One of the most important good design principle outlined by Gee is that of Situated Meanings (2003, p.108). According to it, learners can't understand abstract concepts if they haven't had any situated, embodied experience of them in the first place. In other words, learners need to be able to anchor concepts in their familiar experiences of the world before they can think ot them in an abstract way.

I remember such examples in school, wherein the teacher would talk about a specific abstract concept that I wouldn't understand. I clearly remember trying to imagine what that concept could mean, to figure out a meaning out of my own knowledge. Then, one of us would often ask the teacher to give an example, which, often, would clarify things.

One metaphor of situated meanings that comes to mind is that of birds.

Picture: birds as a metaphor of situated meanings

Non-specialists know very little about birds. When we see them fly in the sky, most of us find that they all look alike, like the abstract concepts we just mentioned.

But when they enter our known world, by settling on the ground, in a tree or even by singing perhaps, they become more accessible. If someone tell us their name at that particular time (a teaching moment), it then enables us to anchor them in our everyday experiences (associate the abstract name with familiar characteristics such as size, song, etc.). Those who even touch them (to take care and heal wounded ones perhaps) can acquire yet a deeper embodied experience of them.

The next time someone mentions their name, we can better understand what they are talking about and the more experience we get, the easier it becomes to discuss birds on a purely conceptual level, without needing to refer back to our embodied experiences (or perhaps we do that, but unconsciously).

References:

Gee, J. P. (2003). Situated meaning and learning. In What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 73-112.