Embodied Nerf-gun activities increased students' self-reported understanding of, and ability to explain, key neural communication concepts in a pre-post seminar design¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · design r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? After a lecture and a 1-h seminar with the activities, 39 students rated their understanding of the purpose of four key concepts and their ability to explain them to others significantly higher than before the seminar. → B. D. M. Hatin 2020 q2 i? All pre-post comparisons were statistically significant on two-tailed paired-sample t-tests, with no effect size reported. → B. D. M. Hatin 2020 (2)

Evidence¶

B. D. M. Hatin 2020¶

B. D. M. Hatin. (2020). Introducing students to neural communication: an embodied-learning classroom demonstration. npj Science of Learning 5:18. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-00077-1

q2 · i? · design · r2

A pre-post survey of 39 students who attended a 2-h lecture, then a 1-h seminar with the embodied activities, in February 2020. The article reports the activities "increased how well students felt they understood" and could explain the concepts; ratings were on a 1-5 agreement scale.

"As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the active learning activities increased how well students felt they understood the purpose of these key concepts, and also increased how well they felt they could explain these key concepts to others."

B. D. M. Hatin 2020 (2)¶

B. D. M. Hatin. (2020). Introducing students to neural communication: an embodied-learning classroom demonstration. npj Science of Learning 5:18. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-00077-1

q2 · i? · design · r2

Paired-sample t-tests on the same 39-student pre-post survey; 14 outliers identified but none removed. No standardized effect size is printed, so no magnitude is reported here.

"Results of two-tailed paired-sample t-tests demonstrated that all pre-post comparisons were statistically significant, t(38) = 5.49–7.60; all ps < 0.001."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• In an initial feedback survey, students strongly agreed the embodied activities were memorable, helped learning beyond lecture alone, and were recommendable to future groups — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Young children collaboratively develop their own gestures to represent and explain challenging science concepts in a mixed-reality environment — related
• Post-interviews with props and embodiment revealed understanding of macro–micro particle changes that the multiple-choice post-test did not capture. — related
• Video-group students self-reported better understanding of the material than textbook-group students (44% vs 36% felt they understood well or very well) — related