Embodied Learning with

Portable Technologies, Probes and Virtual Reality

This last lesson has focussed on using technology to encourage learners to physically interact with their learning environment. Portable technologies such as thinking tags encourage students to engage in systems modelling; probes allow students to gather their own authentic data; and virtual reality can take learners right into the world of an abstract system. All of these involve role play, which Resnick and Wilensky (1997) note is not often a strategy that teachers use to teach math and science. The dissussion that follows focusses on whether role play should be encouraged in math and science.

Role play has often been reserved for issues of debate, mostly applicable in social studies areas. Even in science, role play activities would normally take on the social aspects of the science, rather than the actual math or science content itself. This is probably one reason why science teachers have not encouraged role play. Resnick and Wilensky (1997) note that scientists have not been encouraged to take sides; they must be dispassionate and neutral. Perhaps science teachers are passing these ideas on to their students.

However, role play in math and science can take more than one form. Students can take on the personae of various others and debate issues that arise, as already noted; they can take on the identities of matter, particles or ideas and act accordingly, as with systems modelling with science tags; or they can act as real scientists do, gathering and interpreting their own data, as with students collecting data with probes attached to calculators. All of these methods are helpful in allowing students to build knowledge and make connections in a physical way.

I believe that role play, along with other embodied learning strategies, should be promoted, whether assisted by technology or not. We need to find ways to get students moving while they're thinking about the concepts that they're learning. Not only can role play help kinaesthetic learners, but it can also allow students to build some emotional attachment to what can be somewhat "dry" content.

It can be difficult for educators to imagine situations in science and math where role playing could be used due to the highly abstract nature of some of the concepts that we expect students to learn. However, teachers of math and science need to be creative when thinking about how to do this, as I think the kinaesthetic part of learning has often been overlooked in these subjects. Perhaps new technologies such as science tags and probes will provide a springboard for educators to incorporate the idea of role play into the math and science classroom.

References

Colella, V. (2000). Participatory simulations: Building collaborative understanding through immersive dynamic modelling. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(4), 471-500.

Gleason, C. & Novak, A. (2001). Incorporating Portable Technology to Enhance an Inquiry, Project-Based Middle School Science Classroom. In Tinker, R.F. & Krajcik, J, S. (Eds.) Portable Technologies, Science Learning in Context. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Resnick, M. & Wilensky, U. (1997). Diving into complexity: Developing probabilistic decentralized thinking through role-playing activities. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7(2).