Assessing Engineering Students’ Embodied Knowledge of Torsional Loading Through Gesture
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
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Educational Research and Methods (ERM) Division Poster Session
- Page Count
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16
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--41087
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/41087
- Download Count
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304
Paper Authors
Matthew Grondin University of Wisconsin - Madison
Matthew is a joint-degree graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently, Matthew is working between the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department or Educational Psychology-Learning Sciences to bridge the research and communication gap between these two academic silos. As an Interdisciplinary Training Fellow, Matthew hopes to conduct novel research related to embodied learning and assessment in engineering education and translate this research into practice. Currently, his research focuses on how gesture use during verbal explanations provides insights into students' conceptual understandings and how instructors can leverage these insights to correct misconceptions prior to formalized assessments.
Michael Swart University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
An artist, designer, educator and learning scientist working in the MAGIC Lab at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, developing online-based augmented reality platforms that ground teachers and learners conceptions in their perceptions, connecting the analogues of experiences to symbolic semiotic abstractions.
Fangli Xia University of Wisconsin - Madison
Fangli Xia is a Ph.D. candidate from the Learning Sciences program, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is interested in embodied cognition and design in mathematics education.
Mitchell Nathan University of Wisconsin - Madison
Mitchell J. Nathan (he | him), Ph.D., BSEE, is the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Learning Sciences, in the Educational Psychology Department in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with affiliate appointments in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, and the Department of Psychology.
Dr. Nathan investigates the nature of meaning and its role in knowledge, learning, and teaching in K-16 engineering, mathematics, and integrated STEM (science, technology, mathematics, and engineering) contexts. His research emphasis is on the embodied, cognitive, and social nature of knowing and instruction, such as the role of gestures during classroom teaching, learning, collaboration, and assessment.
Dr. Nathan has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications and has served as PI and co-PI for numerous research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U. S. Dept. of Education-Institute of Educational Sciences (IES), and the James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF); most notably the NSF-funded “Aligning educational experiences with ways of knowing engineering (AWAKEN),” and IES-funded “National Center for Cognition and Mathematics Instruction.”
Dr. Nathan has served on multiple committees for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to advance science and engineering education. These include:
• Consensus Committee on Integrated STEM Education. National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council (2014). STEM Integration in K-12 Education: Status, Prospects, and an Agenda for Research. Margaret Honey, Greg Pearson, and Heidi Schweingruber (Eds.). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
• The Planning Committee on Sharing the Adventure (2015). Sharing the Adventure with the Student: Exploring the Intersections of NASA Space Science and Education: A Workshop. Space Studies Board; Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences; Board on Science Education; and the National Research Council. Washington DC: National Academies Press.
• Consensus Committee for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Science and Engineering for Grades 6-12: Investigation and Design at the Center. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi.org/10.17226/25216.
Dr. Nathan is currently on the Advisory Board to the Editor, Journal of Engineering Education, of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) (2015 to date). Dr. Nathan served as an Advisory Board Member for the Stanford University College of Engineering, Pathways from School to Work. Advising on data collection, analysis and interpretation of data from a longitudinal study of undergraduate engineering students from college into the workforce, with policy recommendations for national engineering education and advising. He is a member of the Advisory Board Member for INSPIRE (Purdue's Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning), Purdue University (Summer 2012 to date).
Dr. Nathan is an inductee of the University of Wisconsin’s Teaching Academy. Nathan has, since 2017, served as the inaugural Chair of the Teachers as Learners (TaL) grant program, funded by JSMF. He is a Fellow of the International Society of the Learning Sciences.
Abstract
This full paper concerns the use of gesture analysis to guide instructional approaches in engineering education. Engineering is rife with abstract mathematics and processes for quantifying physical phenomena. In engineering instruction, formalisms first is a practice that privileges formalisms over grounded and applied ways of knowing that are common in engineering curricula. By way of contrast, progressive formalization is an alternative pedagogical practice that intentionally grounds the meaning of mathematical formalisms in one’s sensorimotor experiences in order that the formalisms are meaningful to learners. In the courses of explaining engineering concepts, instructors often make iconic gestures (gestures that represent objects, actions, and relationships) that are based in perception and action as a means for grounding domain knowledge prior to introducing formalisms. In response, students’ gestures can be either concordant (i.e., conceptually aligned) or discordant (i.e., conceptually misaligned). The latter, also known as gesture-speech mismatches, are indices for states of transitional knowledge in which learners exhibit a readiness to learn. Thus, the current research observes the spontaneous gestures students make while describing torsional loading and investigates the added benefits of incorporating gesture into formative assessments of engineering education. Results indicate that students do use gestures as integral parts of their explanations in an engineering lab setting and that gestures and co-articulated speech were often matched. Instances of gesture-speech mismatches provides instructors opportunities to assess student knowledge, knowledge-in-transition, and initial learning and correct understandings prior to summative assessments.
Grondin, M., & Swart, M., & Xia, F., & Nathan, M. (2022, August), Assessing Engineering Students’ Embodied Knowledge of Torsional Loading Through Gesture Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41087
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