Embodied education acknowledges the importance of sensorimotor experiences in developing cognitive processes and the active use of embodied experiences during the learning process (Georgiou & Ioannou, 2019; Gulliksen, 2017). Such approaches have been demonstrated to be effective in promoting students’ understanding of science concepts (Johnson-Glenberg & Megowan-Romanowicz, 2017; Lindgren et al., 2022). Since embodied experiences are developed by the interaction between humans and the environment (Dewey, 1958) the role of the situated sociocultural context for science learning and its relationship with the embodiment needs to be better understood (Danish et al., 2020; Leung et al., 2011). Consequently, this research aimed to investigate the relationship between embodiment, sociocultural context, and their impact on the understanding of scientific concepts. 

Metaphors are indicative of the way individuals express their understanding of scientific concepts (Johann et al., 2020). They may also capture differences in participants’ conceptualizations (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). The use of a particular metaphor has also been shown to be profoundly related to an individual’s embodiment and their context (Kövecses, 2020). Consequently, metaphor analysis was deemed to be the ideal approach to answer the three main research questions:

RQ 1: How do students’ embodied experiences impact metaphor production for scientific concepts?

RQ 2: How does students’ sociocultural context impact metaphor production for scientific concepts?

RQ 3: How do these two factors impact students’ understanding of scientific concepts?

For the significance of this research, firstly, it can provide a new perspective to embodied science education by extending it to the sociocultural context of science education. Secondly, it may increase our understanding of metaphors, which have grown in importance in science education. Moreover, this research, which focuses on the impact of sociocultural context on science learning in a specific community, should be of interest to audiences with various sociocultural backgrounds. The theories and results involved in this study could be utilised to further conduct relevant research in other communities or promote science learning for culturally diverse students.

Research Context and Participants: Based on the accessibility principle, a Chinese primary school in the researcher’s hometown was chosen as the sample school. Participants in this research were non-probability samples, meaning that the participants satisfy the researcher’s needs but do not necessarily represent the wider population. Both the convenient sampling method and the purposive sampling method were used in this study. A total of 465 primary school students, aged between 10 and 13 years, participated in the study. Research Instrument and Data Collection: This research employed a more recently developed innovative research method: elicited metaphor analysis. In this approach, the metaphor data is collected in interviews or more rapidly through elicitation using a proforma, with information about the research purposes and ethics of participation, plus a brief explanation and examples of relevant metaphors (Wan & Low, 2015) In this study, a questionnaire designed by the researcher named ‘My understanding of physics concepts’ was distributed to all participants in 2022 Term 1. The questionnaire contains 8 physics concepts: Magnet, Concave lens, Mercury, Vapour, Gravity, Buoyancy, Energy, and Circuit, which were selected by the researcher with the assistance of three primary school teachers. These concepts were selected from the participants’ science textbooks and considered to have a deep connection with both embodied experiences and Chinese sociocultural background. During the data collection process, all participants were required to produce metaphors by finishing the sentence: ‘XX (one of the concepts) is like ____, because ____’. Each participant was required to create at least 6 sentences within 20 minutes. A total of 2464 answers were collected. Data Analysis Procedure: Data analysis in this study employed both the thematic and content analysis approach. It was divided into 4 steps, including the identification of Valid Metaphors, Embodied Experience, Sociocultural Context, and Impact of Science Learning.

RQ 1: Among the 838 valid metaphors collected, 95 different interpretations were identified. Analysis indicated that up to 96% of these interpretations were motivated by their embodied experiences. 69% of these interpretations focused on their intrinsic (embodied) factors such as their size and weight. 31% of these interpretations focused on another factor resulting from embodiment: the interaction between entities or with other objects. Of the 4% of metaphors based on non-embodied factors, these were only presented for abstract concepts (circuit, energy, gravity, and buoyancy). When students were required to express their understanding metaphorically, 91% of their source domains were based on embodied experiences and were divided into three themes: Real Objects, Human, and Animal. This suggests that embodied experience is fundamental to both students' understanding and expression of scientific concepts. RQ 2: The effect of sociocultural context on students’ source domain was via two routes: language, and sociocultural background. The impact of the students’ language, which in this study refers to Chinese, accounted for the majority (57%) of source domains chosen by students for their metaphors. These language-based domains could be further divided into three distinct categories: Chinese Word Composition, Chinese Character Form, and Chinese Specific Expression. For students' interpretation of scientific concepts, there are both positive and negative influences from embodied experiences and sociocultural context, both may enhance recall or can be focused on specific characteristics that support an effective understanding of a particular concept. Such source domains developed from embodied experiences and sociocultural context provides rich resources for students’ learning of scientific concepts. However, everyday Chinese contexts are not always appropriately recalled or have an effective basis for accurate meanings.

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