Use of wearable devices to study activity of children in classroom; Case study - Learning geometry using movement

Abstract Advances in wearable devices enable researchers to study various physical and physiological parameters and even behaviour of children in real-life conditions. This paper describes a study of two groups of 7-years old elementary school children, whose physical and psychological activity during teaching of geometry were compared and analysed — the control group was taught in the classical sedentary fashion while the experimental one was learning using movement-based teaching approach. Multiparameter wearable devices were used to measure children’s energy expenditure, intensity of movements, electrodermal activity, body heat flux and skin temperature. Differences in physiology, combined with reported valence of the activity, showed that the level of mental and cognitive engagement in experimental group was higher. The main finding was a significantly higher physical and psychological arousal and a higher knowledge retention in long-term conditions of the experimental group. Wearables were proven to be a useful tool in real-life research settings (i.e. classrooms) facilitating analysis of physiological responses in learning processes that could provide new insights into the effectiveness of different teaching methods.