Math Moves: The Role of Embodied Learning and Engagement

This study in the American Journal of STEM Education examined how physical engagement with learning materials, known as embodied interaction, and the use of spatial language affect mathematical communication among 420 randomly selected high school students in Ghana. The researchers specifically focused on the level of student engagement, which includes both behavioral participation and cognitive involvement, to determine how it influences the effectiveness of embodied learning experiences. The researchers created a self-report questionnaire to measure four key areas: embodied interaction, spatial language, classroom engagement, and mathematical communication.

They found that embodied interaction strongly and positively predicted both matematical communication and spatial language. Classroom engagement and spatial languages both strongly predicted mathematical communication as well. However, classroom engagement did not significantly influence the relationship between embodied interaction and mathematical communication. In other words, physical interaction with mathematical concepts improved students’ ability to communicate mathematically. They also identified spatial language as a bridge between physical interaction and mathematical concepts.

While classroom engagement did not strengthen the effect of physical interaction, it was a significant predictor of better mathematical communication on its own. The researchers concluded that students who engage in gestures, movement, object manipulation, and other embodied learning activities are better able to communicate mathematical ideas. This boost occurs due to their direct experience, as well as indirectly by strengthening students’ use of spatial vocabulary.

StepUp Note

All movement-based learning turns muscle power into brain power! Physical movements and actions (embodied cognition) paired with language and vocabulary, help children learn and remember.  StepUp software gives children 10 minutes of daily practice linking rhythmic movement to auditory and visual processing, helping children develop fluent skills for reading decoding, math fact retrieval and handwriting.

Note by Nancy W Rowe, MS, CCC/A