Transcript Excerpt:
BS 200 Embodied Cognition in Education and Learning
For transcripts to ALL EPISODES sign up for MyLibsyn Premium.
Patreon supporters ($4/month minimum) get new transcripts every month.
This episode features Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate, editors of Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning.
From the closing remarks:
I picked this month's book, Movement Matters, for two reasons. First, I have been interested in embodied cognition since I first discovered it back in 2007. Appreciating that our mind is embodied, shifts the way we see ourselves and our place in the world.
The other reason I chose this book is that I know many of you are involved in education, but even if you don't have any formal connection to the field, I think it's important to understand how embodied cognition impacts how we learn.
If you are new to the idea of embodied cognition, I encourage you to consult the show notes in your audio app, or go to brainsciencepodcast.com for the complete show notes, because that's where I list many of the previous episodes about embodied cognition. The full episode transcript also contains additional links.
One reason that I consider embodied cognition to be one of the core themes of Brain Science, is that it challenges the traditional dualistic approach to the mind. It's one thing to claim that science has moved beyond the separation of mind and body, but dualism is so embedded in our cultural approaches to education, it can persist almost without our awareness.
This is reflected in the fact that classrooms for the most part look just like they did a hundred years ago. Adding laptops or tablets may even exacerbate the tendency to see students as brain-bound learners.
Ironically, body-based approaches to learning are generally seen as inferior, restricted to special education, or as something that students are expected to outgrow. This is contrary to the growing evidence that all cognition involves interaction between the body and the environment. This interaction is a crucial component of learning.
For those of you who are many years past your school days, I encourage you to reflect on what comes to mind when you think back; what examples of hands-on learning do you remember? How are these different from listening to your teacher lecture or trying to read a textbook.
Movement Matters: How Embodied Cognition Informs Teaching and Learning by Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate is recommended if you’re an educator or you work in the field. It's a great primer for introducing embodied learning to others.
For transcripts to ALL EPISODES sign up for MyLibsyn Premium.
Patreon supporters ($4/month minimum) get new transcripts every month.
