After reflecting on our own personal experiences, now is a good opportunity to dive a little bit into what the literature has to say about embodied learning. Depending on your interests, please read one (or more) of the three articles below:
- “Learning Through the Body” by Tammy J. Freiler.
- An accessible introduction to embodied learning. Freiler discusses how embodiment “involves a sense of connectedness and interdependence through the essence of lived experiencing within one’s complete humanness, both body and mind, in perceiving, interacting, and engaging with the surrounding world. Simply stated, embodied learning involves being attentive to the body and its experiences as a way of knowing .” Freiler asserts the importance of customization and flexibility when implementing embodied learning in the classroom—the body is deeply personal and everyone has different levels of comfort with it.
- Note: The article refers to the Moken as “sea gypsies.” This gives us pause, especially given the use of “Gypsy” as an ethnic slur in many cultures (particularly in Europe), and we are honestly not sure how to feel about it as applied to the Moken. The Moken refer to themselves as Moken. “Sea gypsy” is a general term used to describe semi-nomadic people from many distinct and diverse cultures and ethnicities in Southeast Asia. At a minimum, perpetuating general terms like this is a problematic source of erasure of the diverse experiences and cultures of the people subsumed by the term. We wish that the Moken were just called what they call themselves: Moken. These insights were based on some research on the web, but if anyone else has any thoughts or perspectives on these terms please share so we can learn.
- “Don’t Forget About the Body: Exploring the Curricular Possibilities of Embodied Pedagogy” by Nguyen and Larson
- This review paper is summarized nicely by its conclusions: “We can claim that education occurs only when the whole learner constructs knowledge and meaning from the experiences we facilitate. Learners are simultaneously sensorimotor bodies, reflective minds, and social beings. Embodied pedagogy provides a way through which alternative forms of teaching and learning can be integrated and accepted into the classroom. A curriculum can span disciplines to make concrete its visions of creating spaces where learners create personal and social meaning with and in the body. When we have accomplished this, we have created a holistic curriculum that engages the whole learner.” The authors cite specific examples across disciplines.
- Subjective comment: the paper felt a little dense at first, but felt more accessible as it progressed.
- “Flexible Space & Built Pedagogy: Emerging IT Embodiments” by Torin Monahan
- Instead of a lot of direct, explicit focus on embodied pedagogy and learning, Monahan:
- discusses how spaces (both virtual and material) shape teaching and learning by constraining and encouraging social interaction and information exchange;
- argues that all classes are hybrid; even as we sit in front of a zoom screen we are still embodied in whatever place we are sitting, and every material classroom and most learners (especially these days) carry some technology and virtual space with them;
- emphasizes the importance of collaborative, thoughtful, perpetual redesign of learning environments by both students and teachers.
- Subjective comment: it is fascinating to read this in the context of the year it was written (2000-2002).
Next (Embodied Learning Scavenger Hunt)
Previous (Reflect: The Body in the Classroom)
Module 2 Overview