Embodied Learning is an emerging educational approach that has developed from research over the last couple of decades into the way we think. This research has revealed that our thinking is inseparably linked to the way we sense and act in the world. Evidence includes the dynamic visual gestures we create spontaneously when describing ideas – from numbers to justice, gravity to love.

Research at the University of Edinburgh is exploring how we might be able to tap into these cognitive mechanisms to make learning more meaningful – by encouraging particular actions or gestures, for example. Some work has investigated the potential to create new learning technologies that can capture and respond to particular body-based movements.

Professor Andrew Manches was previously an infant and special education teacher. He is now Professor of Education and Director of the Children and Technology Group at the University of Edinburgh, as well as being the Co-Director at the Digital Education Research Centre at the university. His research examines the role of interaction in early learning and the potential to innovate educational approaches. He is passionate about bridging research and practice and the potential of research to inform design.

For those interested in Embodied Learning there are a range of resources available, many accessible for free such as “Movement Matters” by Sheila Macrine and Jennifer Fugate available as an e-book from MIT press.