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Grounded and embodied mathematical cognition: Promoting mathematical insight and proof using action and language

Overview of attention for article published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, January 2017
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (94th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (88th percentile)

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4 news outlets
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7 X users

Citations

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68 Dimensions

Readers on

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183 Mendeley
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1 CiteULike
Title
Grounded and embodied mathematical cognition: Promoting mathematical insight and proof using action and language
Published in
Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, January 2017
DOI 10.1186/s41235-016-0040-5
Pubmed ID
Authors

Mitchell J. Nathan, Candace Walkington

Abstract

We develop a theory of grounded and embodied mathematical cognition (GEMC) that draws on action-cognition transduction for advancing understanding of how the body can support mathematical reasoning. GEMC proposes that participants' actions serve as inputs capable of driving the cognition-action system toward associated cognitive states. This occurs through a process of transduction that promotes valuable mathematical insights by eliciting dynamic depictive gestures that enact spatio-temporal properties of mathematical entities. Our focus here is on pre-college geometry proof production. GEMC suggests that action alone can foster insight but is insufficient for valid proof production if action is not coordinated with language systems for propositionalizing general properties of objects and space. GEMC guides the design of a video game-based learning environment intended to promote students' mathematical insights and informal proofs by eliciting dynamic gestures through in-game directed actions. GEMC generates several hypotheses that contribute to theories of embodied cognition and to the design of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education interventions. Pilot study results with a prototype video game tentatively support theory-based predictions regarding the role of dynamic gestures for fostering insight and proof-with-insight, and for the role of action coupled with language to promote proof-with-insight. But the pilot yields mixed results for deriving in-game interventions intended to elicit dynamic gesture production. Although our central purpose is an explication of GEMC theory and the role of action-cognition transduction, the theory-based video game design reveals the potential of GEMC to improve STEM education, and highlights the complex challenges of connecting embodiment research to education practices and learning environment design.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 7 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 183 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 183 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 28 15%
Researcher 21 11%
Lecturer 18 10%
Student > Master 16 9%
Student > Doctoral Student 12 7%
Other 29 16%
Unknown 59 32%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 28 15%
Social Sciences 25 14%
Mathematics 15 8%
Computer Science 11 6%
Arts and Humanities 9 5%
Other 30 16%
Unknown 65 36%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 38. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 August 2020.
All research outputs
#917,462
of 22,953,506 outputs
Outputs from Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
#55
of 319 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#22,004
of 420,080 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
#2
of 17 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,953,506 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 319 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 44.0. This one has done well, scoring higher than 82% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 420,080 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 17 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.