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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Using Augmented Reality Technology to Support Young Students’ Embodied Learning Experience in Computational Tasks
This study introduces an Augmented-Reality-based learning system that aims to support young students’ embodied learning in block-based programming activities where they learn computational concepts and create meaningful chunks of codes. Students are going to perform episode-embedded path-finding tasks, which are designed to practice their capacities of applying computational thinking in a reasonable manner to solve problems within different scenarios. Grounded on an embodied cognition approach, the AR integration creates a concrete and tangible environment for young students to understand abstract conceptual knowledge in an engaging and interactive way, with a close connection built between the real and virtual worlds.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2048989
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10447198
- Editor(s):
- Langran, L.; Henriksen, D.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SITE Interactive Online 2022 Conference
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 346-349
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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