Using Scientific Annotation Tools to Support Collaborative Embodied Learning in Elementary School Classrooms

Abstract Past research has demonstrated the utility of technologically mediated embodiment for young students’ science learning; however, many technologies designed to support embodied learning engage only small groups. To support whole-class embodied activities, we present findings demonstrating the value of peer observation and annotation of embodied activities for supporting teacher orchestration of embodied learning and helping students link embodied models to scientific ideas. This study investigates three annotation tools—event buttons, drawing, and graph-generating sliders—in the context of the Science through Technology Enhanced Play (STEP) mixed-reality environment, where students use full-body motion around the classroom to embody water particles in different states of matter. Student observers use a tablet application to annotate the embodied model as it is produced, an activity intended to help them translate their peers’ motion into other representational forms that can support collaborative sensemaking. Interaction analysis of classroom discussions reveals how annotation tools support teachers in guiding students through the conceptual translation between embodied, virtual, and student-constructed representations. Findings suggest that effective annotation tools for embodied learning should provide students with avenues for constructing and communicating scientific arguments, questioning the validity of competing representations, and mapping their peers’ movements onto conceptual ideas.