ABSTRACT
We demonstrate that a particular blended learning space is especially productive in developing
understanding of energy transfers and transformations. In this blended space, naturally occurring
learner interactions like body movement, gesture, and metaphorical speech are blended with a
conceptual metaphor of energy as a substance in a class of activities called Energy Theater. We
illustrate several mechanisms by which the blended aspect of the learning environment promotes
productive intellectual engagement with key conceptual issues in the learning of energy, including
distinguishing among energy processes, disambiguating matter and energy, identifying energy
transfer, and representing energy as a conserved quantity. Conceptual advancement appears to be
promoted especially by the symbolic material and social structure of the Energy Theater
environment, in which energy is represented by participants and objects are represented by areas
demarcated by loops of rope, and by Energy Theater’s embodied action, including body
locomotion, gesture, and coordination of speech with symbolic spaces in the Energy Theater
arena. Our conclusions are (1) that specific conceptual metaphors can be leveraged to benefit
science instruction via the blending of an abstract space of ideas with multiple modes of concrete
human action, and (2) that participants’ structured improvisation plays an important role in
leveraging the blend for their intellectual development.
