Analysis: researchers have been using embodied cognition to teach science concepts in Irish schools
By John White and Cliona Murphy, DCU
Once upon a time, there was the strong argument that the brain was the main centre for learning. Like a computer, it governed our knowledge and how we collect knowledge. But in the past two decades, advances in neuroscience and other fields have revealed that humans collect and learn vast amounts of information from the way they move, taste, touch, observe, hear, eat and feel.
Anyone who has ever watched children at play will note they love to dramatise, listen for unusual sounds, and engage emotionally with their world. Through our research, we have been investigating the value of using embodied cognition - how our bodies can help us to learn - to learn science concepts at infant, middle and upper primary school levels in Ireland.
From Serious Sience, neuroscientist Karl Friston on how our bodies help us to learn
In our study, we developed experiments that gave pupils different opportunities to use their bodies and senses during scientific inquiry. For example, when pupils were learning about forces and air resistance, they designed and tested a 'candy bomber' (a parachute that could drop a chocolate egg safely to the ground without breaking it). Before they did this, students went outside their classroom and observed paper spinners falling and then used their bodies to act and move like a spinner.
Pupils used their sense of touch to feel the different materials available to them to make parachutes; they dropped different materials, and closely observed them as they fell. They were then asked to think about how they would feel (emotionally) if they were falling like a piece of paper, a feather, or a piece of fabric. They listened to the sounds the materials made as they handled them and, of course, there was lots of excitement when it came to examining one material - the chocolate for the parachute's load.
When you use your body, it helps you understand science in an easier way
When scientists make observations, they use all their senses (when it is safe to do so) so when pupils were asked to make scientific observations about the chocolate they smelled it, tasted it and touched it. After making these observations, the students discussed the different properties of the chocolate (soft, creamy, solid). They were asked to think about how they felt when they were observing the chocolate.
These various embodied cognition activities of touching, moving, tasting, smelling, focused listening, focused observation, and considering emotions in their bodies provided rich, engaging and stimulating learning experiences, as we discovered in our data analysis. As well as enjoying the lessons, the findings revealed that teachers and students became more confident in using their bodies and senses when learning science.
But perhaps one of the most encouraging findings of all was that children were critically engaging with science, coming up with deep and often surprising scientific questions. In the words of one of a pupil who took part in our lessons, "I thought using your body was better, because if you just explain, like wrote down and explain, it’s harder to understand - but when you use your body, it helps you understand it in an easier way."
Dr John White works in the School of Policy and Practice in DCU's Institute of Education. Dr Cliona Murphy works in the School of STEM Education, Innovation & Global Studies in DCU's Institute of Education.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
