References
Teaching physics is difficult for educators. In an investigation of physics teachers’ opinions about the physics curriculum, Kan et al. (2019) revealed the importance of developing teachers’ depth of knowledge in physics and their key skills in this area in order to decrease teachers’ resistance towards the implementation of the physics curriculum. According to these researchers, a simplification of the physics curriculum, and its explicit interconnectedness with daily life and the field of research are critical to enhance a physics curriculum.
Learning physics is also difficult, students have a negative attitude toward physics courses since they do not inherently understand physics concepts perceived as being too abstract (Demirci, 2004). Although students can solve physics problems using mathematical formula learned previously, they struggle to apprehend and understand the concepts of gravity (Kim and Pak, 2002).
Singh et al. (2006) focused some of their research on students having difficulties scaffolding their knowledge of physics, who were not in the right mindset to explore and interpret, and who experienced challenges connecting new information with their previous knowledge. Misconceptions were commonly encountered that were caused by incorrectly learnt generalizations or failures to connect naïve physics to modern physics.
Some meanings, concepts or formulas taught in the classroom are not obvious – or may even be counterintuitive – to the learners. This generates a cognitive conflict, adding to the difficulty these students often experience in conceptualizing phenomena in physics. This often leads to an escalation of misconceptions. Moreover, many ‘’naïve’’ understandings are functional for practical use in context, but are often shown to be erroneous under scientific scrutiny.
Example of misconceptions to tackle:
- Is gravity selective? Does it apply to all objects in the same way?
- Does gravity apply to bodies at rest, or does it apply only to bodies thrown up into the air?
- Does gravity occur only on earth?
The use of embodiment as a mechanism for student learning is an interesting leverage. If it is combined with hands-on activities, students can learn not only through sign and symbolic systems (indigested physics formulas), but rather because they are situated within the spatial-dynamical representations of the individual who is participating in the activity (Anderson & Wall, 2016).
Jang (2011) has demonstrated how embodied cognition participates in the visualization of anatomy. For this author, mental images and rotation are determined by the laws of physics since perception, thinking and reasoning happens through embodiment.
Different programs have been developed to promote evaluation of students’ posture: physiotherapist-based and ergonomic education, in particular (Cardon, G. et al. 2001; Minghelli, B. 2020). In practice, many students do not have body consciousness; therefore, despite knowing what better posture is theoretically, they are still unable to adopt a correct posture when sitting.
References
There is a need for new teaching strategies to motivate the teaching of physics, to improve course achievement, develop problem-solving skills, and to enhance teachers and learners’ positive attitudes toward physics. Comparing two physics curricula, Eryilmaz and Sen (2019) determined that students’ attitude is the most challenging variable to enhance, since the intensity and abstractness of the content of the physics curriculum undermines the in-depth understanding of physics while also instilling some concepts of physics indirectly. They advocated that teaching by ‘’concretizing and visualizing physics concepts’’ will support students’ learning. Fink (2013) places a premium on constructing opportunities for students to connect their learning in physics classes with their past knowledge, as well as current and future life experiences.
Postural education places a premium on generating knowledge and enhancing the understanding of students through inquiring interactions and creating relationships across different disciplines. Hence, the following program draws from physics, biology and postural education discipline to help students to conceptualize notions from physics as they are applied to the human body. The human body becomes the subject of inquiry regarding gravitational forces. The interconnectedness of the different human body systems as they function is related to the forces applied from inside and outside of the human body. Observation is a fundamental phase in any scientific inquiry. Observation and visualization skills of postural patterns- and consequently the understanding of the structural impact of these habits on the human body – represent a cornerstone of postural education and to improve their postural habits.
In this instructional design, the emphasis is on inquiry-based approach to consider students’ initial conceptions. Let the students describe what they already know about topics such as gravity, the human body structure, and posture. Since these conceptions serve as a frame of reference for understanding the world and acting within it (Alsop & Watts, 2003), it is fundamental to address them carefully. The application of this framework will inform the journey of instructors on these topics.
Model-based teaching is a specific kind of inquiry. Instruction is designed to support the development and evolution of the learners’ mental models. Mental models are defined as internal representations of integrated knowledge. It includes components interacting in a dynamic system. The comprehension and integration of these models produce some emergent behavior. Learners build, extend, elaborate, and improve the accuracy and completeness of their mental models, and these models support their understanding of the world (Clement and Rea-Ramirez, 2008; Gilbert and Boulter, 2000).
Postural education, drawing from Thompson et al.’s (2008) model-based implementation, covers 4 ambitions teaching practices:
- Selecting big ideas from the curriculum and treating them as models.
- Attending to students’ idea as they arise in discussion.
- Choosing activities and materials that facilitate our main rationale
- Inviting students to undertake observation and embrace curiosity about posture
This integrative teaching design, combining lenses from multiple disciplines is aimed at incorporating the standard big ideas, skills, and competencies requested by the BC curriculum.
Analogies are useful for teaching and learning. This approach implies bringing up similarities between concepts or situations that students understand to explain, and a new concept or situation that resembles it. Students can then transfer their comprehension to the new situation.
The application of analogy, as a learning tool, allows us to access or expand our comprehension. In this regard, it provides the learner with a sense of ownership by triggering their imagination through brainstorming measures; it also triggers a process of analysis by soliciting connections from students among the components of their findings (Harrison & Treagust, 2006).
The teachers need a certain kind of pedagogical content knowledge for scientific inquiry (Davis & Krajcik, 2005). Postural education conveys a revision of the teachers already-constructed knowledge about teaching scientific content. Observation, analogy, visualization and spatial ability skills are more the cornerstone of this program than evidenced-based explanations and measurements.
Analogy used in this teaching program corroborates our rationale that taking a physics lens to understand the human body system and posture facilitates changes of postural habits. Conversely, understanding posture influences how gravity is acting on the human body.
Example of analogy in science:
The teacher’s narrative is fundamental in this program. Their narrative, based primarily on their personal experience with the topics, will trigger more interest and curiosity about gravity, the human body, and posture than the transmission of unintegrated scientific concepts. The focus should be on the fact that the human body is constantly subjected to gravity, is not only a scientific idea but also a simple reality to apprehend and to visualize.
Teachers reflecting on their own postural habits also benefit from this program. Adults mostly know and\or have experienced the need to pay attention to their posture. However, among adults, understanding body mechanics, to work on posture and to change postural habits, is usually an overwhelming challenge. The assumption is that the human cognitive abilities for understanding are insufficient to apprehend all the rules of physics and the nature and the functioning of the human body. Fortunately, a good functioning of the human body depends less on this cognitive understanding than on its ability to comply various principles, such as seeking and maintaining balance in the body.
Teachers’ modelling efforts towards good posture in the classroom is a de facto part of their teaching about posture. This instructional component is the key element operating over months of instruction shared with the students. The point is not to demonstrate a perfect posture, but to demonstrate a clear and constant effort to bring awareness to the teacher’s own body position.
The assessment of students’ posture and their understanding of posture is less the focus than the assessing of competencies they need to learn. Reproducing the ways we’ve been demonstrated and taught is the main avenue to integrate knowledge. Generally, students learn by assessing their role models. In this program, students learn good posture by observing and unconsciously imitating their teacher, their peers, and their family’s postural habits. Observational and visualization skills, when considering the human body as a subject, are to be developed earlier in life. Though students are not concerned about the necessity to learn about posture, the knowledge needs to be acquired so that it becomes retroactive later on in their lives.
References
Visualization and Spatial Ability
We strongly advocate that spatial ability is an essential skill to navigate this world. the genuine potential of students in this domain is under-appreciated in the current educational system. However, prior research has demonstrated a strong association between spatial ability and science performance (Andersen, 2014).
Visualisation and spatial ability skills facilitates the comprehension of physics concepts and human body system. Luckily, for teachers engaging in our lesson plans, many cohorts of students they encounter will have an acutely developed spatial ability. This globally shared characteristic of youth mainly derivates from their considerable digital exposure.
Spatial ability is fundamental since cognitive understanding is not sufficient to apprehend notions of space. Furthermore, it is a great resource to comprehend abstract concepts in physics and biology. Moreover, it is a key component to integrate the nature and function of different complex systems such as the human body.
This program design aims to teach gravity emphasizing less the measurement of this force of attraction and more its visualization.
The goal is to stimulate students’ visualisation of:
- The constant direction of gravity as determined verticality.
- The concept of “The Line of gravity” induced by gravity.
- Any matter as submitted to gravitational forces and organizing itself around this vertical plane, including the human body.
- The rule of alignment inextricably linked to gravity.
- The nature and function of the human body associated with this rule of alignment.
References
We strongly advocate that spatial ability is an essential skill to navigate this world. the genuine potential of students in this domain is under-appreciated in the current educational system. However, prior research has demonstrated a strong association between spatial ability and science performance (Guillot et al., 2007).
Visualisation and spatial ability skills facilitates the comprehension of physics concepts and human body system. Luckily, for teachers engaging in our lesson plans, many cohorts of students they encounter will have an acutely developed spatial ability. This globally shared characteristic of youth mainly derivates from their considerable digital exposure.
Spatial ability is fundamental since cognitive understanding is not sufficient to apprehend notions of space. Furthermore, it is a great resource to comprehend abstract concepts in physics and biology. Moreover, it is a key component to integrate the nature and function of different complex systems such as the human body.
This program design aims to teach gravity emphasizing less the measurement of this force of attraction and more its visualization.
The goal is to stimulate students’ visualisation of:
- The constant direction of gravity as determined verticality.
- The concept of “The Line of gravity” induced by gravity.
- Any matter as submitted to gravitational forces and organizing itself around this vertical plane, including the human body.
- The rule of alignment inextricably linked to gravity.
- The nature and function of the human body associated with this rule of alignment.