Early Tests of the Performing First Theory in Real Classrooms

Research in embodied learning has demonstrated the effectiveness of using bodily actions in STEM education. However, even though we know embodied pedagogies are effective on some occasions, we know very little about what, when, and how embodied pedagogies might help learners in their knowledge development. This project aims to shed light on the specific mechanism by investigating whether students' prior knowledge moderates the effect of performing versus observing hands-on activities on learning in the context of a college level statistics class

From the Lab to the Classroom: Effects of Embodied Pedagogies on Students’ Learning of Statistical Concepts

The idea that people learn from sensorimotor experiences, whether through performing actions themselves or observing others, has garnered increasing attention from researchers in psychology, cognitive science, computer science, and education. In teaching and learning research, a key question is whether these sensorimotor experiences can help students acquire abstract concepts in complex domains. Past research has revealed promising evidence in various domains such as mathematics and physics regarding the benefit of incorporating some sort of bodily actions into learning. However, our understanding of how different types of bodily experiences impact learning is still nascent. Questions remain about the effect, mechanism, and practical application of using embodied experiences to help learners learn abstract knowledge in complex domains. These inquiries lead to a series of laboratory experiments and classroom interventions that I will present across three chapters, each written as a discrete empirical article that either has been published or is in preparation for publication. Across three chapters, the work was conducted in the field of statistics and data science education, which was picked because the concepts are intrinsically abstract and difficult, but they simultaneously do not require a sophisticated mathematical background. The first question focuses on the effect of observing bodily actions. Whereas abundant evidence has demonstrated the effect of performing actions, the concept of observing actions is less explored. Would simply observing hands-on representations lead to an increase in learning? This question is answered in Chapter 1, a published work that demonstrates the efficacy of observing hands-on representations in improving students’ understanding of randomness and the shuffle() function in R programming used to simulate randomness. The second question focuses on the mechanism underlying the effect—an embodied representation has more sensorimotor engagement and visuospatial concreteness than an abstract representation, but does sensorimotor engagement offer a unique benefit beyond visuospatial concreteness? Chapter 2 is a manuscript under review that reports on a laboratory experiment designed to isolate the effect of sensorimotor engagement. The findings suggest that sensorimotor engagement offers a unique benefit beyond visuospatial concreteness by helping learners develop more robust visuospatial representations. The last question relates to the practical application of different types of embodied interventions when we have learners with diverse levels of prior knowledge in the classroom. Theories in embodied cognition, along with other empirical evidence in both motor and learning domains, suggest that humans rely on their knowledge of their own bodies to understand other people’s movements. This insight prompted me to ask whether learners’ prior knowledge would moderate the type of embodied intervention (i.e. performing versus observing) on learning. The third Chapter reports on the design of a curriculum-linked embodied intervention to implement embodied activities over the entire school term of a college-level introductory statistics course. Students were randomly assigned the role of a performer or an observer. The findings provided support for the Perform-First hypothesis, showing that compared to observing, performing hands-on activities diminished the correlation between prior knowledge and post-test performance. Overall, this body of work extends the theory of embodied learning and offers practical insights for teachers and curriculum developers about how to implement embodied interventions into their educational materials and instructions

Learning normal probability distribution

Understanding normal probability distributions is a crucial objective in mathematics and statistics education. Drawing upon cognitive psychology research, this study explores the use of drawings and visualizations as effective scaffolds to enhance students' comprehension. Although much research has documented the helpfulness of drawing as a research tool to reveal students’ knowledge states, its direct utility in advancing higher-order cognitive processes remains understudied. In Study 1, qualitative methods were utilized to identify common misunderstandings among students regarding canonical depictions of the normal probability distribution. Building on these insights, Study 2 experimentally compared three instructional videos (static slides, dynamic drawing, and dynamic drawings done by a visible hand). The hand drawing video led to better learning than the other versions. Study 3 examined whether the benefits from observing a hand drawing could be reproduced by a dynamic cursor moving around otherwise static slides (without the presence of a hand). Results showed no significant learning difference between observing a hand drawing and a moving cursor, both outperforming a control. This research links the cognitive process of drawing with its educational role and provides insights into its potential to enhance memory, cognition, and inform instructional methods

The power of Embodied Learning in an Online Course with Chinese High Schoolers

In recent years, embodied learning has gained significant at- tention as a valuable approach to STEM education. However, previous studies have often focused on highly controlled lab experiments and have failed to consider the unique perspec- tives and backgrounds of learners. The current study aims to replicate the findings of Zhang et al. (2022) by integrat- ing the embodied learning intervention into an online class with students that may differ in important ways from Amer- ican college students (Chinese high school students). Students were introduced to abstract concepts related to randomness and using coding to mimic a shuffling process. Students in sec- tions were randomly assigned to get this introduction through an embodied hands-on video or a less-embodied live-coding video. The learning outcomes were evaluated through authen- tic class assessments (homework and exam). Results showed that students introduced to target concepts with the more em- bodied video outperformed those who watched the less em- bodied video. The benefit of embodiment was observed only on questions related to the topic covered in the intervention videos

Utilizing Dynamic and Embodied Visualization to Facilitate Understanding of Normal Probability Distributions

Teachers often use drawings of the normal distribution to support explanations of related statistical concepts, assuming that the normal curve provides a common language for such discussions. However, we find that students may not understand the basic features of the normal curve. In Study 1, we showed that students who already have studied the normal distribution in a college-level class do not understand basic concepts associated with it. Then, in Study 2, we investigated whether a brief instructional, narrated video could improve students’ understanding of the normal probability distribution. Specifically, we compared three instructional formats: static slides, a video recording of a hand physically drawing those plots, and a screen recording of the hand-drawing. Despite the brevity of the intervention, we found significant improvements in students’ understanding of the normal probability distribution and related probability concepts. The findings are discussed in relation to the dynamic representation and embodied cognition literature