2024/04/03 by Sofia Tancredi · 1 voice
Engineering · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Balance (ability) #Basis (linear algebra) #Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills #Engineering #Geometry #Line (geometry) #Mathematics #Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques #Psychology #Sense (electronics) #Spatial Cognition and Navigation
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s40751-024-00140-1
openalex publication_date 2024/04/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Abstract Can math concepts be experienced through the sensory modality of balance? Balance Board Math (BBM) is a set of pedagogical math activities designed to instantiate mathematical concepts through stimulation to the vestibular sense: an organ in the inner ear that detects our bodily balance and orientation. BBM establishes the different ways children spontaneously rock and move as the basis for inclusively exploring mathematical concepts together across diverse sensory profiles. I describe two activity sets where students explore focal concepts by shifting their balance on rockable balance boards: “the Balance Number Line,” using analog materials to foster understandings of the number line and negative numbers, and “Balance Graphing,” using sensors and a digital display to foster exploration of functions and graphing concepts, including the parameters of trigonometric functions and function addition. I outline proposed ways that engaging with concepts through balance-activating movement can change learners’ mathematical thinking and learning.