FIRE: Applying Embodied Learning to Physics Education

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This FIRE project brings cognitive scientists together with physicists. The goal is to improve high school and college students' physics proficiency through specific types of lab experiences that allow the student to become part of the physical system being studied. Lab experiences where students have direct experience with physics quantities (e.g., feeling forces--as opposed to reading about force, seeing forces being exerted on someone else, or even measuring forces with instruments) may lead to the use of brain areas devoted to sensory and motor (sensorimotor) processing when students later think and reason about the physics concepts they experienced. Recent research shows that when these sensorimotor areas are involved in thinking and reasoning tasks, people's understanding of those concepts improves (Beilock et al., 2008). The research institutions involved in this work are the University of Chicago and DePaul University. This proposal addresses two inter-related questions: (1) Can learning methods that involve the sensorimotor system enrich physics knowledge and understanding? (2) If so, is this because sensorimotor representations are accessed when students recall (e.g., during tests) concepts learned via movement? A total of five experiments will be conducted. First, three laboratory experiments are used to substantiate the special contributions that the sensorimotor system has to students' understanding of the physics of mechanics. Specifically, the relationship between changing angular momentum and torque is explored as students manipulate a rotating bicycle wheel. Experiment 1 compares how direct sensorimotor experience with the forces related to torques (versus observing forces or measuring their effects with instruments) impacts student understanding. Experiments 2 and 3 explore the cognitive and neural substrates that drive the link between experience and understanding using behavioral dual-task procedures and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm. Experiments 4-5 move to the classroom to explore how sensorimotor experience relates to learning, and to indentify the optimal time (before vs. after lecture) for sensorimotor experience to occur. In Experiments 4, students' experiences in high school physics labs will be manipulated to explore how sensorimotor experience relates to students' understanding of the physics of mechanics. In Experiments 5, introductory-level college physics students will be tested to investigate (1) how sensorimotor lab experiences impact performance on numerical test questions, (2) when this type of lab experience is most beneficial, and (3) for which type of questions this benefit occurs. This work uncovers the cognitive and neural mechanisms by which certain lab experiences work. The focus on sensorimotor learning mechanisms is exciting as students are themselves the most critical piece of lab equipment. The findings from this work will advance physics education and also have the potential to impact learning in other STEM domains as well. For instance, understanding complex molecular structures in chemistry or structural relations in engineering may benefit from the types of sensorimotor experiences explored here. In sum, the knowledge acquired from this grant will aid in the design of quick, effective, and generalizable guidelines that educators can use in their own teaching to advance student learning and STEM achievement.