Seeing in the Dark: Embodied Cognition in Amateur Astronomy Practice

Azevedo, Flávio S.; Mann, Michele J.

doi:10.1080/10508406.2017.1336439

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Their analysis showed how the adults physically adjusted the positions of children, re‐arranging the young learner's bodily orientation and using other forms of physical touch and movement in order to guide their participation (Zimmerman & McClain, ). Another example drawn from the field of amateur astronomers refers to physical instruction as part of embodied cognition (Azevedo & Mann, ). In that study, the in‐action practices of amateur astronomers were documented and investigated to show how physical instruction comes into play in celestial observation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We adopted an inductive analysis approach, which is used when a minimally edited video corpus is investigated with broad questions in mind but without a strong orienting theory (Derry et al, ), and which is free from predetermined analytic categories (Jordan & Henderson, ). We used the flow chart of the interactions as a road map (Azevedo & Mann, ), which helped us choose specific interactions for analysis. We decided to focus on the interactions that moved beyond giving technical instructions for operating the exhibit (i.e., those that progressed past stage 2 in the flow chart and entered the more complex and diverse stage 3).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An examination of the interactions between museum educators and students on a school visit to science museum

2018

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Today, science is a major part of western culture. Discussions about the need for members of the public to access and understand scientific information are therefore well established, citing the importance of such information to responsible citizenship, democracy, socially accountable scientific research and public funding (National Research Council [2009] Learning science in informal environments: People, places, and pursuits. National Academies Press). In recent years there has been an increased interest in investigating not just what visitors to informal environments have learnt after a visit, but also how visitors interact and engage with exhibits during the visit (Davidsson & Jakobsson [2012] Understanding interactions at science centers and museums: Approaching sociocultural perspectives. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers). Within the field of school visits to science museums, however, interactions between students and museum educators (MEs) remain relatively unexplored. In our study of such school visits, we are mainly interested in the interactions that take place between three agents—the students, the museum educator and the physical setting of the exhibit. Using moment‐to‐moment fine grain analysis of multiple interactions allowed us to identify recurring patterns between students and the museum educators around exhibits, and to examine the MEs’ mediational role during the interactions, and the practices they employ to engage students with exhibits. Our study revealed that most interactions between MEs and students consist of technical explanations of how to operate the exhibits. The interactions that do move past this stage often include two main practices, which the MEs use to promote students’ engagement with the exhibits: physical instruction and engaging the students emotionally. Understanding what is actually happening in the learning process that occurs during students’ interactions with exhibits can help museum educators and exhibit designers improve the experiences of students on school visits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An examination of the interactions between museum educators and students on a school visit to science museum

2018

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“…While there exists research on the ways that the body underlies the metaphorical manner in which we think [32,[40][41][42]45] and research on how the body is used to communicate scientific ideas [12,33,34,102,103], the claims from these perspectives have rarely been combined in the context of concrete physics examples [104] and, for some, have created an immutable divide in what it means to do research of embodiment in learning [105]. Our paper provides a methodology that incorporates the perspectives of embodied cognition and social semiotics into a single analytic framework-something which to our knowledge has not been done before.…”

Section: Synthesis Of Perspectives On Embodimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embodiment in physics learning: A social-semiotic look

Euler

Rådahl²,

Gregorcic

2019

Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.

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In this paper, we present a case study of a pair of students as they use nondisciplinary communicative practices to mechanistically reason about binary star dynamics. To do so, we first review and bring together the theoretical perspectives of social semiotics and embodied cognition, therein developing a new methodological approach for analyzing student interactions during the learning of physics (particularly for those interactions involving students' bodies). Through the use of our new approach, we are able to show how students combine a diverse range of meaning-making resources into complex, enacted analogies, thus forming explanatory models that are grounded in embodied intuition. We reflect on how meaning-making resources-even when not physically persistent-can act as coordinating hubs for other resources as well as how we might further nuance the academic conversation around the role of the body in physics learning.

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“…They engaged in various scientific and engineering practices (Table ), such as developing, using, and communicating models (e.g., when designing paper guns), analyzing and interpreting data (e.g., when examining bean germination in differing conditions), and evidence‐based argumentation (e.g., when arguing about why certain kangaroo species reproduced “here” but not elsewhere). It is noteworthy that many interactions consisted mainly of searching, finding, and pointing at objects (e.g., animals), collaboratively noticing and directing each other's gaze (Azevedo & Mann, ), without much scientific practice beyond that (Vedder‐Weiss, ). These were accompanied by many what questions (e.g., what is it?)…”

Section: Data and Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Won't you give up your snack for the sake of science?” Emerging science identities in family everyday interaction

Vedder‐Weiss

2018

J Res Sci Teach

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This study provides a rich account of everyday science engagement in a science family (a family rich in science habitus) and sheds light on how science–person and science–antagonist identities emerge through science engagement in such a family. Using audio recordings and field notes obtained over a year of self‐ethnography, I systematically analyze science engagement in one family, showing how science was infused in all aspects of family life. However, the children in this family diverged in patterns of science participation: one child exhibited a science person identity, expressing more positive disciplinary emotions, initiating more frequently, asking more questions, sustaining longer investigations, and generally holding the floor three times more than the other child, who exhibited a science antagonist identity. To further understand the reason why the two children thus diverged in their patterns of science participation, despite many shared conditions, I zoom in on the moment‐by‐moment interactions in the family. Using microanalysis, I explore how positioning and roles may elucidate such local variation. The analysis illustrates how repeating events of identification within everyday family interactions are a powerful mechanism that can help explain such divergences. The findings underscore the importance of parents' awareness of the myriad of ways that recognition and roles are intertwined in everyday science engagement and identity formation. They suggest considering the potential of informal science‐learning environments to lead to alienation from science. Furthermore, the study implies that although we must investigate how socio‐historical categories function to deny individuals' (and groups') access to science, we should also go beyond these categories to understand how equal access to science is denied in less apparent ways.

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Seeing in the Dark: Embodied Cognition in Amateur Astronomy Practice

Cited by 26 publications

References 50 publications

An examination of the interactions between museum educators and students on a school visit to science museum

An examination of the interactions between museum educators and students on a school visit to science museum

Embodiment in physics learning: A social-semiotic look

“Won't you give up your snack for the sake of science?” Emerging science identities in family everyday interaction

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