After having understood embodied education in a simpler way its easier to engage with the academic understanding of it. Nyugen defined it as - " embodied pedagogy is learning that joins body and mind in a physical and mental act of knowledge construction. This union entails thoughtful awareness of body, space, and social context." *
Another way to understand embodied pedagogies is the "Multiple Intelligences" concept that is used to inform differentiated ways of teaching and learning. Howard Gardner and Thomas Hatch (1989) included bodily-kinesthetic and spatial intelligences as one of the ways of learning. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is using body to interact with objects and use movement in the pedagogy. Spatial intelligence refers to building awareness of 'visual-spatial relationships' and building sensitivity towards perception of space towards learning and processing.
Basically what this helps tell us is that 'space' informs the learning through the inherent relation it has to physicality of the body as well as to interpretations of pedagogy that it lends to. Which means, the usage of space in a classroom strongly affects the mode through which someone learns. Therefore, a classroom that enables embodied learning is one that looks and feels different.
Nyugen says "The arrangement of learning spaces influences the manner in which we learn with our bodies in two ways. First, the shape, objects it contains, and the placement of these objects communicate purpose, method, and power. Second, classroom design either facilitates or hinders physical interaction with the environment and fellow learners."
This is best explained by the way we close our eyes and imagine what a classroom looks like. Students on benches or on the floor looking towards a centralised position of the teachers who stand at speak at the students. More often than not both these locations are not movable. This reflects that the purpose of education is to receive, the method of education is to translate or transfer and that the power lies (very undemocratically) with the teacher who is literally at a height and centralised, which is the first way it influences the way we learn. The second way is that that arrangement does not foster movement and collaborative conversations. Meyer summarises it well " By diminishing mobility these spaces reify power dynamics while constraining bodies from their roles in knowledge construction, as well as obscuring the complex social relationships inherent to spatial arrangement"
Therefore, an embodied classroom is one where there is SPACE to move and engage with each other and the environment. There are bodies moving and reflecting. The teacher is as participative almost. Thus allowing for that sense of respect of experience and knowledge to disseminate through the individuals in that classroom. It has jumping and running bodies, it has still bodies and it is designed to " generate interaction, collaboration, physical movement, and social engagement as primary elements of the student learning experience."
See the home page image. Hehe
Thus we can better understand how by altering the perception of the self with an educational intention we shift the ways in which education is viewed overall. We change the ideas of the 'pedagogy' and the actual ways in which we envision the location where education takes place. It really breaks the foundations of education and that is why it is important.
References -
Jamieson, P. "Designing more effective on-campus teaching and learning spaces: A role for academic developers" . International Journal of Academic Development, 2003
Meyer, P. "Embodied learning at work: Making the mind-set shift from workplace to playspace". New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2012
Nguyen, David J, Larson, Jay, "Don’t Forget About the Body: Exploring the Curricular Possibilities of Embodied Pedagogy", Springer Science, Business and Media, New York, 2015.
Resources - http://www.springhurst.org/articles/MItheory.htm