Constructing and deconstructing materially-anchored conceptual blends in an augmented reality collaborative learning environment

Science and math school activities around modeling often involve students stepping into a simulation to play the first-person roles of (often inanimate) components. In this case study, we examine how a student maps her own experience onto a ball to simulate the physics of force and friction. We study this mapping from a conceptual blending perspective, tracking how the narrative structure of a board game, the physical floor materials (e.g. linoleum), the student's first-person embodied experiences, the third-person live camera feed, and the augmented reality symbols become integrated in the modeling activity. The student's concepts of force and friction, in turn, are rooted in the blend between the narrative, the body, and the physical materials.