Toward Synergizing Educational Research and Movement Sciences: a Dialogue on Learning as Developing Perception for Action

• Published in: Educational psychology review 2022-09, Vol.34 (3), p.1813-1842
• Main Authors: Abrahamson, Dor, Mechsner, Franz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child and School Psychology; Cognition & reasoning; Education; Educational Psychology; Educational research; Educational Researchers; Feedback; Interdisciplinary aspects; Learning and Instruction; Mathematics Education; Reflection on the Field
• ISSN: 1040-726X; 1573-336X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10648-022-09668-3

What could possibly be a meaningful conversation between educational researchers and movement scientists? Curiously, they have much in common. Both groups of researchers increasingly (1) appreciate the human capacity to enact perceptually guided movement as an overarching psychological model of thinking, problem-solving, and learning; (2) theorize the development of perceptual structures, including actual and imaginary percepts, as a key epistemic vehicle for solving motor-control problems; and (3) promote a view of abstract thinking as movement-grounded and movement-oriented perceptual dynamics. Probing toward theoretical synergy between these traditionally disparate fields of research, the present article is built as an interdisciplinary conversation between two researchers—of mathematics education and movement science, respectively—who become aware of their intellectual alignment, garner new insights and inspirations from each other’s work, and speculate on implications of this concordance for their fields. Future exploration into the unity of movement and cognition could enrich dialogue between manifold disciplines, with the overall goal of clarifying, developing, and integrating an interdisciplinary common foundation and framework for the benefit of education.