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1. Augmenting Embodied Mathematics Classrooms with Mobile Tutors

   Arroyo, I. (January 2021, Annual meeting program American Educational Research Association)

   null (Ed.)

   We present the Wearable Learning Cloud Platform (WLCP), a web-based platform that supports embodied educational game creation, play, and math learning in real classrooms. WLCP is a novel learning technology that supports students’ exploratory and active movement within learning environments, blending hands-on activities and collaborative games within classroom culture. We present preliminary findings from several experiments that show that a variety of embodied games created via the WLCP helps students learn mathematics in real K-12 school settings and afterschool programs. 

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2. The WearableLearning Platform: A Computational Thinking Tool Supporting Game Design and Active Play

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-022-09601-1  

   Arroyo, Ivon; Closser, Avery Harrison; Castro, Francisco; Smith, Hannah; Ottmar, Erin; Micciolo, Matthew (August 2022, Technology, Knowledge and Learning)

   This emerging technology report introduces the WearableLearning (WL) platform as a tool to exercise computational thinking and STEM learning for 5-12th grade students through mobile technology-augmented active game play and game creation. Freely available at WearableLearning.org, it allows students and teachers to play, create, debug, and manage multiplayer, active games. To date, WearableLearning has been used in schools and afterschool programs by roughly 500 students and 25 teachers to create games covering STEM curricular content. WearableLearning enables the creation of physically active and social games, while offering possibilities for research on computational thinking, embodied cognition, collaborative learning, game-based learning, and practical applications of technology in STEM classrooms. 

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3. Wearable Learning: Multiplayer Embodied Games for Math

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3116595.3116637  

   Arroyo, Ivon; Micciollo, Matthew; Casano, Jonathan; Ottmar, Erin; Hulse, Taylyn; Rodrigo, Ma. Mercedes (January 2017, Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY '17)

   We present a new technology-based paradigm to support embodied mathematics educational games, using wearable devices in the form of SmartPhones and SmartWatches for math learning, for full classes of students in formal in- school education settings. The Wearable Learning Games Engine is web based infrastructure that enables students to carry one mobile device per child, as they embark on math team-based activities that require physical engagement with the environment. These Wearable Tutors serve as guides and assistants while students manipulate, measure, estimate, discern, discard and find mathematical objects that satisfy specified constraints. Multi-player math games that use this infrastructure have yielded both cognitive and affective benefits. Beyond math game play, the Wearable Games Engine Authoring Tool enables students to create games themselves for other students to play; in this process, students engage in computational thinking and learn about finite-state machines. We present the infrastructure, games, and results for a series of experiments on both game play and game creation. 

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4. Implementing WearableLearning in the math classroom: an exploration into the affordances of embodied learning through game-play compared to traditional learning technologies

   Crabtree, Danielle; Rasul, Injila; Arroyo, Ivon (July 2024, Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences-ICLS 2024)

   This article reports findings of implementing a novel learning technology called WearableLearning to teach geometry transformations in a math classroom. The paper aims to answer RQ1) To what extent do students learn math with embodied games facilitated by WearableLearning? and RQ2) How do students learn math differently with embodied games enabled by WearableLearning, compared to traditional learning technology? Quantitative results indicate a trend of improvement from pre-test to post-test (t = 1.5, p < 0.1). Qualitative results indicate that games through WearableLearning increase the opportunities for mathematical thinking between students, physical objects, and the learning environment. Qualitative results also indicate that students benefit from additional affordances of support when utilizing WearableLearning compared to traditional learning technologies 

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5. Expanding Opportunities for Systems Thinking, Conceptual Learning, and Participation through Embodied and Computational Modeling

   https://doi.org/10.3390/systems8040048  

   Pierson, Ashlyn E.; Brady, Corey E. (December 2020, Systems)

   Previous research has established that embodied modeling (role-playing agents in a system) can support learning about complexity. Separately, research has demonstrated that increasing the multimodal resources available to students can support sensemaking, particularly for students classified as English Learners. This study bridges these two bodies of research to consider how embodied models can strengthen an interconnected system of multimodal models created by a classroom. We explore how iteratively refining embodied modeling activities strengthened connections to other models, real-world phenomena, and multimodal representations. Through design-based research in a sixth grade classroom studying ecosystems, we refined embodied modeling activities initially conceived as supports for computational thinking and modeling. Across three iterative cycles, we illustrate how the conceptual and epistemic relationship between the computational and embodied model shifted, and we analyze how these shifts shaped opportunities for learning and participation by: (1) recognizing each student’s perspectives as critical for making sense of the model, (2) encouraging students to question and modify the “code” for the model, and (3) leveraging multimodal resources, including graphs, gestures, and student-generated language, for meaning-making. Through these shifts, the embodied model became a full-fledged component of the classroom’s model system and created more equitable opportunities for learning and participation. 

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