ABSTRACT

Transforming Learning Through Tangible Instruction offers a transformative, student-centered approach to higher education pedagogy that integrates embodied cognition into classroom practice. Evidence across disciplines makes clear that people learn with their bodies as well as their brains, but no previous book has provided evidence-based guidance for adopting and refining its practice in colleges and universities. Collecting findings from cognitive science, educational neuroscience, learning theories, and beyond, this volume’s unique approach—radical yet practical, effective yet low-cost—will have profound implications for higher education faculty and administrators engaged in teaching and learning. Seven concise chapters explore how physical objects, hands-on making, active construction, and other elements of body and environment can enhance comprehension, memory, and individual and collaborative learning.

chapter Interlude A|5 pages

The Crocheted Hyperbolic Plane

chapter Interlude B|5 pages

Molecular Models

chapter 3|20 pages

Thinking With Things

chapter Interlude C|8 pages

Diagrams

chapter 4|35 pages

How Things Shape Our Thinking

chapter Interlude D|3 pages

Qualitative Research Software

chapter 5|16 pages

Abstraction Reconsidered

chapter Interlude E|17 pages

Designing the Future World

chapter 6|27 pages

Embodiment Revisited

chapter Interlude F|6 pages

The Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Design

chapter 7|18 pages

A Vibrant Learning Ecosystem