The Project
Generalized Embodied Modeling to support Science through Technology Enhanced Play (GEM-STEP) is an NSF-funded project that is developing and researching a new Mixed Reality environment (MR) that leverages play and embodiment as resources for integrating computational modeling into the modeling cycle as part of science instruction for elementary students.
Through these embodied, play-as-modeling activities, students will learn the core concepts of science, and the conceptual skills of modeling and systematic measurement.
My role
Theory
- Embodied cognition: Our thinking is shaped by our physical and sensory experiences (Barsalou, 2008)
- Imaginary play: allows young children to externalize their intuitive understanding of scientific ideas by following complex rule sets, mirroring how science is governed by laws and rules. (Vygotsky, 1978; Enyedy et al., 2014)
- Cultural Historical Activity Theory: Human activity is goal directed and culturally mediated (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2006)
Research Questions
- What were the shifts in students conceptual understanding of ecosystems models and metamodeling knowledge?
- In what ways did the embodied, code-based, and diagrammatic modes of modeling in the classroom support students’ sensemaking of ecosystems?
Data Collection and Analysis
Context
Sept-Oct 2022;
Fifth-grade classroom in Rural public school in the Midwest
21 students (5 declined to be recorded)
9 days of 45-minute lessons, 20 minutes per day using GEM:STEP Platform
Data
Pre and post written content assessments
Pre and post-unit student interviews on modeling as a practice
Classroom video
GEM:STEP simulation video
Analysis
Written Assessments
Inductive coding
IRR 86% pre-discussion
Interviews (N=32)
What is a model?
What is the purpose of a model?
How are scientific models made?
Classroom videos (n = 22 modeling rounds)
Video analysis in ATLAS.Ti
Abductive coding (Slide 15)
Findings
- Students conceptual understanding of ecosystems greatly improved
Changes in their knowledge about scientific models
From before and after the interview, students’ understanding of the nature scientific models and practice moved toward scientifically accepted notions.
Final contributions
Engaging in multiple modes of modeling can support students to create more sophisticated models and better understanding of modeling practice
*Mathayas, N., Tu, X., Danish, J., Vogelstein, L., & Cosic, L. (2022). Moving towards meaningful participation using embodied Mixed Reality technologies [Symposium presentation].
^Vickery, M., Mathayas, N., & Danish, J. (2024, June 10-14). Being body-conscious: A trauma-informed inquiry into elementary students’ collective embodied learning experiences [Paper presentation]
^Tancredi, S., Vickery, M., Krause, C., Benally, J., Champion, D., Solomon, F., Hussain, F. N., Gholson, M., Ma, J. Y., Marin, A., Lindberg, L., Lopez, B. Y., Davé, S., Mathayas, N., Steinberg, S., Humburg, M., & Vossoughi, S. (2024, June 10-14). Learning for every body: Intersectional dimensions of embodied learning [Symposium Session].
What’s Next
- Expand the multi-mode modeling framework towards pluralistic science instruction
- Dignity-affirming embodied technology design*
- Trauma informed embodied instructional practices^
Nitasha Mathayas, PH.D. 
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