Embodiment, mathematical description, and mechanistic reasoning: Supporting STEM integration

Embodied cognition has been a useful means to support learning in science education. In this article, we describe a model of embodied cognition through analogical mapping that is supported through the participatory simulation and mathematical description of a link and pivot system. We look at the propensity for this model of embodied cognition to support student mechanistic reasoning. While these link and pivot systems provide students with immediate perceptual accessibility to their components, they do not provide perceptual accessibility to the way that forces are transmitted through them. In an afterschool STEM program, students engaged in a participatory simulation (the Rope Walk) of the link and pivot system that allowed them to simulate the parts and forces present. Then, students progressively re-described these physical experiences as a mathematical system; they then described the simulation and mathematical system as the physical link and pivot system. In this study, this model of embodied cognition was validated through a microgenetic analysis of student talk and gesture during the first two instructional sessions as well as during pre- and post-assessments. These data show that students were supported to construct analogical mappings between three analog conceptual domains: the participatory simulation (the Rope Walk), the physical system (link and pivot system), and the mathematical system (the mathematics of circles). In addition, students made gains on measures of mechanistic reasoning and explanation.

Automated summary

This article introduces a model of embodied cognition that supports student learning and mechanistic reasoning in science education through analogical mapping, participatory simulation, and mathematical description. The study demonstrates that students were able to construct analogical mappings between participatory simulation, physical system, and mathematical system, leading to improvements in mechanistic reasoning and explanation skills.