Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

In recent years, embodied learning has gained significant at- tention as a valuable approach to STEM education. However, previous studies have often focused on highly controlled lab experiments and have failed to consider the unique perspec- tives and backgrounds of learners. The current study aims to replicate the findings of Zhang et al. (2022) by integrat- ing the embodied learning intervention into an online class with students that may differ in important ways from Amer- ican college students (Chinese high school students). Students were introduced to abstract concepts related to randomness and using coding to mimic a shuffling process. Students in sec- tions were randomly assigned to get this introduction through an embodied hands-on video or a less-embodied live-coding video. The learning outcomes were evaluated through authen- tic class assessments (homework and exam). Results showed that students introduced to target concepts with the more em- bodied video outperformed those who watched the less em- bodied video. The benefit of embodiment was observed only on questions related to the topic covered in the intervention videos.