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Learning in embodied activity framework: a sociocultural framework for embodied cognition

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Abstract

This paper proposes the Learning in Embodied Activity Framework (LEAF) which aims to synthesize across individual and sociocultural theories of learning to provide a more robust account of how the body plays a role in collaborative learning, particularly when students are learning about a collective phenomenon where coordination between and across students is important to their learning. To demonstrate the uses and limits of LEAF, we apply it to data from several iterations of the Science through Technology Enhanced Play (STEP) project. This project involved first and second-grade students using an embodied, mixed-reality simulation to learn about the particulate nature of matter. We use data from this project to demonstrate the ways in which students’ embodied actions serve as a resource in understanding their embodied activity both individually and collectively. We demonstrate how both dimensions provide insight into student cognition and learning. Supported by this analysis, we present LEAF as a useful tool to help researchers, designers, and instructors thoughtfully design collective activities.

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Notes

  1. Note that many scholars use CHAT and “activity theory” interchangeably. We are not aware of a consistent distinction between the two and thus have opted to use the term CHAT in this manuscript as it is more commonly cited in the CSCL literature, though our use of CHAT can be considered synonymous with the term “activity theory.”

  2. For a full list of citations see the methods section below.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all of the students and teachers who participated in this work over the years. We also appreciate the support of our lab groups at IU, UCLA, and Vanderbilt in the many analyses described here, and the projects cited. This theoretical work would not be possible without so many brilliant collaborators. We would also like to thank both the OpenPTrack and Inquirium teams for helping develop the amazing STEP software The insightful feedback from several anonymous reviewers, and the ijCSCL editors also helped to strengthen this manuscript immeasurably. In addition, this work was supported by the following grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF): IIS-1323767, IIS-1522945, and IIS- 1628918.

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  1. Learning Sciences, Indiana University, 201 North Rose Avenue, Wright 4040, Bloomington, IN, 47405-1006, USA

    Joshua A. Danish, Asmalina Saleh & Megan Humburg

  2. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Noel Enyedy

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Danish, J.A., Enyedy, N., Saleh, A. et al. Learning in embodied activity framework: a sociocultural framework for embodied cognition. Intern. J. Comput.-Support. Collab. Learn 15, 49–87 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-020-09317-3

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