Embodied Learning in the Schools: Designs That Link Brain, Body, and Technology in K-12 Classrooms

Embodied Learning in the Schools explores the relevance of embodied perspectives to instructional designers and education scholars seeking to improve the design, development, and analysis of technology-enhanced learning environments in K-12 settings. Given recent technological advances in touch-based, geolocational, and body integrative devices, there is considerable opportunity to leverage embodied perspectives of cognition to enrich learning in schools today. Grounded in research and theory, this book provides a holistic understanding of embodied cognition’s powerful multidisciplinary applications. Using vivid examples from authentic classrooms, each chapter connects varied theoretical insights to their practical implications for linking brain, body, and technology in learning. Instructional designers, learning scientists, educational technologists, and other scholars and professionals will come away with a comprehensive grasp on the affordances, challenges, frameworks, and embodied designs that can be implemented in real-world contexts across subject areas.

Theodore ＂TJ＂ Kopcha is Professor of Learning, Design, and Technology at the University of Georgia, USA. He is a former secondary mathematics teacher whose research focuses on studying how embodied perspectives of learning can enhance outcomes in K-12 classrooms, particularly through the use of new and innovative technologies. His research on embodied cognition spans a variety of content areas, from teaching foreign language through immersive virtual reality to developing children’s embodied sense of symmetry through touchscreen devices, as well as using embodied approaches to teach computer science.

Ceren Ocak is Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at Georgia Southern University, USA. She previously worked as a curriculum developer and educational game designer, where she developed an interest in applications of technology to enhance teaching and learning practices. Her research primarily focuses on the embodiment of computational thinking, computer science education, and the design of learning environments that not only align with embodied learning principles but also integrate the social and technical aspects of computational systems, considering issues of justice, ethics, and biases.