{"id":7263,"date":"2023-09-26T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=7263"},"modified":"2023-09-26T08:26:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T13:26:23","slug":"embodied-cognition-in-action-using-gestures-to-teach-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/embodied-cognition-in-action-using-gestures-to-teach-science\/","title":{"rendered":"“Embodied Cognition” in Action: Using Gestures to Teach Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a topic that has gotten lots of enthusiastic attention in recent years: embodied cognition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As the name suggests, that phrase means — basically — “thinking with your body, not just your mind.”<\/p>\n

Because your brain is a part of your body (it is, in fact,\u00a0physically attached<\/em> to your body), the concept makes rough-and-ready sense.<\/p>\n

In at least two ways, this\u00a0perspective has well-established research support.<\/p>\n

First,<\/strong> physical fitness improves cognition\u00a0<\/em>— at least, up to a point.<\/p>\n

We don’t need to be Olympic athletes to learn chemistry.<\/p>\n

But if I’m conspicuously out of shape, the related health detriments harm my brain just as they harm my lungs; that harm makes learning harder. (If you want to get your neuroscience geek on, look up “brain-derived neurotrophic factor.”)<\/p>\n

Second<\/strong>, some degree of physical movement<\/em> during class moderates students’ alertness levels<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If my students are nodding off or bouncing giddily, I’ll get them up on their feet for a bit to get the blood moving (or to burn off some of that excess energy).<\/p>\n

In these ways, the body’s physical state obviously matters for cognition<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And yet, over the years, I’ve had two basic concerns about broader claims within this field. Let me try to explain…<\/p>\n

Better Definitions, Please<\/h2>\n

Scientific conclusions typically require\u00a0precise measurements<\/em>; precise measurements require precise defintions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That is: I can tell you that this rock weighs more<\/em> than that rock because I can measure it (on my scale) according to well-defined measurements (pounds or kilos).<\/p>\n

But: if I want to say that\u00a0this student is\u00a0paying more attention<\/em> than that student, I need a really good definition of attention, and a way to measure it. “This student demonstrates 6 attention units, whereas that one demonstrates only 4.”<\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/a><\/p>\n

Sadly, the concept of “embodied cognition” invites definitional muddle.<\/p>\n

For instance: is mindful meditation “embodied cognition”? (It often includes a focus on the body.)<\/p>\n

More broadly, here’s Wikipedia’s entry on embodied cognition<\/a>. I’m not gonna lie; I get lost really quickly when I read that entry.<\/p>\n

So, problem #1<\/strong>: I don’t always understand exactly what the claims about embodied cognition really are.<\/p>\n

More Research, Please<\/h2>\n

I think I do understand one of the claims\u00a0under the “embodied cognition” umbrella. I think the claim is:<\/p>\n

Adding the right gestures<\/strong> to teaching helps students learn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is: using gestures (“embodied”) helps students think and learn (“cognition”).<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> in Australia pursued just this line of inquiry.<\/p>\n

In this study, 33 students (aged 12-14) learned about Brownian motion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Half of them saw a typical lesson\u00a0— a powerpoint presentation, group discussion, worksheets —\u00a0taught by an experienced teacher.<\/p>\n

The other half saw the same lesson (powerpoint presentation, etc.) with additional, carefully designed hand gestures<\/em>.<\/p>\n

By the way, the teacher used the hand getures,\u00a0and encouraged the students to do so as well<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Two days later, the students who saw and used the meaningful gestures (a.k.a., “iconic” gestures) scored a lot higher on a simple quiz. (For stats folks, the Cohen’s d was 0.98, which is really big!)<\/p>\n

Now, I admit to some concerns about this study:<\/p>\n

33 is a very modest sample size.<\/p>\n

“2 days later” isn’t really\u00a0learning<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Most important: there is no “active control group.”<\/p>\n

That is: the researchers didn’t compare iconic gestures with another new strategy<\/em>. Instead, they compared gestures to “business as usual.”<\/p>\n

“Business as usual” isn’t often a very persuasive control group; after all, the novelty might explain the effect.<\/p>\n

These concerns aside, I do think the study — combined with other similar studies<\/a> — gives us some reason to think that the right gestures just might help students learn better.<\/p>\n

I was especially glad to see an emphasis on students’ use of the gestures<\/em>. This variable hasn’t gotten much attention in other studies I’ve seen, so I’m encouraged to see it getting greater visibility.<\/p>\n

Lingering Questions<\/h2>\n

And yet, I STILL want more research. Here’s why:<\/p>\n

Problem #2<\/strong>: I don’t think we have nearly enough research (yet) to establish useful principles for instructive gestures<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In other words: these<\/em> gestures probably helped 13-year-olds<\/em> learn about states of matter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But: what sorts of gestures<\/em> can help what ages<\/em> learn about what topics<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Specifically:<\/p>\n

If I want my students to know the difference between “comedy” and “tragedy” (and I do!), can gestures help with those concepts? How should I think about desiging those gestures?<\/p>\n

What sorts of topics in a history class would benefit from gestures?<\/p>\n

Should foreign language teachers have students make specific gestures — say — when they learn different declensions? When they learn masculine or feminine nouns?<\/p>\n

I’m not trying to be difficult or grouchy when I ask these questions. I’m trying to understand how seeming success in this one case<\/em> could be translated to other topics<\/em>, other disciplines<\/em>, and other age groups<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Growing Concerns<\/h2>\n

More broadly, I worry that “iconic gestures\/embodied cognition” will become the Next Thing We’re All Talking About.<\/p>\n

Teachers will get instruction about Iconic Gestures, be required to use them, and be evaluated on their use … even though we don’t have even basic guidelines on how to create or use them. (At least, as far as I know.)<\/p>\n

For instance: the topic of Brownian motion was chosen, in part, because it is “susceptible to being taught using specific gesticulation.”<\/p>\n

What about topics that aren’t obviously susceptible?<\/p>\n

In fact, if you look at the gestures used during the lesson, they don’t seem too far off from the sorts of gestures that teachers might make spontaneously.<\/p>\n

Are “iconic gestures” simply “the sorts of gestures we’d use anyway, but formally planned, scripted, practiced, and repeated by students”?<\/p>\n

If yes, does the entire topic of iconic gestures change from “revolutionary” to “a modest technical update to something we’re doing anyway”?<\/p>\n

I’m entirely open to the possibility that gestures (“embodied”) can help students learn (“cognition”) … but we need more research to know for sure.<\/p>\n

TL;DR<\/h2>\n

Because the brain is in the body, the body’s physical state obviously matters for learning.<\/p>\n

This recent study from Australia (and others) suggest that well crafted hand gestures can help students learn some concepts.<\/p>\n

However, the principles that guide us in the creation and use of those hand gestures are not yet well mapped. So: we just don’t know how widely this technique might benefit teachers, schools, and students.<\/p>\n

If someone insists you start using gestures because “research in embodied cognition says you must!”, ask to see the specific study.<\/p>\n

\n

Bentley, B., Walters, K., & Yates, G. C. (2023). Using iconic hand gestures in teaching a year 8 science lesson.\u00a0Applied Cognitive Psychology<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a topic that has gotten lots of enthusiastic attention in recent years: embodied cognition. As the name suggests, that phrase means — basically — “thinking with your body, not just your mind.” Because your brain is a part of your body (it is, in fact,\u00a0physically attached to your body), the concept makes rough-and-ready sense. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":7267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-7263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-embodied-cognition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7263"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7269,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7263\/revisions\/7269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.braindevs.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}