Embodied Learning of Numerosity - Math with the Mat

越来越多的证据表明，数字大小的空间表征（例如，沿着心理数轴）对儿童的数字发展很重要。特别是，最近的研究表明，感觉运动经验可以支持具身认知理论提出的这一发展。在第一次和第二次资助期间，我们调查了基本数字能力训练中感知和行动的相互作用。经开发和评估的具身训练对小学生数字能力的提升效果均优于不具身训练的控制训练。这些研究的结果不仅在实践上，而且在理论上是结论性的，并保证进一步扩展到新的数值内容。因此，目前的建议侧重于利用数字舞池处理负数。对负数的理解是与日常生活相关的重要能力，例如处理温度时，也是许多复杂算术程序的基石。使用数字舞毯研究这一概念的好处是，通过数字的极性（即正或负），有可能创造出负数的具体化体验。特别是，极性符号允许在正数和负数之间进行具体的区分（例如，通过在负数的左边和正数的右边进行步骤）-类似于小数和大数之间的区别。在该项目中，我们首先旨在研究儿童在正数中观察到的数字的空间关联是否可以推广到负数。到目前为止，这种关联只在成年参与者中进行过调查。下一步，我们计划评估具身训练是否能有效提高儿童对负数的理解。由于在中学（五年级至七年级）引入了负数，这也反映了体现培训方法在小学以外的扩展。在最后一步中，我们打算通过使用运动作为因变量来检查全身运动和数值表示之间关系的方向性。在该项目的先前研究中，我们调查了运动对数字加工的影响，与此相反，这将使我们能够调查数字信息对运动的反向影响。通过对实际相关基础研究的关注，该项目允许对负数表示的发展进行推论，并将具体数字训练的适用性扩大到新的内容和年龄组。

There is accumulating evidence suggesting that a spatial representation of number magnitude (e.g., along a mental number line) is important for children´s numerical development. In particular, recent studies indicate that sensorimotor experiences can support this development as suggested by theories of embodied cognition. During the first and second funding period, we investigated the interplay of perception and action for the training of basic numerical competencies. The developed and evaluated embodied trainings consistently led to a more pronounced training effect in improving elementary school children´s numerical competencies than control trainings without embodied elements. The results of these studies where not just practically, but also theoretically conclusive, and warrant further expansion to new numerical contents. Therefore, the current proposal focuses on the processing of negative numbers utilizing the digital dance mat. The understanding of negative numbers is an important ability relevant in everyday life, for example when dealing with temperature, but is also a building block for many complex arithmetic procedures. The benefit of investigating this concept using the digital dance mat is the possibility of creating an embodied experience of negative numbers by means of the polarity (i.e., positive or negative) of numbers. In particular, polarity signs allow for an embodied distinction between positive and negative numbers (e.g., by making steps to the left for negative numbers and to the right for positive numbers) - comparable to the distinction between small and large numbers. In the proposed project, we first aim at investigating whether the spatial association of numbers observed for positive numbers in children can be generalized to negative numbers. Such associations have only been investigated in adult participants so far. In the next step, we then plan to evaluate whether an embodied training can be an effective way to improve children´s understanding of negative numbers. Because negative numbers are introduced in secondary school (grades 5 to 7), this also reflects an expansion of the embodied training approach beyond elementary school. In a last step, we then intend to examine the directionality of the relationship between full-body movement and numerical representations by using movement as a dependent variable. In contrast to the prior studies of the project, in which we investigated the influence of movement on number processing, this would allow us to investigate the inverse influence of numerical information on movement. With this focus on practically relevant basic research, the project allows for inferences about the development of the representation of negative numbers and broadens the applicability of embodied numerical trainings to new contents and age groups.