Embodied instrumentation in learning mathematics as the genesis of a body-artifact functional system

Recent developments in cognitive and educational science highlight the role of the body in learning. Novel digital technologies increasingly facilitate bodily interaction. Aiming for understanding of the body’s role in learning mathematics with technology, we reconsider the instrumental approach from a radical embodied cognitive science perspective. We highlight the complexity of any action regulation, which is performed by a complex dynamic functional system of the body and brain in perception-action loops driven by multilevel intentionality. Unlike mental schemes, functional systems are decentralized and can be extended by artifacts. We introduce the notion of a body-artifact functional system, pointing to the fact that artifacts are included in the perception-action loops of instrumented actions. The theoretical statements of this radical embodied reconsideration of the instrumental approach are illustrated by an empirical example, in which embodied activities led a student to the development of instrumented actions with a unit circle as an instrument to construct a sine graph. Supplementing videography of the student’s embodied actions and gestures with eye-tracking data, we show how new functional systems can be formed. Educational means to facilitate the development of body-artifact functional systems are discussed.