Principled by the Embodied, Situated, and Distributed Cognition paradigm, the study investigated the impact of using a research-based curriculum that employs multiple modalities on the performance of grade 5 students on 3 subscales: concept of unit, fraction equivalence, and fraction comparison. The sample included five schools randomly selected from a population of 14 schools in Lebanon. Eighteen 5th grade classrooms were randomly assigned to experimental (using multimodal curriculum) and control (using a monomodal curriculum) groups. Three data sources were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data: tests, interviews, and classroom observations. Quantitative data were analyzed using two methods: reliability and MANOVA. Results of the quantitative data show that students taught using the multimodal curriculum outperformed their counterparts who were instructed using a monomodal curriculum on the three aforementioned subscales (at an alpha level =. 001). Additionally, fine-grained analysis using the semiotic bundle model revealed different semiotic systems across experimental and control groups. The study findings support the multimodal approach to teaching fractions as it facilitates students’ conceptual understanding.

Key words: embodied, situated, and distributed learning, fractional knowledge, multimodality, solution schemes, theorems-in-action.

Open peer commentary on the article “A Temporal Puzzle: Metamorphosis of the Body in Piaget’s Early Writings” by Marc J. Ratcliff. Abstract: In this commentary, I would like to know more details of the role of temporality and the social dimension of the body in Piaget’s early works, notably on the content of the notebooks written by Piaget and his wife, Valentine. Through diachronic-synchronic concepts drawn from linguistics, I propose a discussion of the methodological problems of Piaget’s observation method, as presented by Ratcliff. In principle, taking a look at the methodological steps through these concepts could greatly contribute to the reflection on Piaget’s units of analysis and thus to his interpretation of the emergence and coordination of the multimodality of skills.

Embodied learning environments have a substantial share in teaching interventions and research for enhancing learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In these learning environments, students’ bodily experiences are an essential part of the learning activities and hence, of the learning. In this systematic review, we focused on embodied learning environments supporting students’ understanding of graphing change in the context of modeling motion. Our goal was to deepen the theoretical understanding of what aspects of these embodied learning environments are important for teaching and learning. We specified four embodied configurations by juxtaposing embodied learning environments on the degree of bodily involvement (own and others/objects’ motion) and immediacy (immediate and non-immediate) resulting in four classes of embodied learning environments. Our review included 44 articles (comprising 62 learning environments) and uncovered eight mediating factors, as described by the authors of the reviewed articles: real-world context, multimodality, linking motion to graph, multiple representations, semiotics, student control, attention capturing, and cognitive conflict. Different combinations of mediating factors were identified in each class of embodied learning environments. Additionally, we found that learning environments making use of students’ own motion immediately linked to its representation were most effective in terms of learning outcomes. Implications of this review for future research and the design of embodied learning environments are discussed.

Key words: embodied cognition theory, mathematics education, graphing motion, learning environments, mediating factors.

This chapter provides a critical discussion of conceptualizations and applications of embodiment in mathematics education. In the next two sections, we discuss conceptions of human cognition and the role of embodiment and multimodality in general. This is followed by a section where we review several theories of embodiment in mathematics teaching and learning, including Piagetian inspired theory, semiotic oriented theory, enactivism, and phenomenological and materialist approaches. In the subsequent two sections, we delve in more detail into embodiment asfeatured in cultural-historicaltheory and cognitive linguistics, respectively. The chapter ends with a discussion of some open problems and possible new lines ofinquiry.