Create:

Cross-disciplinary Research
on Equitable Advanced Technology
for Education

Project ATEEL (Embodied Learning)

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Advanced Technology for Examining Embodied Learning (ATEEL)

The CREATE center has partnered with Hononegah High School (Rockton, IL) to improve all curricular areas, with an emphasis on STEM disciplines. Among a myriad of challenges that many high schools face today, one conspicuous issue is the students’ too extensive sedentary time while they engage in learning. In a specially designated ‘experimental classroom’, the CREATE center is studying how current curricular activities in all subject matters can be improved to stimulate students’ active physical and cognitive engagement.

Cutting-edge technology, and multi-modal, simultaneous data collection and analyses are at the heart of the project. Students’ bodily movements (through motion-sensor cameras), muscle stress (through electromyography, EMG) and brain activations (through functional near-infrared spectroscopy, fNIR) are captured while students carry out learning tasks.

The project aims to identify and design specific physical activities that are particularly beneficial for learning. This aim is a response to the growing recognition that physical activities are a very valuable element in supporting young people’s education.