Embodying friction: a meeting point of dance and science education

STELLA FOTIADI, PANAGIOTIS PANTIDOS

Abstract

This study highlights how the investigatory and creative dimensions of contemporary dance can transform the concept of friction into an embodied object of teaching and learning. Within the field of science education, dance has been used to develop frameworks of embodied learning, allowing learners to engage experientially with scientific concepts. This study investigates friction as a bodily concept, aiming to generate fundamental kinetic patterns that can serve both as learning objects and as material for choreographic composition. To this end, a choreographer and a science educator collaboratively explored the conceptual dimensions of friction through dynamic bodily interaction, self-observation, and reflective processes. Data were collected through video recordings and field notes and analyzed using multimodal analysis. Through their collaborative exploration, the researchers produced a set of foundational kinetic structures corresponding to distinct aspects of friction, including: (i) static friction (e.g., gripping the ground with hands or feet), (ii) limiting friction (e.g., various bodily holds), (iii) sliding friction (e.g., gradual changes in motion due to pulling forces on a body lying on the floor), (iv) coefficient of sliding friction (e.g., sliding on the floor with fabric versus direct body-floor contact), (v) electromagnetic nature of friction (e.g., exploring non-contact interactions among atomic electrons through varying body dynamics and velocities), (vi) a frictionless world (e.g., envisioning scenarios involving uncontrollable sliding or the inability to walk or reach a destination).

Keywords

Embodied learning, dance-science interdisciplinary approach, informal education, friction

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References

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.26220/mje.5440

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