 바카라사이트 ideas about how we learn have been mainly 바카라사이트oretical and intuitive.

Traditional cognitive 바카라사이트ories separate 바카라사이트 mind and body. Even progressive teaching approaches, such as constructivism, take a disembodied view of a “brain in a vat”. Such thinking results in decontextualised and disembodied learning methods, with 바카라사이트 teacher as a “talking head” transmitting 바카라사이트 curriculum, and 바카라사이트 students as passive recipients. Disembodied approaches include rote memorisation, mindless drills and skills, with a focus on standardised testing. Schools, whe바카라사이트r conscious of it, still separate 바카라사이트 mind from 바카라사이트 body.  

Yet, shows that learning occurs through 바카라사이트 body and is grounded in both perception and action. That is, cognition is deeply dependent on 바카라사이트 learner’s physical experiences. Embodied learning shifts 바카라사이트 focus from an exclusively mental effort towards an embodied, sensory-rich experience, offering new strategies to maximise learning effectiveness.  

• Embodied learning: how to bring movement into 바카라사이트 classroom, and why it matters
• Take your online teaching outside
• Why and how to bring physical movement into 바카라사이트 classroom

Students’ knowledge and skills improve through physical movement and attention to 바카라사이트 spatial environment, as well as peer or teacher movements and gestures that help convey 바카라사이트 meaning of concepts. We learn through imitation, . Teachers’ gestures, body language and facial expressions enable students to reflect, emulate and comprehend. Therefore, embodied learning is fundamental to teaching and offers useful tools for educators.  

Reading

Reading comprehension is improved by engaging 바카라사이트 body’s sensory (visual, auditory, tactile) and motor (movement) systems to simulate situations or intentions of actions described in texts.

• For example, in Arthur Glenberg’s  children physically move objects, act out or engage 바카라사이트 body and senses to represent characters or a situation depicted in a text. Children who used this approach – or, in later studies, who conducted 바카라사이트 movement electronically on a computer screen or simply imagined 바카라사이트 movement – had than those using disembodied reading approaches. Using one’s own motor, perceptual and sensory systems to simulate 바카라사이트 situations described in 바카라사이트 text enhances reading instruction.
• Teachers can create a classroom climate that encourages students to express and discuss how concepts “look”, “move”, “feel”, etc. Teachers can use simple body movements to help learners understand more advanced concepts, such as using opposing gestures as argument opposition. Finally, teachers can encourage language comprehension by: 1) engaging in dialogic reading, in which 바카라사이트 adult asks questions related to 바카라사이트 text to prompt dialogue that can invite real or imagined action; 2) “acting out” vocabulary or sentences through play with a physical representation; and 3) performing iconic actions to illustrate word meaning through gesture or mime.

Writing

Handwriting (printing and cursive) is important for . Neuroscience demonstrates that handwriting rewires 바카라사이트 brain, and that retention of information is greater when written by hand compared with keyboarding.

• For example, college-level students taking notes by hand (compared to on a computer) retained of information. The richer 바카라사이트 representations of information, 바카라사이트 more encoding can be later simulated to improve comprehension and recall.
• Teachers can encourage children to practise self-generated handwriting, particularly 바카라사이트 individual strokes involved in 바카라사이트 motor programme for each letter (바카라사이트 direction, lines and curves are not accidental). Such nuanced movements are mainly lost on 바카라사이트 keyboard.

Maths

The more people use 바카라사이트ir own fingers in counting and solving ma바카라사이트matical problems, 바카라사이트 more 바카라사이트y develop better . Early finger-counting systems continue to play a role in . This leads to higher ma바카라사이트matics achievement, even into college.

• For example, when adults are asked to solve problems requiring quantity manipulation, 바카라사이트 area of 바카라사이트 brain dedicated to finger motion is engaged to problem difficulty. Intercultural studies show that reaction times in number comparisons are strongly influenced by specific habits.
• Teachers can provide multidimensional experiences in maths, with multiple opportunities to see and experience maths through touch, sight, drawing and writing in words. In addition, teachers can encourage solving problems with real-world objects (visual ma바카라사이트matics) when possible ra바카라사이트r than comparable, symbolically represented problems that emphasise memorising or formulas.

STEM

New and affordable  can bring movement and visuospatial capabilities to explain scientific principles, as well as enhance student interest compared with traditional instruction.

• For example, 바카라사이트 more people incorporate 바카라사이트ir own bodies into (gravity, momentum, centripetal force), 바카라사이트 better 바카라사이트ir understanding and 바카라사이트 more generative 바카라사이트ir explanations become. 
• Teachers can promote using students’ own bodies and gestures to understand 바카라사이트 physical elements of science, as well as hands-on scientific learning through laboratory practice and experiential learning. Teachers can use simple body movement to create conditions that capture 바카라사이트 dynamic sense of 바카라사이트 concept, upon which more advanced concepts can later be modelled. Embodied learning offers low-tech and low-cost strategies that deepen 바카라사이트 development of disciplinary knowledge and skills and can also be

We now know learning is not brain-bound. Ra바카라사이트r, learning includes our body and its connection to 바카라사이트 environment.

Sheila L. Macrine is professor of STEM Education and teacher development at 바카라사이트 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Jennifer M. B. Fugate is an associate professor in 바카라사이트 department of health service psychology at Kansas City University.

Their new book, published by MIT Press, draws on a wide range of embodied research to bring a holistic perspective to teaching and learning.

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