Mobile Applications: Insight into Processing Conceptual Information
In the midst of an increasingly tech-savvy world, mobile applications may be the key to enhancing the individualized learning experience. Mobile applications take the form of program software on smartphones, tablets, or other mobile devices with features more advanced than the traditional personal computer interface. In conjunction with design intended to mitigate cognitive load, digital games allow students to directly engage with abstract concepts by problem solving in virtual environments to strengthen long-term learning. There have been widespread initiatives to integrate mobile applications and subsequent educational software into schools to engage students beyond traditional lecture-based curriculum. This pioneering medium of innovative education provides insight into the neural mechanisms that support learning conceptual topics like mathematics and physics. The following paper will break down mobile applications into the distinct components that address and enhance the distinct aspects of the conceptual learning experiences.
The Integration of New Conceptual Information
The neural underpinnings of learning mathematics and physics exemplify the neural mechanisms required to master abstract concepts in the classroom. Students enter the classroom with a string of misconceptions that they’ve accumulated in their day-to-day experiences, which is to be expected. However, these misconceptions burrow deep when addressing rather abstract concepts because it is much harder to demonstrate such phenomenon tangibly in person, in real time, and in magnitude. This puts the student in a position where they must acknowledge their pre-existing knowledge and either modify that information or integrate counterintuitive information (Weidman, 2015). The pattern of neural activation fluctuates with one’s level of mastery (Mareschal, 2016). When children navigate conceptual ideas, there is a broader activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) along with posterior regions (Mareschal, 2016). This suggests that the child is relying on a spatial representation informed by their perceptual analysis, which involves learning through the five senses (Mareschal, 2016). This perceptual analysis fuels a child’s curiosity and informs their understanding of the world without the validity of proven formulas. As for adults with mature neural networks that better are better equipped to grapple with complex concepts, the activation is centralized in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) (Mareschal, 2016). The ACC functions to detect conflicts at large and works in tandem with the PFC, which supports attention, working memory, and information integration (Mareschal, 2016). As neural activation becomes less dependent on perceptual experience as the learner attains mathematical skills, the frontal cortex picks up the cognitive load. Cognitive load is the neural labor that overwhelms a learner’s working memory when undergoing higher-level processing (Weidman, 2015). In the case of numeric cognition, a mature neural network demonstrates the cognitive labor of integrating mathematical logic, reconciling contradictory or counterintuitive ideas, and essentially wrapping one’s mind around a mathematical concept and all of its facets. This notable shift from parietal regions toward frontal regions indicates a shift from isolated perceptual processing to the integration of conceptual processing, and ultimately characterizes the progression of neural activity that supports conceptual learning (Emerson, 2012). Mobile applications provide a unique opportunity to further support the cognitive chore of processing conceptual knowledge. The virtual environment in which the learner can engage with phenomenon provides a level of perceptual information to sculpt the cognitive reconciliation of new conceptual information with one’s preconceptions. In theory, mobile applications allow the learner to integrate perceptual processing into conceptual processing.
The Acquisition of Mathematical Skill
The maturity of one’s neural networks establish the landscape in which an individual can pursue higher-level cognitive processing of conceptual knowledge. However, there are neural mechanisms at play when acquiring mathematical skill in particular. Upon greater mastery of mathematics, the cognitive load of inhibiting conflicting preconceptions and integrating new information has significantly decreased (Weidman, 2015). This is because an expert’s working understanding of the concept is aligned with the fundamental realities of the subject matter, so there is minimal conflict as supplemental information is integrated (Weidman, 2015). The decrease in conflict would render activity of the ACC and DLPFC unnecessary, which suggests that executive function of the ACC and DLPFC simply support the domain-specific mechanisms that are essential to acquiring mathematical skill (Emerson, 2012). The left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) is a key player in numerical cognition (Emerson, 2015). When tasked with finer numerical discrimination, activity in the left IPS was significantly pronounced (Emerson, 2015). This may be the result of enhanced symbolic representation of numbers through semantic encoding (Rinsveld, 2016). This notion is derived from Rinsveld’s 2016 study of the influence of language context on mathematical performance. When a basic math problem was paired with the language in which an individual learned the fundamentals of mathematics, performance significantly increased, implicating semantic representation in the acquisition of mathematical skill (Rinsveld, 2016). Semantic representation of mathematical concepts depends on the strength of the fronto-parietal network (Emerson, 2012). It is fairly intuitive that the region responsible for higher-level processing of abstract concepts would need to operate in sync with the region responsible for maintaining mathematical representations-- i.e. the product of the frontal cortex processing. Mobile applications have the programming potential to employ software designed to engage both executive function and domain-specific regions and curate the strengthening of the fronto-parietal network.
Visuospatial Skills Critical to Learning Physics
Perhaps the greatest insight that mobile applications provide into conceptual cognition is the role of visuospatial skills in that process. In a classroom setting, learners tend to engage with abstract concepts like physics through problem solving. In problem solving, problem representation allows the learner to process the components of the complex problem and integrate their properties into a viable solution (Boekaerts, 2016). Such representation is rooted in the learner’s visuospatial ability to manipulate complex concepts (Mayer, 2017). Studies have shown that priming the learner with spatial training can improve performance in solving conceptual problems, including topics like mathematics and physics (Cheng, 2014; Frick, 2012; Soderqvist, 2015). Given the inherent interconnected nature of neural networks, the value of visuospatial processing in informing executive function is anticipated. As mentioned earlier, the inhibition of a learner’s misperceptions initiates the cascade of higher-level processing of conceptual information. Mobile applications prompt a visuospatial component to the perceptual processing that can influence the inhibition of initial misperceptions (Mareschal, 2016).
When introducing mobile applications, it is important to note that valuable features of such programming software are already employed in gaming software outside of the learning context. In a 2012 study, Bavalier highlighted video game players (VGPs) to demonstrate the observable result of this cognitive processing. In this study, Bavalier references a 2007 study led by Feng et. al. that supported the notion that playing video games enhanced mental rotation ability to the extent of mitigating gender-based disparities in spatial ability (Feng, 2007). This suggests that there is a rather direct influence of playing videogames on one’s visuospatial ability. Furthermore, in Bavalier’s subsequent study, VPGs outperformed non-VPGs when performing a peripheral visual search task and central identification tasks (Bavalier, 2012). From these studies, Bavalier concluded that videogames do not target any specific skills like arithmetic but rather enhanced VGPs’ visuospatial ability, which fosters mathematical representation in the IPS, the numerical cognition hotspot mentioned earlier.
In culminating fashion, Wang et. al. tied together the principals discussed in this paper in a 2016 study investigating the effects of simulation design, visual-motor integration, and a spatial ability on high school students’ conceptual understanding. Mobile apps were designed to reduce cognitive load, encourage active engagement, and mitigate misconceptions of kinetic concepts by integrating various sensations to interact with virtual objects. Students within a class learning one-dimensional kinematic motion in physics were placed in one of three conditions after being equally primed on the topic and device usage. In group A, the students used a smartphone with a multi-touch feature to allow for virtual manipulation. In group B, the students used a tablet with multi-touch features and a tilt feature to further manipulate virtual conditions. In group C, the students used a traditional mouse and a computer. When it came to understanding basic concepts, groups A and C had significant improvement, regardless of visual motor abilities. Group B had low scores in this category, which suggests that the kinesthetic manipulations may have interfered with the grasping the more basic concepts. In terms of understanding more advanced concepts, groups A and B scored significantly higher than the CS group. The mobile applications in both groups had a similar effect on students with different levels of spatial ability. Furthermore, students in group C had a widened performance gap based on level of spatial ability. Overall, students with high visual-motor integration ability performed better on advanced concepts than students with low visual-motor integration ability. This study suggests that mobile apps could narrow the academic performance gap between groups with different spatial abilities, but introducing these apps may require the acquisition of new skills like visual-motor integration.
Mobile applications offer an opportune platform to sculpt the application of neuroscientific studies in the classroom. In tune with one’s learning experience out in the world, this educational tool allows students to engage with abstract concepts directly, materializing conceptual phenomenon at the pace of the student. This dynamic interaction prompts a stronger foundation for long-term meaningful learning, which we can all agree is the goal of every classroom.
References:
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