Embodiment and embodied design

Picture this. A preverbal infant straddles the center of a seesaw. She gently tilts her weight back and forth from one side to the other, sensing as each side tips downward and then back up again. This child cannot articulate her observations in simple words, let alone in scientific jargon. Can she learn anything from this experience? If so, what is she learning, and what role might such learning play in her future interactions in the world? Of course, this is a nonverbal bodily experience, and any learning that occurs must be bodily, physical learning. But does this nonverbal bodily experience have anything to do with the sort of learning that takes place in schools - learning verbal and abstract concepts? In this chapter, we argue that the body has everything to do with learning, even learning of abstract concepts. Take mathematics, for example. Mathematical practice is thought to be about producing and manipulating arbitrary symbolic inscriptions that bear abstract, universal truisms untainted by human corporeality. Mathematics is thought to epitomize our species’ collective historical achievement of transcending and, perhaps, escaping the mundane, material condition of having a body governed by haphazard terrestrial circumstance. Surely mathematics is disembodied

A Comparison of Two Instructional Sequences in an Intelligent Tutoring Program on Multiplicative Concepts and Problem Solving of Students with Mathematics Difficulties

One of the crucial goals of the National Councils of Teachers Mathematics standards (2000) was to have all students, including students with mathematics difficulties (MD), to succeed in establishing a higher-order thinking in mathematic

Coordinating visualizations of polysemous action: Values added for grounding proportion

We contribute to research on visualization as an epistemic learning tool by inquiring into the didactical potential of having students visualize one phenomenon in accord with two different partial meanings of the same concept. 22 Grade 4-6 students participated in a design study that investigated the emergence of proportional-equivalence notions from mediated perceptuomotor schemas. Working as individuals or pairs in tutorial clinical interviews, students solved non-symbolic interaction problems that utilized remote-sensing technology. Next, they used symbolic artifacts interpolated into the problem space as semiotic means to objectify in mathematical register a variety of both additive and multiplicative solution strategies. Finally, they reflected on tensions between these competing visualizations of the space. Micro-ethnographic analyses of episodes from three paradigmatic case studies suggest that students reconciled semiotic conflicts by generating heuristic logico-mathematical inferences that integrated competing meanings into cohesive conceptual networks. These inferences hinged on revisualizing additive elements multiplicatively. Implications are drawn for rethinking didactical design for proportions. © 2013 FIZ Karlsruhe

Holistic ICT environments for effective mathematics teaching and learning

To understand the numbers world, each child must face a path that includes propaedeutic phases and only overcoming these phases will allow the child to consolidate processes before tackling new ones. If this does not happen, the child becomes self-convinced of \u201dnot being able to understand math\u201d and becomes increasingly aware of it throughout primary school. The transition to middle school may have a significant impact on a child, with specific difficulties or disabilities in learning mathematics, especially if his/her difficulties have not yet been identified. The present thesis studies the contributions of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in supporting various aspects of mathematical teaching and learning. A multidimensional approach was used. In the first part, empirical studies assessed the effectiveness of digital tools to identify individual differences based on cognitive profiles and emotional responses associated with math performance in children from Northern Italy. In the second part a meta-analysis and systematic review analysis were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions supporting math learning by means of ICT in the school and home environments respectively. Altogether the thesis indicates that designing holistic ICT environments proves successful for effective mathematics teaching and learning not only for typically developing children but also for students in disadvantaged situations, including those suffering from dyscalculia

Children\u27s Mathematical Engagement Based on Their Awareness of Different Coding Toys\u27 Design Features

Tangible coding toys have been promulgated as useful learning tools for young children to learn computer science and mathematics concepts and skills. Although research shows coding toys can support mathematics for early childhood aged children, little is known about the specific design features of coding toys that afford mathematical thinking concepts and skills to young children. The purpose of this study was to examine kindergarten-aged children’s awareness of the design features in coding toys and to understand how those design features afford children’s engagement with mathematics. The dataset used for this study was collected as part of design-based research NSF project (award #DRL-1842116). I used a multi-phased qualitative analysis with a total of 42 hours of video data of 106, 5- to 6-year-old children engaging in coding toy tasks with four coding to answer the three research questions which were focused on perception of design features, mathematical engagement, and how different design features could afford mathematics. Results indicated that (a) children used and perceived the grid square and command arrow design features frequently, while other design features were used moderately or rarely; (b) children engaged in a variety of mathematical concepts and skills in five main categories of mathematical topics: spatial reasoning, geometry, comparison, measurement, and number; and (c) the relationship between design features affording mathematics varied depending on the coding toy. This research highlights the importance of specific design features to afford certain mathematical concepts and skills. These findings have important implications as early childhood educators explore ways to implement coding toys to support mathematics and computer science concepts, researchers conduct studies to better understanding how coding toys support mathematics and computer science learning, and commercial companies design new coding toys to fill the needs of educators and parents

ACER Research Conference Proceedings (2016)

The focus of ACER’s Research Conference 2016 will be on what we are learning from research about ways of improving levels of STEM learning. Australia faces significant challenges in promoting improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in our schools. Research Conference 2016 will showcase research into what it will take to address these challenges, which include: the decline in Australian students’ mathematical and scientific ‘literacy’; the decline in STEM study in senior school; a shortage of highly qualified STEM subject teachers, and curriculum challenges. You will hear from researchers who work with teachers to engage students in studying STEM-related subjects, such as engineering in primary school, and science and maths at all levels. You will learn how to engage both girls and boys in STEM learning, through targeted teaching, activities like gaming, and applying learning from neuroscience

Number sense educational game design for dyscalculia and low numeracy children

Dyscalculia is a specific educational difficulty which affects an individual’s acquisition of basic concepts of numbers and prevents them to understand and apply number facts. Dyscalculia can effect on different aspects of learning and performance mathematical skills, but number sense is the most affected issue by Dyscalculia. Studies indicate that approximately 5–8% of school-aged children experience difficulties to understand number sense. Mobile devices with installed educational games help these individuals feel more comfortable and relaxed doing and understanding mathematical skills. The main objective of this study to propose an effective educational game design guideline for learning number sense for Dyscalculia and low numeracy children. The methodology of this study has five stages which are: awareness of problem, suggestion, development, evaluation and conclusion. Every stage involves activities and output. This study also describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the 123GO app a mobile educational app that is designed and developed based on the guideline. The principle design of 123GO app based on used the interaction design (IxD) that allowed to identify and apply for an educational game app that can be used by children that have difficulties with low numeracy and thus number sense problem. The evaluation of the app suggests that it is useful and easy-to-use. In conclusion, based on the evaluation results, it is found that the 123GO app is effective in helping Dyscalculia children with number sense difficulties