Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/the-embodied-nature-of-mathematical-learning-bridging-research-and-practice/5026841/
Bridging Research and Practice
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Children learn with their whole bodies, not just with their minds and brains. Such embodied cognition is especially important when it comes to learning about mathematics. Because math describes the properties, relationships, and patterns of our physical world, and because the human brain makes predictions and models in order to effectively function, mathematics forms the backbone of all of kids’ emerging cognition.
Infants’ and young children’s full engagement with amounts, quantities, and magnitudes—as well as their ability to navigate space, and to conceptualize, manipulate, and transform objects—allows them to make fundamental sense of their surroundings. And right from birth, infants use mathematical information across a wide variety of domains—emotional, physical, and sensory—to “crack codes” and understand ...