2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Embodied Learning with Gesture Representation in an Immersive Technology Environment in STEM Education

Presented at Engineering Physics and Physics Division (EP2D) Technical Session 2

Students struggle with developing conceptual understanding of abstract concepts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. Two-dimensional (2D) figures are commonly used during instruction in textbooks and multi-media presentations such as PowerPoint, or in computer animation. The use of 2D visualizations during instructions lacks opportunities for students to meaningfully explore these concepts by rotating three-dimensional (3D) visualizations and examining how the rotations impact the 2D representations. Instructions delivered using 3D visualizations have the potential to improve conceptual understanding of both concrete and abstract concepts. In this study, we employ a multiple case study methodology to examine student gestures to explore how the use of augmented reality in an immersive technology environment can impact conceptual understanding of abstract concepts in STEM education. Preliminary findings indicate that students utilize gestures that represent the visualizations in the AR application to think and reason about abstract concepts such as electric and magnetic fields. In addition, these gestures appear to be related to mental simulations that students employ during problem-solving. The benefits of employing innovative pedagogical approaches through correct gestures, visualization and cueing representations is not limited to improving conceptual understanding in STEM but promote problem solving and critical thinking. The benefits derived from integrating gestures and 3D visualizations in AR immersive technological environments suggest that using embodied learning activities have strong potential for abstract conceptual learning in STEM

Authors

Mr. Junior Anthony Bennett http://orcid.org/https://0009-0004-6441-3805 Purdue University [biography]

I am a Graduate Research Assistant, and Lynn Fellow pursuing an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Engineering Education majoring in Ecological Sciences and Engineering (ESE) at Purdue University, West Lafayette IN. I earned a Bachelor of Education in TVET Industrial Technology – Electrical from the University of Technology, Jamaica, and a Master of Science in Manufacturing Engineering Systems from the Western Illinois University. I am a Certified Manufacturing Engineer with the Society for Manufacturing Engineers and have over a decade professional experience in higher education across Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
Dr. Jason Morphew http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5971-214X Purdue University [biography]

Jason W. Morphew is an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. He earned a B.S. in Science Education from the University of Nebraska and spent 11 years teaching math and science at the middle school, high school, and community college level. He earned a M.A. in Educational Psychology from Wichita State and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Michele W. McColgan Siena College [biography]

Michele McColgan is a professor in the department of Physics & Astronomy at Siena College. In addition to teaching physics and electronics courses for the department, she’s also served as the director of informal STEM programs at Siena. She’s developing MARVLS (Manipulable Augmented Reality Models to Learn Spatially) for general physics, plasma physics, chemistry, and engineering. MARVLS Apps are available on the App and Google Play Store. In 2022, she received an NSF grant to develop and study the impact of using MARVLS in the physics classroom. She started a small business called MARVLS, LLC.

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