The science behind STEM Charades
The Move2Learn project
STEM Charades was created as a game by Professor Andrew Manches during the Move2Learn project. This UK-US international project explored the role of actions and gestures in how children think and learn science. This project is part of a large research field called ‘Embodied Learning’ – helping us understand the relationship between movement and sensory experiences in conceptual development.
Professor Andrew Manches
Andrew was previously an infant and special education teacher. He is now full professor of Education at the University of Edinburgh. His research examines the role of interaction in early learning and the potential to innovate educational approaches. He is passionate about bridging research and practice and the potential of research to inform design.
Embodied Learning
Embodied Learning is an emerging educational approach that has developed from research over the last couple of decades into the way we think. This research has revealed that our thinking is inseparably linked to the way we sense and act in the world. Evidence includes the dynamic visual gestures we create spontaneously when describing ideas – from numbers to justice, gravity to love. Embodied Learning is exploring how we might be able to tap into these cognitive mechanisms to make learning more meaningful – by encouraging particular actions or gestures, for example. Some work has investigated the potential to create new learning technologies that can capture and respond to particular body-based movements.
For those interested in Embodied Learning there are a range of resources available, many accessible for free such as “Movement Matters” by Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate available as an e-book from MIT press.
For practitioners, we are currently developing an ‘at-cost’ online self-study course specifically on Embodied Learning with the University of Edinburgh and STEM education partner SSERC. Some of the content of this course was published as an open-access journal article for practitioners (pages 23-32).
