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22 results on '"Abrahamson, Dor"'

1. The Future of Embodied Design for Mathematics Teaching and Learning

Author

Abrahamson, Dor, Nathan, Mitchell J, Williams-Pierce, Caro, Walkington, Candace, Ottmar, Erin R, Soto, Hortensia, and Alibali, Martha W

Subjects
Behavioral and Social Science, cognition, design, embodiment, gesture, mathematics, multimodality, teaching, technology
Abstract

A rising epistemological paradigm in the cognitive sciences—embodied cognition—has been stimulating innovative approaches, among educational researchers, to the design and analysis of STEM teaching and learning. The paradigm promotes theorizations of cognitive activity as grounded, or even constituted, in goal-oriented multimodal sensorimotor phenomenology. Conceptual learning, per these theories, could emanate from, or be triggered by, experiences of enacting or witnessing particular movement forms, even before these movements are explicitly signified as illustrating target content. Putting these theories to practice, new types of learning environments are being explored that utilize interactive technologies to initially foster student enactment of conceptually oriented movement forms and only then formalize these gestures and actions in disciplinary formats and language. In turn, new research instruments, such as multimodal learning analytics, now enable researchers to aggregate, integrate, model, and represent students’ physical movements, eye-gaze paths, and verbal–gestural utterance so as to track and evaluate emerging conceptual capacity. We—a cohort of cognitive scientists and design-based researchers of embodied mathematics—survey a set of empirically validated frameworks and principles for enhancing mathematics teaching and learning as dialogic multimodal activity, and we synthetize a set of principles for educational practice.

Published
2020

4. Coordination Dynamics of Semiotic Mediation: A Functional Dynamic Systems Perspective on Mathematics Teaching/Learning.

Author

Shvarts, Anna and Abrahamson, Dor

Subjects
*DYNAMICAL systems, *MATHEMATICS, *HUMAN behavior, *TRIGONOMETRY, *COGNITION, *COGNITIVE science
Abstract

Context • Radical embodied approaches to cognition propose a drastic alternative to representation-based models of the mind by way of theorizing and empirically demonstrating the constitutive roles of perception-action loops in human behavior. However, applying those approaches to higher-order processes - such as mathematical thinking and learning - remains one of the hottest debates within contemporary cognitive science. > Problem • How might a radical embodied perspective theoretically explain semiotic mediation? For example, how can we theorize the understanding of trigonometric relations expressed through the symbolic form of "sin 2a = sin a"? > Method • Revisiting the nature of semiotic mediation, we pursue a historically grounded theoretical analysis that integrates perspectives from Lev Vygotsky and Nikolai Bernstein; to make the theoretical proposal accessible, we illustrate it by empirical data from a dual-eye-tracking study on teaching/learning trigonometry. > Results • We show how semiotic mediation of mathematical ideas is constituted as direct intercorporeal sensorimotor coordination between interlocutors. We treat semiotic actions as directly transforming an environment for the interlocutor, inviting new sensorimotor processes. New sensorimotor routines potentially lead to the emergence of pedagogically desired perception and action orientations, that is, new enactive capacity as the cognitive vehicle of mathematical reasoning. As such, Vygotskian cultural-historical ideas of semiotic mediation become a natural continuation of a radical embodied project developed by Bernstein, Kelso, Turvey, and others. Semiotic actions do not represent mind-independent reality as standalone tokens - rather, they present the environment itself, for the interlocutor, in a new way. > Implications • The proposed perspective avoids ontologically problematic views of pedagogical discourse as the negotiation of minds, instead focusing educators' attention on transformations of the students' environment that foster desired perceptions and actions. > Constructivist content • We develop an alternative to a social-constructivist reading of cultural-historical ideas, thus contributing to the understanding of higher-order cognition as direct extension of perception and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023

5. EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION (EMIC) RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM.

Author

Nathan, Mitchell J., Ottmar, Erin, Walkington, Candace, Alibali, Martha Wagner, Abrahamson, Dor, and Swart, Michael

Subjects
EDUCATIONAL psychology, MATHEMATICS education, STUDENT engagement, LEARNING theories in education, SOCIAL justice
Abstract

The Embodied Mathematical Imagination and Cognition (EMIC) Research Colloquium offers hands-on individual and collaborative mathematics activities; technological, curricular, and pedagogical demonstrations; and open spaces for exploration and discussion regarding the embodied nature of mathematics education. At PME-NA 45 we will use the conference theme of "Engaging all learners" to invite the community to directly experience how embodied perspectives on teaching and learning expand notions of mathematical activity, effective teaching, and assessment. We will explore some current contributions, future potential, and challenges for more inclusive and effective educational experiences for learners and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2023

8. PROGRESS REPORT: THE EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION WORKING GROUP.

Author

Nathan, Mitchell J., Soto, Hortensia, Closser, Avery Harrison, Ottmar, Erin, Abrahamson, Dor, and Walkoe, Janet

Subjects
MATHEMATICS education, NONFORMAL education, COGNITION, ONLINE education, STUDENTS
Abstract

The Embodied Mathematical Imagination and Cognition (EMIC) Working Group was established in 2015 at the annual PME-NA conference. As an interdisciplinary group of researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners, EMIC has strived to advance our understanding of how our physical experiences and body-based resources impact the ways we learn mathematics. Over the past several years, EMIC's founding members have collaborated on initiatives to a) expand this area of research through grants, workshops, and publications, b) share these findings with teachers and practitioners, and c) grow the community through new members and opportunities for participation. This progress report highlights the progress and accomplishments of EMIC and its members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2022

9. Enactivist How? Rethinking Metaphorizing as Imaginary Constraints Projected on Sensorimotor Interaction Dynamics.

Author

Abrahamson, Dor

Subjects
*LATENT variables, *ECOSYSTEM dynamics, *MOTOR ability, *ACTIVISM, *MATHEMATICS education, *COGNITION
Abstract

Welcoming their scholarly focus on metaphorizing, I critique Díaz-Rojas, Soto-Andrade and Videla-Reyes's selection of the hypothetical constructs "conceptual metaphor" and "enactive metaphor" as guiding the epistemological positioning, educational design, and analytic interpretation of interactive mathematics education purporting to operationalize enactivist theory of cognition - both these constructs, I argue, are incompatible with enactivism. Instead, I draw on ecological dynamics to promote a view of metaphors as projected constraints on action, and I explain how mathematical concepts can be grounded in perceptual reorganization of motor coordination. I end with a note on how metaphors may take us astray and why that, too, is worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2021

10. Grasp Actually: An Evolutionist Argument for Enactivist Mathematics Education.

Author

Abrahamson, Dor

Subjects
*MATHEMATICS education, *COGNITION, *CLASSROOM environment, *ARGUMENT, *PHENOMENOLOGY
Abstract

What evolutionary account explains our capacity to reason mathematically? Identifying the biological provenance of mathematical thinking would bear on education, because we could then design learning environments that simulate ecologically authentic conditions for leveraging this universal phylogenetic inclination. The ancient mechanism coopted for mathematical activity, I propose, is our fundamental organismic capacity to improve our sensorimotor engagement with the environment by detecting, generating, and maintaining goal-oriented perceptual structures regulating action, whether actual or imaginary. As such, the phenomenology of grasping a mathematical notion is literally that – gripping the environment in a new way that promotes interaction. To argue for the plausibility of my thesis, I first survey embodiment literature to implicate cognition as constituted in perceptuomotor engagement. Then, I summarize findings from a design-based research project investigating relations between learning to move in new ways and learning to reason mathematically about these conceptual choreographies. As such, the project proposes educational implications of enactivist evolutionary biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2021
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11. Getting up to SpEED: Special Education Embodied Design for Sensorially Equitable Inclusion.

Author

Tancredi, Sofia, Chen, Rachel, Krause, Christina, Abrahamson, Dor, and Paloma, Filippo Gomez

Subjects
SPECIAL education, COGNITION, COGNITIVE science
Abstract

We present the implications of a novel approach to design-based research, Special Education Embodied Design (SpEED), for inclusive education. SpEED is a new way of thinking about how Special Education students can learn through whole-body participation (Tancredi et al., in press). The goal of SpEED is to update our thinking about special education and inclusion based on the latest developments in cognitive science. We illustrate the utility of embodied design to teaching and research on issues affecting learners in Special Education through examples centering different Special Education populations, including Deaf learners, learners on the autism spectrum, and sensory-seeking learners. Each project focuses on deepening the learning opportunities we offer students by using learners' existing embodied resources. We conclude with a commentary on considerations for implementing SpEED within the Italian educational system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2021
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12. EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION (EMIC) WORKING GROUP.

Author

Ottmar, Erin R., Nathan, Mitchell J., Walkington, Candace, Harrison, Avery, Abrahamson, Dor, and Smith, Carmen

Subjects
MATHEMATICS education, COGNITION, TECHNOLOGICAL innovations, LEARNING, TECHNOLOGY
Abstract

Embodied cognition is growing in theoretical importance and as driving a set of design principles for curriculum activities and technology innovations for mathematics education. The central aim of the EMIC (Embodied Mathematical Imagination and Cognition) Working Group is to connect with inspired colleagues in this growing community of discourse around theoretical, technological, and methodological developments to advance the study of embodied cognition for mathematics education. Our thriving, informed, and interconnected community of scholars organized around embodied mathematical cognition will continue to broaden the range of activities, practices, and emerging technologies that contribute to mathematics teaching and learning as well as to research on these phenomena. This year’s proposed EMIC working group builds upon our prior working groups with a specific focus on collaboratively creating embodied activities for mathematics learning that utilize different types of physicality, from full-body to gestural movements. In particular, we aim to develop and evaluate novel activities that apply principles of embodied cognition to foster mathematics learning through engaging in the enactment of carefully crafted movement. Our ongoing goal is to connect researchers and educators as we all create activities which can be implemented in mathematics classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2019

13. EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION (EMIC) WORKING GROUP.

Author

Ottmar, Erin R., Melcer, Edward, Abrahamson, Dor, Nathan, Mitchell J., Fyfe, Emily, and Smith, Carmen

Subjects
COGNITION, TECHNOLOGICAL innovations, MATHEMATICS education, LEARNING theories in education, NONFORMAL education
Abstract

Embodied cognition is growing in theoretical importance and as a driving set of design principles for curriculum activities and technology innovations for mathematics education. The central aim of the EMIC (Embodied Mathematical Imagination and Cognition) Working Group is to attract engaged and inspired colleagues into a growing community of discourse around theoretical, technological, and methodological developments for advancing the study of embodied cognition for mathematics education. A thriving, informed, and interconnected community of scholars organized around embodied mathematical cognition will broaden the range of activities, practices, and emerging technologies that count as mathematical. EMIC builds upon our prior working groups with a specific focus on how we can leverage emerging technologies to study embodied cognition and mathematics learning. In particular, we aim to develop new theories and extend existing frameworks and perspectives from which EMIC collaboration and activities can emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2018

14. EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION (EMIC) WORKING GROUP.

Author

Nathan, Mitchell J., Williams-Pierce, Caro, Abrahamson, Dor, Ottmar, Erin, Landy, David, Smith, Carmen, Walkington, Candace, DeLiema, David, Soto-Johnson, Hortensia, Alibali, Martha, and Boncoddo, Rebecca

Subjects
EDUCATIONAL psychology, MATHEMATICS education, MATHEMATICS education (Elementary), TEACHER education, EDUCATIONAL technology, TEACHER effectiveness, CLASSROOM activities
Abstract

Embodied cognition is growing in theoretical importance and as a driving set of design principles for curriculum activities and technology innovations for mathematics education. The central aim of the EMIC (Embodied Mathematical Imagination and Cognition) Working Group is to attract engaged and inspired colleagues into a growing community of discourse around theoretical, technological, and methodological developments for advancing the study of embodied cognition for mathematics education. A thriving, informed, and interconnected community of scholars organized around embodied mathematical cognition will broaden the range of activities, practices, and emerging technologies that count as mathematical. EMIC builds upon our 2015 and 2016 working groups with a specific focus on examining the embodied nature of mathematical collaboration. In particular, we view collaboration as a type of crossroad that brings together people and artifacts, from which EMIC communication and activities can emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2017

15. TAKING MEASURES TO COORDINATE MOVEMENTS: UNITIZING EMERGES AS A MEANS OF BUILDING EVENT STRUCTURES FOR ENACTING PROPORTION.

Author

Palatnik, Alik and Abrahamson, Dor

Subjects
MATHEMATICS education, MATHEMATICS teachers, TEACHER education, TEACHER effectiveness, EDUCATIONAL technology
Abstract

Rhythm is a means of production--a scheme for coordinating the enactment of real or imagined physical movements over time, space, material resources, and concerting participants. In activities requiring the coordination of two or more continuous motor actions, rhythmic re-assembly of the actions creates a goal event structure mediating the enactment. Yet building that structure requires first unitizing continuity. Unitizing could thus be conceptualized as a cultural-historical strategy for supporting mundane routines by parsing, distributing, and codifying activity as a sequence of iterated actions of equivalent magnitude. Ipso facto, unitizing shifts us from naive to disciplinary activity: articulated rhythm is an ontogenetic achievement driving cognitive growth. We present empirical data of a student spontaneously measuring continuous actions as her means of organizing the enactment of a bimanual task designed for proportions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2017

16. EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION (EMIC) WORKING GROUP.

Author

Nathan, Mitchell J., Harrison, Avery, Smith, Hannah, Ottmar, Erin, Abrahamson, Dor, and Williams-Pierce, Caro

Subjects
MATHEMATICS education, COGNITION, NONFORMAL education, LEARNING theories in education, GESTURE
Abstract

The central aim of the EMIC Working Group is to connect, engage, and inspire colleagues in this growing community of discourse around theoretical, technological, and methodological developments for advancing the study of embodied cognition for mathematics education. This year, our fifth at PME-NA, we also will convene on Day 3 with the WG on Mathematical Play. Our community of scholars will use these sessions to continue to broaden the range of activities, practices, and emerging technologies that contribute to mathematics teaching and learning as well as to research on these phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2020
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17. EMBODIED MATHEMATICAL IMAGINATION AND COGNITION (EMIC) WORKING GROUP.

Author

Nathan, Mitchell J., Ottmar, Erin R., Abrahamson, Dor, Williams-Pierce, Caroline, Walkington, Candace, and Nemirovsky, Ricardo

Subjects
EDUCATIONAL psychology, EDUCATION of mathematics teachers, MATHEMATICS education, CLASSROOM activities, EDUCATIONAL technology, EDUCATIONAL innovations
Abstract

Embodied cognition is growing in theoretical importance and as a driving set of design principles for curriculum activities and technology innovations for mathematics education. The central aim of the EMIC (Embodied Mathematical Imagination and Cognition) Working Group is to attract engaged and inspired colleagues into a growing community of discourse around theoretical, technological, and methodological developments for advancing the study of embodied cognition for mathematics education. A thriving, informed, and interconnected community of scholars organized around embodied mathematical cognition will broaden the range of activities, practices, and emerging technologies that count as mathematical. EMIC builds upon our 2015 working group, and investigations in formal and informal education and workplace settings to bolster and refine the theoretical underpinnings of an embodied view of mathematical thinking and teaching, while reaching educational practitioners at all levels of administration and across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2016

18. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: ON STUDYING INTERACTION WITH MECHANICAL DESIGN.

Author

Rosenbaum, Leah F. and Abrahamson, Dor

Subjects
CALCULUS education, EDUCATIONAL technology, DISTRIBUTED cognition, MATHEMATICS education, EDUCATIONAL psychology, LEARNING theories in education
Abstract

In a pilot study of an experimental calculus activity centered on the CalcMachine--a concrete manipulative--subjects visually "projected" the anticipated results of their actions before executing them. From these empirical findings, we tentatively argue for integrating two theoretical models: distributed cognition (Kirsh, 2009) and instrumental genesis (Vérillon & Rabardel, 1995). Emerging from a study in the concrete domain, this theoretical development may bear implications also for digital interactive educational technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2016

19. TRADEOFFS OF SITUATEDNESS: ICONICITY CONSTRAINS THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONTENT-ORIENTED SENSORIMOTOR SCHEMES.

Author

Rosen, Dana, Palatnik, Alik, and Abrahamson, Dor

Subjects
MATHEMATICS education (Elementary), MATHEMATICS students, TEACHING methods, MATHEMATICS problems & exercises, NARRATIVE inquiry (Research method)
Abstract

Mathematics education practitioners and researchers have long debated best pedagogical practices for introducing new concepts. Our design-based research project evaluated a heuristic framework, whereby students first develop acontextual sensorimotor schemes and only then extend these schemes to incorporate both concrete narratives (grounding) and formal mathematical rules (generalizing). We compared student performance under conditions of working with stark (acontextual) vs. iconic (situated) manipulatives. We summarize findings from analyzing 20 individually administered task-based semi-structured clinical interviews with Grade 4-6 participant students. We found tradeoffs of situatedness: Whereas iconic objects elicit richer narratives than stark objects, these narratives may detrimentally constrain the scope of potential sensorimotor schemes students develop in attempt to solve manipulation problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2016

20. Touchscreen Tablets: Coordinating Action and Perception for Mathematical Cognition.

Author

Duijzer, Carolien A. C. G., Shayan, Shakila, Bakker, Arthur, Van der Schaaf, Marieke F., Abrahamson, Dor, Coldren, Jeffrey, and Gray, Sarah Ann

Subjects
TABLETS (Paleography), TOUCH screens, REASONING, COGNITION, ATTENTION
Abstract

Proportional reasoning is important and yet difficult for many students, who often use additive strategies, where multiplicative strategies are better suited. In our research we explore the potential of an interactive touchscreen tablet application to promote proportional reasoning by creating conditions that steer students toward multiplicative strategies. The design of this application (Mathematical Imagery Trainer) was inspired by arguments from embodied-cognition theory that mathematical understanding is grounded in sensorimotor schemes. This study draws on a corpus of previously treated data of 9-11 year-old students, who participated individually in semi-structured clinical interviews, in which they solved a manipulation task that required moving two vertical bars at a constant ratio of heights (1:2). Qualitative analyses revealed the frequent emergence of visual attention to the screen location halfway along the bar that was twice as high as the short bar. The hypothesis arose that students used so-called "attentional anchors" (AAs)--psychological constructions of new perceptual structures in the environment that people invent spontaneously as their heuristic means of guiding effective manual actions for managing an otherwise overwhelming task, in this case keeping vertical bars at the same proportion while moving them. We assumed that students' AAs on the mathematically relevant points were crucial in progressing from additive to multiplicative strategies. Here we seek farther to promote this line of research by reanalyzing data from 38 students (aged 9-11). We ask: (1) What quantitative evidence is there for the emergence of AAs?; and (2) How does the transition from additive to multiplicative reasoning take place when solving embodied proportions tasks in interaction with the touchscreen tablet app? We found that: (a) AAs appeared for all students; (b) the AA-types were few across the students; (c) the AAs were mathematically relevant (top of the bars and halfway along the tall bar); (d) interacting with the tablet was crucial for the AAs' emergence; and (e) the vast majority of students progressed from additive to multiplicative strategies (as corroborated with oral utterances). We conclude that touchscreen applications have the potential to create interaction conditions for coordinating action and perception into mathematical cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2017
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21. A CALL TO ACTION: TOWARDS AN ECOLOGICAL-DYNAMICS THEORY OF MATHEMATICS LEARNING, TEACHING, AND DESIGN.

Author

Abrahamson, Dor and Sánchez-García, Raúl

Subjects
ECOSYSTEM dynamics, MATHEMATICS education, COGNITION, TEACHING methods, EDUCATIONAL technology, TEACHER researchers, ENVIRONMENTAL psychology, MATHEMATICAL models
Abstract

Whereas Natural User Interface technological devices, such as tablets, are bringing physical interaction back into mathematics learning activities, existing educational theory is not geared to inform or interpret such learning. In particular, educational researchers investigating instructional interactions still need intellectual and methodological frameworks for conceptualizing, designing, facilitating, and analyzing how students' immersive hands-on dynamical experiences become formulated within semiotic registers typical of mathematical discourse. We present paradigmatic empirical examples of tutor-student behaviors in an embodied-interaction learning environment, the Mathematical Imagery Trainer for Proportion. Drawing on ecological dynamics--a blend of dynamical-systems theory and ecological psychology--we describe the emergence of mathematical concepts from the guided discovery of sensorimotor schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
2015

22. Making sense of movement in embodied design for mathematics learning

Author

Abrahamson, Dor, Bakker, A., Mathematics Education, Sub Mathematics Education, Mathematics Education, and Sub Mathematics Education

Subjects
Technology, Interaction, Experimental psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, media_common.quotation_subject, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Mathematical imagery trainer, Attentional anchor, Enactivism, 050105 experimental psychology, Embodiment theory, Concept learning, Perception, Behavioral and Social Science, Psychology, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, media_common, Cognitive science, Eye tracking, 05 social sciences, 050301 education, Cognition, Embodied cognition, Cognitive Sciences, Original Article, Ecological dynamics, Tablet, 0503 education, Social psychology, Mathematics, Gesture
Abstract

Embodiment perspectives from the cognitive sciences offer a rethinking of the role of sensorimotor activity in human learning, knowing, and reasoning. Educational researchers have been evaluating whether and how these perspectives might inform the theory and practice of STEM instruction. Some of these researchers have created technological systems, where students solve sensorimotor interaction problems as cognitive entry into curricular content. However, the field has yet to agree on a conceptually coherent and empirically validated design framework, inspired by embodiment perspectives, for developing these instructional resources. A stumbling block toward such consensus, we propose, is an implicit disagreement among educational researchers on the relation between physical movement and conceptual learning. This hypothesized disagreement could explain the contrasting choices we witness among current designs for learning with respect to instructional methodology for cultivating new physical actions – whereas some researchers use an approach of direct instruction, such as explicit teaching of gestures, others use an indirect approach, where students must discover effective movements to solve a task. Prior to comparing these approaches, it may help first to clarify key constructs. In this theoretical essay we draw on embodiment and systems literature as well as findings from our design research so as to offer the following taxonomy that may facilitate discourse about movement in STEM learning: (1) distal movement is the technologically extended effect of physical movement on the environment; (2) proximal movement is the physical movements themselves; and (3) sensorimotor schemes are the routinized patterns of cognitive activity that become enacted through proximal movement by orienting on so-called attentional anchors. Attentional anchors are goal-oriented phenomenological objects or enactive perceptions (“sensori-”) that organize proximal movement to effect distal movement (“-motor”). All three facets of movement must be considered in analyzing embodied learning processes. We demonstrate that indirect movement instruction enables students to develop new sensorimotor schemes including attentional anchors as idiosyncratic solutions to physical interaction problems. These schemes are, by necessity, grounded in students’ own agentive relation to the world while also grounding target content such as mathematical notions.

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