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The enactment of embodied learning in the authentic classroom introduces new challenges. The educational system has yet to develop a clear vision or learning design models that would guide the implementation of embodied learning using digital technologies and manipulatives. This study presents an example of a learning design for technology-enhanced embodied learning in an authentic classroom. Three forms of physical embodiment (direct, surrogate and augmented) are enacted using a model consisting of a single educator and rotating across learning stations. The case study takes place in a multidisciplinary lesson around historical information. In this lesson, Year 4 primary school students (i) take virtual tours among the ruins of Archaic kingdoms using mobile VR headsets, (ii) use programmable floor robots to learn about the various occupations people had back then and (iii) create storyboards based on historical information using web-based digital tools. The study evaluates the technology-enhanced embodied learning experience from the perspective of the learners. Data from 34 students demonstrate learning gains, as well as positive perceptions of the learning experience in terms of their relationship with their teammates, their sense of personal development, and the overall classroom orchestration. We conclude with lessons learnt, limitations and suggestions for future work. With this study, we aim to spark a dialogue on how technology-enhanced embodied learning can be successfully enacted in real-world classrooms, highlighting the need for more studies in the intersection of technology, design and pedagogy.

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) simulations are argued to support students’ learning of complex scientific phenomena via the use of realistic graphics and interactions that students can hardly experience in everyday life. However, the integration of immersive VR simulations in science classrooms introduces new challenges, whilst there is a lack of learning designs to inform practice. As part of this study, we firstly present a learning experience (LX) design seeking to introduce an immersive VR simulation in Physics classrooms to support high-school students’ understanding of the Special Theory of Relativity. Then, we present an empirical investigation on the enactment and evaluation of the proposed LX design, with 109 high-school students (10–11th graders). A mixed-method approach was adopted to evaluate students’ conceptual learning gains along with their perceptions of the learning experience, encompassing the immersive VR simulation and the inquiry-based learning process adopted. We reflect on our LX design aimed at the integration of an immersive VR simulation in an inquiry-based learning environment and we highlight questions for further research.

The study aims to compare the effect of a structured versus an unstructured educational robotics (ER) curriculum on (a) the frequency and type of programming errors made by students in block-based programming, (b) their ability to debug a programme, and (c) their engagement in the learning process. The authors’ hypothesis is that, in programming contexts with young learners, an unstructured ER curriculum might be more beneficial in learning how to debug. This study follows a quasi-experimental design with two comparison groups (n = 35)—a structured ER curriculum group and an unstructured one. Within the quasi-experiment, both qualitative and quantitative data are collected. Findings reveal a list of errors commonly made by both groups. The unstructured ER curriculum group is associated with a significantly higher frequency of errors. The structured ER curriculum group demonstrates significantly greater efficiency in debugging. Yet, the students in the unstructured ER curriculum group outperform their peers in terms of engagement levels.

The integration of immersive virtual reality (VR) in authentic science classrooms can result in a totally new learning experience for the students. However, the effect of such a learning experience on students’ conceptual learning gains and their perceptions of the experience, while considering students’ pre-existing science-and digital technologies-related attitudinal profiles, has not been explored to date. In this study, we have enacted a 90-min technology-enhanced inquiry-based intervention with high-school students (n = 107), on the topic of the Special Theory of Relativity in a Physics course, using a learning experience design, structured around an immersive VR simulation. Firstly, we aimed at examining students’ attitudinal profiles and, secondly, at exploring the potential differences of those profiles in relation to conceptual learning gains and perceptions of the learning experience. A clustering analysis has revealed two attitudinal profiles: the low-attitudes profile (n = 48) included students with low science-and digital technologiesrelated attitudes, and the opposite for the high-attitudes profile (n = 59). Results from a 2 × 2 RM ANOVA indicated a statistically significant interaction between conceptual learning gains and attitudinal profiles. In addition, a one-way MANOVA test showed statistically significant differences between the two profiles in relation to students’ perceptions of the learning experience, with the students of the high-attitude profile outperforming their counterparts. We discuss our findings, focusing on the implications of students’ individual differences in learning and attitudes linked to the integration of immersive VR in inquiry-based instruction.

With the Maker movement increasingly adopted across K-12 schools and non-formal makerspaces, students are being given more opportunities to engage in Making activities using tools such as robots, electronics, arts, and crafts. Making activities are thought to help students develop twenty-first-century skills, especially communication and collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving, all of which come under the umbrella of learning and innovation (L&I) skills. The overall research question driving the study is: how do students develop L&I skills in Making contexts? To understand how students develop these skills we need frameworks and coding schemes which can help with skills’ identification and analysis. Finding such analytical tools with applicability in Making contexts has proven challenging. In Phase A, the present study proposes an analytical framework and coding scheme—the L&I skills in Making analytical framework and coding scheme— for the identification and analysis of L&I skills in Making contexts, informed by existing twenty-first-century skills frameworks as well as data from an empirical investigation with young learners. In Phase B, the applicability of the coding scheme is checked with a portion of the empirical data while evidence is presented for the identification and analysis of L&I skills in dialogic interactions during the Making activities. The study extends previous findings supporting that Making activities might be able to support students in developing twenty-first-century skills, but most importantly, has a unique contribution to the literature supporting researchers who are looking for an analytical framework and coding scheme to identify and analyse students’ L&I skills in Making contexts.

The turn of the millennium has witnessed an increased interest in technology-enhanced embodied approaches for learning in mathematics due to the rapid advancement of motion-based technologies. However, the emergence of technology-enhanced embodied learning brings to the foreground new challenges due to the lack of learning experience (LX) designs, ensuring its successful introduction in real classroom settings. This paper presents a large-scale study on the implementation and systematic evaluation of a LX design, developed and enacted by a cohort of eight primary education teachers to support their students’ engagement and learning in mathematics. The LX design was structured around an embodied educational app for learning in mathematics and was implemented in 13 primary education classrooms (n = 213 children). Analysis of the data collected via pre-post conceptual tests, students’ engagement surveys and testimonials, as well as teachers’ interviews, provided empirical substantiation to the LX design, while also supporting the effectiveness of technology-enhanced embodied learning.

While the value of multimodal learning experiences is well articulated in the literature, rich examples of learning experience (LX) design aiming to guide research and practice in authentic school classrooms are currently lacking. This study’s first objective was to provide a comprehensive account of the LX design process, aimed at enhancing multimodal learning in kindergarten education. With the aid of two kindergarten teachers, we followed a learning design approach that blended established instructional frameworks such as the learning via multiple representations, the learning stations, and the learning trajectories. This study’s second objective was to conduct an evaluation study. The LX design was implemented with the two teachers and their 33 kindergarten students to assess its effectiveness. Both quantitative and qualitative data were employed for triangulation of the evidence. The study contributes to the literature by offering a replicable LX design framework that addresses calls for structured integration of multimodal digital resources in early childhood education. Furthermore, findings from the evaluation study shed light on teachers’ positive perceptions of the multimodal learning experience based on observed students’ behaviours and achievement. This work is a step forward in addressing a need for LX designs that can facilitate seamless multimodal learning in early childhood.

Immersion is often argued to be one of the main driving forces behind children’s learning in digital educational games. Researchers have supported that movement-based interaction afforded by emerging embodied digital educational games may heighten even more immersion and learning. However, there is lack of empirical research warranting these claims. This case study has investigated the impact of high-embodied digital educational game, integrated in a primary school classroom, on children’s immersion and content knowledge about nutrition (condition1 = 24 children), in comparison to the impact of a low-embodied version of the game (condition2 = 20 children). Post-interventional surveys investigating immersion indicated that there was difference only on the level of engagement, in terms of perceived usability, while children’s learning gains in terms of content knowledge did not differ among the two conditions. Interviews with a subset of the children (n = 8 per condition) resulted in the identification of (a) media form, (b) media content and (c) context-related factors, which provided plausible explanations about children’s experienced immersion. Implications are discussed for supporting immersion in high-embodied educational digital games.