Call for Submissions

Embodied cognition and STEM learning

A Special Issue/Article Collection for Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (CRPI)

Co-organizers
Nora Newcombe, Temple University
Steven Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania

Theorists in embodied cognition postulate that the brain must be understood to function in the context of its physical body and that, reciprocally, engaging the body alters the function of the brain. This idea has led to insights in basic cognitive science – such as the ubiquity of embodied metaphors, or how gesture facilitates spatial thinking. Embodied cognition has thus provided tools that may be effective for teaching and learning, especially in the STEM disciplines, which rely upon concepts that are both richly detailed descriptions of the physical world and quite abstract, e.g., the notion of a limit in mathematics. Embodied tools to cut to the core of such ideas might make STEM disciplines more accessible.

The purpose of this collection of papers is to explore how embodied cognition might be applied to augment STEM learning. Papers may be empirical studies on the effectiveness of embodied cognition for teaching specific STEM concepts; theoretical or tutorial reviews of papers within a certain domain of STEM disciplines, e.g., astronomy, or of embodied cognition, e.g., hands-on-learning; or theoretical papers on why embodied cognition might be effective for STEM learning.

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications is the Open Access journal of the Psychonomic Society. CRPI publishes new empirical and theoretical work covering all areas of Cognition, with a special emphasis on use-inspired basic research: fundamental research that grows from hypotheses about real-world problems. We expect that authors will be able to explain in a Significance section how their basic research serves to advance our understanding of the cognitive aspects of a problem with real-world applications.  As with all Psychonomic Society journals, submissions to CRPI are subject to rigorous peer review.

Please send an email to either or both co-organizer(s) if you would like to discuss the appropriateness of your submission for this Special Issue. If you have great use-inspired basic research that does not happen to concern Embodied cognition and STEM learning, please feel free to submit it for consideration as a regular contribution to the journal.

Deadline: Manuscripts should be submitted before July 1, 2016

You can find manuscript submission details here.