Designing ‘Embodied’ Science Learning Experiences for Young Children

Abstract

Research in embodied cognition emphasises the importance of meaningful 'bodily' experience, or congruent action, in learning and development [1]. This highlights the need for evidence-based design guidelines for sensorimotor interactions that meaningfully exploit action-based experiences, that are instrumental in shaping the way we conceptualise the world. These sensorimotor experiences are particularly important for young children as they can provide them with an embodied toolkit of resources (independent of language skills or subject specific vocabulary) that they can draw upon to support science 'think' and 'talk', using their own bodies to develop and express ideas through gesture, that are grounded on sensorimotoric representations from action experiences. Taking an iterative design-based research (DBR) approach [2], this paper reports the design, development and deployment of a programme of outdoor activities for children aged 4-6 years, that drew on embodied cognition theory to foster meaningful action in relation to ideas of air resistance. This research is relevant to researchers, practitioners and designers. It makes a contribution to learning experience design by making explicit the process of applying key components of embodied cognition theory to the design of science learning activities for early years, and how this can effectively inform digital design.

Leveraging Play for Learning and Development: Incorporating Cultural‐Evolutionary Insights into Early Educational Practices

“…Here, biases for movement (Bjorklund, 2022; Kernan, 2014) and active learning are fueled by children's primary biases for learning in the physics domain (Geary, 2005) and moved into secondary learning of STEM‐related concepts (Hirsh‐Pasek & Golinkoff, 2021). Other innovative examples include science learning enhanced through learning experiences in which children explore science concepts and mathematics using bodily movement (Thomas Jha, Price, & Motion, 2020) and by utilizing technological games for inclusion (Yiannoutsou, Johnson, & Price, 2021). In these examples, play and early childhood programs that foster academic advancement are not opposed, but put into a fruitful synthesis, showing how learning is enhanced in explorative, playful, and social.…”