Does Posture Affect Audiovisual Learning Comprehension in a Classroom Setting?

Abstract:Many high-school students choose to adapt various postures during their classes. Understanding how different factors, such as posture or classroom environments, affect learning can help refine teaching strategies and improve educational outcomes. By investigating how posture influences comprehension, educators can better design classroom settings and activities that foster learning. While previous studies have explored aspects of learning environments, few have looked into how specific actions (such as posture) impact cognitive processes during learning. The main objective of this study to exam- ine the effect of body posture on audiovisual learning comprehension in a classroom setting. Specifically, it investigates whether sitting upright improves comprehension and information retention compared to a slouched posture of students at Sonoma Academy. A matched pairs design was used, where 31 high school students watched two educational videos on separate days, each time in a different posture (upright vs. slouched). Comprehension was assessed through standardized tests, and a paired T-test was conducted to analyze the significance of differences in scores. The results showed no significant difference in comprehension scores between the two posture conditions. Although the mean score for the upright posture was slightly higher than for the slouched posture, the confidence interval included zero, indicating that any observed differences were likely due to random variation. These findings suggest that posture alone may not play a significant role in short-term audiovisual learning comprehension. Future research should explore long-term effects and different educational subjects.Keywords: Posture, Body Language, Learning Comprehension, Audiovisual Learning, Education Research, Cognitive Science, Human Factors in Learning Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Sonoma Academy for providing me the research funding neccessary to carry out this study. Additionally, I would like to thank Amber Greer for being an amazing AS Statistics teacher.