Laura Perkins

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cook, Peter

Area of Concentration

Cognitive Science with Mathematics

Abstract

In the theory of embodied cognition, mathematical activity is thought to be facili- tated in large part by epistemic “mappings” that translate bodily intuitions about the world into abstract conceptual domains. Since their popularization, these ideas have influenced discourse in mathematics education. Another currently popular topic in mathematics education is the growing evidence that learning games can enhance learning outcomes. Combining these facts, this work proposes to construct real- world or virtual games which directly map onto mathematical concepts via concep- tual metaphors. Games of this kind, which I dub conceptual metaphor games, intend to encourage learning as exploration, making for an approach to inclusive pedagogy which is both person-centric and theoretically sound such that it can be accessibly presented as separate from the underlying theory. I argue that play and discussion of these games can serve as “grounding” experiences with mathematics that confer understanding through a lighthearted medium. An example is given involving the embodied source domain of frogs hopping on lily pads, demonstrating an implemen- tation of such a conceptual metaphor game in a pedagogical context. Additionally, I implement a demo level of a virtual browser-based game which can extend to a larger project for empirical evaluation.

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