Achieving an in-depth understanding of unfamiliar science concepts has been found to be difficult when learners can not index science language to relevant sensorimotor experiences. Ongoing research in embodied cognition highlights the importance of relevant sensorimotor experiences in understanding and learning new information. Aiming to foster…

Primary school science emphasises hands-on interactions, but little is known about how the sensorimotor experiences these interactions provide shape children's science ideas. Early interactions with science need to be engaging as these shape children's developing attitudes towards science and themselves as science learners; however, these…

South Australian, Lyndall Hendrickson AM (1917-2017) led a lifetime of achievements as a prodigy, concert violinist, polio survivor, violin instructor and teacher of language and music to non-verbal autistic students. Her career halted when she contracted poliomyelitis at the age of 34. To regain motor skill, Hendrickson researched theories of…

Modern intelligent agents will need to learn the actions that humans perform. They will need to recognize these actions when they see them and they will need to perform these actions themselves. We want to propose a cognitive system that interprets human manipulation actions from perceptual information (image and depth data) and consists of…

This article notes the convergence of recent thinking in neuroscience and grounded cognition regarding the way we understand mental representation and recollection: ideas are dynamic and multi-modal, actively created at the point of recall. Also, neurophysiologically, re-entrant signalling among cortical circuits allows non-conscious processing to…

Research suggests that concepts are distributed across brain regions specialized for processing information from different sensorimotor modalities. Multimodal semantic models fall into one of two broad classes differentiated by the assumed hierarchy of convergence zones over which information is integrated. In shallow models, communication within-…

As human beings, we can interact with our environment through the sense of touch, which helps us to build an understanding of objects and events. The implications of touch for cognition are recognized by many educators who advocate the use of "hands-on" instruction. But is it possible to know something more completely by touching it? Does touch…

Researchers have found that the elderly are as capable of learning motor skills as younger persons but perform better under some conditions than others. For example, the elderly learn and perform motor skills more efficiently when there is additional time to respond to stimulus. Tasks which are self-regulated rather than directed by an external…

Comparison of 224 Pennsylvania secondary agricultural education students with a national sample showed that (1) the Pennsylvania students' cognitive skills were less developed; (2) their preferred responses to information were auditory and emotive; (3) small group and hands-on were preferred environments; and (4) they were less likely to prefer…

Beginning with the observation that sex differences affecting the learning process have largely been ignored in our schools, this dissertation reviews literature on the differences in learning characteristics of boys and girls and proposes a proprioceptor stimulation or multisensory approach of teaching. The author maintains that kinesthetic…

This curriculum is designed primarily for individualized classrooms where the teacher is working with an assistant, but has also been proven effective in traditional classrooms and in remedial situations. It is designed to test and teach children the basic abilities (readiness skills) assumed by the present primary-grade reading, writing,…

Literature is reviewed which discusses the role of proprioceptors in basic perceptual and motoric functions. The author cites research on the functions of the muscle spindles in controlling muscles which in turn provide energy, stimulation, and activation of the central nervous system. Research on the relation of motor functions to language…

All learning takes place through the unification of body and mind. Within the realm of motor skill learning, the term mental practice has been used to explain this phenomenon. It has been found that individuals can use their imaginations to learn and to improve upon their performance. Mental practice can be used by teachers who have too little…

This curriculum is designed primarily for use in individualized classrooms where the teacher is working with an assistant, but it has also been proven effective in traditional classrooms and in remedial situations. Program 1 focuses on the basic abilities children use to analyze and organize graphic and other spatial patterns--skills directly…

This curriculum is designed primarily for use in individualized classrooms where the teacher is working with an assistant, but it has also been proven effective in traditional classrooms and in remedial situations. Program 3 focuses on a variety of gross-and fine-motor functions--basic abilities that affect the way the child physically interacts…