Reading Reflections on Nathan, M. "Expert from Foundations of Embodied Learning

 "Education is basically about engineering learning experiences." (Nathan, p.3)

This quote caused my first stop, as I considered the simple yet complex nature of the statement. Teacher development is about the kinds of learning experiences we present for students. I believe all teachers want to create and present the best learning opportunities for their students, yet what that looks like varies greatly. Herein lies the dilemma of education - about which much is written, argued about and copious resources developed to support the learning of students. How do we engineer the best learning experiences for students? Does this change depend on the time period during which we are teaching or the culture in which we teach? How does the composition of the classroom and the individuals therein (students and teacher) affect the best learning experiences? So many questions... can we even agree on how to define learning? The author of this article includes a definition of learning as "changes in our behaviour." The author goes on to explain that, "a pattern is emerging...that embodied learning is a natural human activity, and it is possible to design for it and harness it in ways that can inform educational practices and policies in order to usher in a new era of educating the embodied mind." (p.5)

Another stop for me (there were many in this article) came with this statement, "Meaning and sense making through personally grounded ways of knowing are not the primary objectives of these scholastic experiences. It justly matches what students most often say when asked what they are doing in school: 'I don't know'." (p.6) It is so true, that many students don't know how to explain what they are learning, and yet isn't it true that to truly understand, one should be able to explain understanding to others?

The last stop I will discuss has to do with assessment. As educators, we often create "restrictive environments" (p.7) to assess students. Does this really allow teachers to develop understanding of what students know? I have recently been experimenting with more open-ended ways of assessing students' knowledge and have come to see that traditional assessments only give us a tiny glimpse of student knowledge, knowledge which may go well beyond what students are able to show in traditional assessment.

As I read this article, I found myself often in agreement with the author. The article discussed the use of cognitive tools, particularly grounding and linking metaphors, based in embodied experiences. Ideas of equity and enthnomathematics were discussed. I have asked lots of questions above, feel free to answer (or add your thoughts about) any of them but I will also end with a final question. How does embodied learning support students in sense-making and meaning-making in mathematics?

Activity Reflection - Body Measurement, Outdoors and In

 I completed the activity this week (on calibrating body measurements) with one of my own boys and it reminded me of a body measurement activity that I did with my class last year. (Since I have moved out of the classroom and with Covid restrictions, I don't have the same kind of access to students as I did in the past.)

With my grade one students, we began a measurement activity by discussing height and different words we use when we are measuring. I showed students a photo of an old doorframe from my house (we saved it when we renovated our house) where we had kept track of my boys height each year. 

Doorframe Measurement

With the help of my EA, we measured the height of each student with string, cut the string and labeled it with the students name. I gave the students a 'Field Journal' which we set up prior to heading outside with categories like "shorter than me, longer than me and the same as me." We headed to the forest by our classroom and student were directed to use their string to measure whatever they chose in the forest and make notes in their journal. In the photos you can see students happily measuring and recording.

When we returned to the classroom, we debriefed our measurements and shared our finding. We discussed the benefits and drawbacks of measuring in this way, and we used the language of measuring in our conversations. We furthered the activity by lining up in our classroom - shortest to tallest and then we took the strings from each person - in height order - and made a graph on the floor with the strings.

This was the first lesson of several on measuring using non-standard units (in this case our height). Students were involved in the lesson and the embodiment of the lesson furthered their understanding, their connection to the learning and their enjoyment.

Later on in the year, we used our knowledge of measuring in the practical application of measuring the growth of potato plants we were growing,. This time we used rulers and then metre sticks to measure. The young students were able to use standard measures of instruments because they had built up their knowledge of measurement, starting with using their own bodies. 

These activities demonstrated, as stated in this week's introduction "mathematics coming from and going back to our bodily experiences of the world." (When we were done growing the potatoes, we counted how many we had grown from the seed potatoes and then we ate the potatoes - which helps our bodies grow! A full circle experience, so to speak.) The mathematics were meaningful to students because it was connected to their lives. We needed the symbols of mathematics - for recording and keeping track of growth and comparisons but we connected these symbols with our real world experiences and who we are - a far cry from the Platonic prejudice, from the ideas of mathematics as being solely mental and other-worldly. As the title of Antonsen's  Ted Talk, "Math is the hidden secret to understanding the world," I believe these measuring experiences helped my young students to see not only the world but the mathematics with in it from different perspectives, with different mediums, and hopefully in a way that developed their understanding, empathy and care of the world.

                                                 

 

One of the most important math facts about me....

boys

I have

three