"Embodied learning"

One interesting aspect of mathematics is that although the theory is quite abstract, the intuition behind it usually results in observations from the physical world. Being able to use all of our senses to engage with the presence of mathematics around us is certainly one way to bring about these intuitions in students and in ourselves. The article presents some interesting ways in which mathematics can be embodied, but in particular I found the discussion with crocheting a hyperbolic plane quite interesting. A hugely important consequence of mathematics is that it breaks complex abstract ideas, such as the hyperbolic plane, into a set of parameters that uniquely define the structure. Knowing these parameters gives one the ability to re-construct these ideas through theory as a means of proving things, or in the actual physical world. Certainly if one understands the structure enough to see and understand how we might create a physical representation of it, one probably understand or at the very least has a better understanding of the mathematics behind it. The concept of creating physical objects with mathematics is certainly one way I would in-cooperate embodied learning in my classroom. Further, as much as I would love to have everyone pursue mathematics in academia and add to the rich and beautiful subject in that way it seems as though it might be more practical to show how engineers and computer programmers design and construct using mathematics.