In Foundations of Embodied Learning, Nathan argues that educational systems fundamentally misunderstand how humans learn by restricting students' physical movement and hands-on experiences. He presents embodied learning—the idea that we learn by engaging our physical bodies and sensory experiences to understand new concepts—as an evidence-based framework. Drawing on Lakoff and Núñez's grounding metaphors, Nathan shows how mathematical concepts emerge from embodied experiences like collecting objects, measuring with sticks, and moving along paths. Through examples ranging from kindergartners learning number lines through movement games to students understanding geometric angles by forming them with their arms, he demonstrates that when schools force students to sit still and manipulate abstract symbols, they cut learners off from their most powerful cognitive resources—with consequences that can shape students' identities and close off entire career paths.
Do you ever find yourself reading something and thinking, “Well that’s obvious! Why haven’t I made those connections before?” On the first page of this week’s reading I found myself doing precisely that. Nathan defines learning as lasting changes in our behaviour. If people can behave and learn in so many different ways, he argues, then our schools need to honor and support that diversity rather than narrowing it down. Roger Antonsen described learning as a change in perspective. Learning and change seem to go hand in hand and should fundamentally shape how we look at students and their abilities. If teachers are looking at test scores as an indicator of learning, we are missing out on noticing all of the ways our students can show us what they know. The very measurements we have in place lack meaningful frameworks for capturing what learning actually is.
This realization made me reflect on my own teaching context. The timeframe I have with my students is a quick snapshot in time and it feels daunting to think I should do anything other than be a quiet 'noticer' of how my students are growing as learners. Perhaps suspending judgement is the best approach so we don't risk missing what our students know as the education system we work within narrows and restricts how students show what they know.
Nathan's discussion of the Math Worlds program stopped me in my tracks. The researchers discovered that some Portuguese immigrant children in Toronto hadn't learned to see numbers along a number line—a conceptual metaphor that seems so basic that schools don't even explicitly teach it. They assumed children already knew it.
Wow, I had NEVER thought about this before. It reminds me of those moments when I think a concept is going to be simple for students and then it isn't. I have to remember that what feels like second nature to me is brand new to them. How many other foundational concepts am I assuming my students already have? And how many students are we labeling as struggling when they simply haven't been given the grounding experiences they need?
All of this leaves me wondering: How do we decide what's valued in the education system? And more importantly, who gets to decide?
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Some of the ideas that really stood out to me in reading this post were the emphasis on meeting students where they are and allowing them to learn in many different ways—through their bodies, their abilities, and what they bring with them into the classroom. I think, at our core, this is something most teachers deeply believe in. It’s why many of us are in this profession in the first place. And yet, I also feel a constant tension between those beliefs and the realities of the system we’re working within.
ReplyDeleteThis tension feels especially relevant right now, as BC teachers are in bargaining with the government. When I think about what teachers are really asking for, it often comes down to more support in classrooms. For me, a lack of support directly impacts my ability to truly sit with students, understand where they’re at, and design hands-on, embodied, and engaging learning experiences. Prep time is often taken up by managing behaviours or catching up on other responsibilities, which means I sometimes fall back on activities I’ve used before or ones that are easier to access. Not because I believe they’re best, but because they fit within the time and energy I have. If, as a society, we say we value student success, then I really hope governments can begin to meet teachers where we are, so we can better meet students where they are.
I also had a real pause—and “aha”—moment around the idea of assuming certain concepts are simple for students. This reminded me of an experience last year when colleagues and I were solving a math problem and then explaining our thinking orally and visually, much like a math talk. When one colleague shared her approach, it was completely different from mine, and I remember thinking, I never would have thought about it that way. It was such a powerful reminder of how varied our thinking can be, even as adults with similar backgrounds.
That experience reinforced for me the value of talking through ideas—both with colleagues and with students. These conversations allow us to challenge one another, consider alternative approaches, and better understand how people are engaging with mathematics in their own bodies and minds. It also made me think about how students might be physically and emotionally experiencing math—whether through curiosity, confidence, or even anxiety—and how important it is to create space for those experiences to be acknowledged. Embodied learning, in this sense, isn’t just about movement; it’s about recognizing the whole learner and the many ways understanding can take shape.
Kristie, such a good wonder: "How do we decide what's valued in the education system? And more importantly, who gets to decide?"
ReplyDeleteThis feels like it strongly connects to our social justice lessons. Also, I have no answer. Culturally, what is important enough to need to communicate with others about? It also brings us back to the idea of "Thinking Mathematically"; we would first need to create a dialogue with ourselves because we would've determined that the math was important enough to need to figure out.
I wonder about various international curricula and if there are some math concepts that are valorized and devalorized based on cultural needs?
If learning is change, then a multiple-choice snapshot taken on a random Tuesday feels like a very strange ruler and unfortunately that is something that I do in high school sometimes!
ReplyDeleteAntonsen’s idea that learning is a change in how we see something aligns so well with embodiment. Bodies are excellent at perspective shifts. They rotate, stretch, compress, bump into things, and recalibrate constantly. No wonder asking students to sit still and manipulate symbols in isolation can cut them off from their most powerful tools. I sometimes then act surprised when some students disengage or start believing math (or school) “isn’t for them.”
The number line made me think about my high school science classes. I catch myself all the time assuming students “just know” things like how a graph works, what a variable feels like, or why a model is a model and not the thing itself. Then I watch them struggle with concepts like energy transfer or particle motion and realize they are missing the embodied grounding that I quietly skipped over because it feels second nature to me now. It is humbling.
How we might design science or math experiences that make those hidden assumptions visible with students? In my science classes, I am starting to ask myself what metaphors am I assuming students already have, and how might I let them build those metaphors with their bodies first before I ask them to explain them with words? And with what time?
These are deep questions about the embodied/ cultural groundings for learning, and part of the issue is that new generations may be living in a different technological and cultural environment than their teachers grew up in. It's really impossible to know what people have experienced until it comes up -- and then we need to be very mindful of what we can do to help establish those foundational experiences.
ReplyDeleteA lot of kids (including in high school) do have a very rich life of movement including dance, sports, hanging out outdoors, making things, etc. outside the math classroom too, and it only seems reasonable to bring some of that knowledge and grounding into our math worlds!