Embodied Learning Technologies: Pushing the Frontiers of STEM Education by Having Students Move in Meaningful Ways

A seminar sponsored by the Bureau of Educational Research

 A new era of tangible and motion-sensing technologies is making it possible to interact with digital environments using hand gestures and other types of body movement. Not only can these environments accept student movement as input, but they can cue learners to move in prescribed ways. But what kinds of movement helps people learn challenging concepts in areas such as science and engineering? How can the design of cutting-edge technologies be informed by studies of student reasoning and conceptual development? In this talk I will describe a number of current projects investigating the mechanisms of embodied learning in both formal and informal environments. Discussion will range from how our understanding of embodied learning can allow us to make better use of the learning resources we have currently to how it may impact the design of the classrooms and museums of the future.