Embodied Cognition in learning STEM disciplines. An overview on the role of spatial skills

From early childhood, children begin to explore and interact with the physical environment, gradually improving their spatial skills. Understanding how this process occurs is essential for teachers because they can effectively support the development of these skills in the educational context. Indeed, corporeity is an increasingly central dimension of educational experience and can be used as a pedagogical tool to foster active learning and skill acquisition, especially within the STEM disciplines. The aim of this contribution is to thematize, within the theoretical framework of Embodied Cognition, how it is necessary to anchor the learning of concepts related to STEM disciplines to dynamics afferent to the bodily dimension. Indeed, this enables the pursuit of broader pedagogical goals: on the one hand, emphasizing the role of bodily experiences in shaping our cognitive processes, and on the other hand, encouraging the design of learning scenarios and educational technologies rooted in sensorimotor experience and action.