Embodiment, Mathematization, and Mechanistic Reasoning: Supporting STEM Integration

• In Event: Teaching and Learning: Computers and Learning — Mathematics and Science Education

Abstract

Reasoning about mechanism is foundational to disciplined inquiry in science and engineering; thus, it should be one of the foundations of a STEM education. The study described here focused on children’s mechanistic reasoning about systems of levers and how to support it though embodiment and mathematical description. To develop and support mechanistic reasoning, fifteen third-grade students in an urban elementary school were engaged in the design of kinetic toys composed of systems of levers within an after-school STEM program. The coding of student talk and gesture during the first two days of this engineering program as well as pre- and post-assessments shows that students made gains on measures of mechanistic reasoning, mathematical reasoning, and engineering practices.

Authors

• Paul J Weinberg, Oakland University

• Erika K. Sorensen, Avondale School District