Conceptual blending in STEM education: Stimulating embodiment, creativity, and communicationShow others and affiliations
2025 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
The purpose of the explanatory seminar is to explore STEM education activities using conceptual blending by combining the aspects related to embodiment, creativity, and communication needed to produce insightful and lasting learning outcomes. According to the theory of distributed cognition, cognition is not limited to the manipulation of symbols in an individual's brain. Rather, cognition is anchored in our physical environment, through our perception, manipulatives, and socially dependent on shared culture and communication. Regarding conceptual blending, studies point to the general problem of achieving conceptual stability arguing that material structures act as material anchors for blending. Using examples from empirical research studies in engineering, physics, biology and mathematics education, we first discuss how conceptual blending can be used to design embodied educational experiences. The question we would like to discuss with the participants is: How can the conceptual blending theoretical framework be used to model and analyse learning in STEM education, focusing on embodiment, creativity, and communication? After introducing the participants to the theoretical aspects related to conceptual blending, they will be asked to work in small groups and apply their own experiences of blending, embodiment, creativity, and communication to phenomena of their choosing. Each group will present results of their activity and a whole group discussion will be led by proponents of the exploratory seminar. Following the conference, we would like to invite all participants to further investigate how conceptual blending can be applied in STEM education.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2025.
National Category
Didactics
Research subject
Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-106768OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kau-106768DiVA, id: diva2:1994748
Conference
ESERA, Copenhagen, 25-29 August
2025-09-032025-09-032026-02-12Bibliographically approved