Gestures in Science and Math Education

Daniel Chaize, Rory Glass, and Patterson Rogers

Review Process

• Over 500 papers on gesture

• Review focused on:– Purpose of gesture– Gesture and learning– Gesture in science

and math education

Gestures

• What is a gesture?

• Roth, 2001:– Must begin from, and end in, a

state of rest– Must have some sort of “peak” – Must have beginning and end– Often symmetrical

Classification of Gestures

Iconics: gestures attempt to match speech

Metaphorics: describing abstract things

Beats: speech punctuation

Abstract Points: highlighting objects, things

Iconic: gestures that are representational

Deictic: gestures that are not representational

Gesture as Communication

• Through the lens of education research, gestures are viewed as communication

• Of interest: How gesture relates to language

Who benefits from gesture?

• Evidence that gestures help the recipient understand the communicator

• Evidence that gestures aid the communicator in understanding herself

• Lozano & Tversky, 2006:– Both are probably correct

Gestures help people learn.

• Observation of gestures aids in student understanding

– Spoken language, combined with gesture use, shows significant improvement

– Depending on lesson, gestures alone can be just as effective as speech

How do gestures help?

• Attention grabbing

• Repetition

• Separate mode of language

• Conceptual mapping

• Indexing of physical world

• Lighten cognitive load

Gestures are part of our language.

• McNeill & Levy, 1992 and 1993

• Gestures are tied to our processing of language – communicative dynamism

• Gestures are processed along with speech, notas compliment to it

Gestures help us index.

• Valenzeno, Alibali, & Klatzky, 2003

• As we learn new vocabulary, we will index words with visual or multimodal reference

• With more abstract things, gestures can help

Gestures lighten our cognitive load.

• Ping and Goldin-Meadow, 2010

• Gestures can ease working memory by linking words to real objects

• Basically, can help us do / learn two things at once

Gesture in Math and Science

• Roth, 2001:• Gesture use is primarily helpful in learning

math and science as they “typically deal with abstract matters.”

Deictic Gestures in Math

• Lots of pointing

• When deictic gestures were used in basic algebraic equations, performance improved 30%

Iconic Gestures in Math

• When adding, students and teachers will sometimes “stack” numbers

• When dividing, using fractions, students will “slice”

Deictic Gestures in Science

• Pointing to specimens, diagrams

• Helps brain index objects before a proper name is learned

Iconic Gestures in Science

• Tend to reference real objects, real events

• Can help develop an advanced spatial understanding of phenomena

Where we stand:

• Very little that is contradictory

• There have a been a number of studies, but by a fairly limited group of authors

• Going Forward:– Standardization?– Other grade levels?– Other, unintended effects on the learning

process?

ReferencesAlibali, M., Flevares, L. M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1997). Assessing knowledge conveyed in gesture: do teachers have the upper hand?. Journal Of Educational Psychology, 89183-193.

Alibali, M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1993). Gesture-speech mismatch and mechanisms of learning: what the hands reveal about a child's state of mind. Cognitive Psychology, 25468-523.

Alibali, M., Kita, S., & Young, A. (2000). Gesture and the process of speech production: we think, therefore we gesture. Language & Cognitive Processes, 15(6), 593-613.

Alibali, M.W., & Nathan, M.J. (2009). Teachers' Gestures as a Means of Scaffolding Students' Understanding: Evidence from an Early Algebra Lesson. In R. Goldman, R. Pea, B. Barron, and S. J. Derry (Eds.), Video Research in the Learning Sciences (pp 349–365). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

ReferencesChurch, R., Ayman-Nolley, S., & Mahootian, S. (2004). The Role of Gesture in Bilingual Education: Does Gesture Enhance Learning?. International Journal Of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism, 7(4), 303-319.

Cook, S., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2006). The Role of Gesture in Learning: Do Children Use Their Hands to Change Their Minds?. Journal Of Cognition & Development, 7(2), 211-232. doi: 10.1207/s15327647jcd0702_4

Corballis, M. C. (1999). The Gestural Origins of Language. American Scientist, 87(2), 138.

Crowder, E. M. (1996). Gestures at work in sense-making science talk. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5, 175-208.

Crowder, E. M., & Newman, D. (1993). Telling What They Know: The Role of Gesture and Language in Children's Science Explanations. Pragmatics & Cognition, 1(2), 341-376. doi: 10.1075/pc.1.2.06cro

ReferencesEdwards, L. D. (2008). Gestures and conceptual integration in mathematical talk. Educational Studies In Mathematics, 70(2), 127-141.

Edwards, L., Radford, L., & Arzarello, F. (2009). Gestures and multimodality in the construction of mathematical meaning {Special Issue}. Educational Studies of Mathematics, 70(2).

Garber, P., Alibali, M., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (1998). Knowledge conveyed in gesture is not tied to the hands. Child Development, 69(1), 75-84.

Goldin-Meadow, S., Alibali, M., & Church, R. (1993). Transitions in concept acquisition: using the hand to read the mind. Psychological Review, 100279-297.

ReferencesGoldin-Meadow, S., Kim, S., & Singer, M. (1999). What the teacher's hands tell the student's mind about math. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(4), 720-730.

Goldin-Meadow, S., Nusbaum, H., Kelly, S. D., & Wagner, S. (2001). Explaining Math: Gesturing Lightens the Load. Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), 12(6), 516.

Hostetter, A. B., Bieda, K., Alibali, A. W., Nathan, M. J., & Knuth, E. J. (2006). Don’t just tell them, show them! Teachers can intentionally alter their instructional gestures. In R. Sun & N. Miyake (Eds.) Proceedings of The 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1523-1528). MahWah, NJ: Erlbaum

Kastens, K. (2008). Research in science education: The role of gestures in geoscience teaching and learning. Journal of Geoscience Education, 56(4), 362-368.

Kendon, A. (1997). Gesture. Annual Review of Anthropology, 26, 109–128.

ReferencesKita, S. & Essegbey, J. (2001). How a taboo on the use of the use of the left hand influences gestural practice. Gesture, 1(1), 73-95.

Krauss, R. M., Chen, Y., & Chawla, P. (1996). Nonverbal behavior and nonverbal communication: What do conversational hand gestures tell us? In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (389-450). Tampa: Academic Press.

Levy, E. T., & McNeill, D. (1992). Speech, Gesture, and Discourse. Discourse Processes, 15(3), 277.

Lozano, S. C., & Tversky, B. (2006). Communicative gestures facilitate problem solving for both communicators and recipients. Journal Of Memory & Language, 55(1), 47-63.

McNeil, N. M., Alibali, M. W., & Evans, J. L. (2000). The role of gesture in children's comprehension of spoken language: now they need it, now they don't. Journal Of Nonverbal Behavior, 24(2), 131-150.

ReferencesMcNeill, D., & Levy, E. T. (1993). Cohesion and Gesture. Discourse Processes, 16(4), 363.

McNeill, D. & Pedelty, L. L. (1995). Right brain and gesture. In Emmorey, K. & Reilly, J. S. (Eds.) Language, gesture, and space. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Melinger, A., & Levelt, W. M. (2004). Gesture and the communicative intention of the speaker. Gesture,4(2), 119-141.

Nathan, M. J., & Alibali, M. W. (2011). How Gesture Use Enables Intersubjectivity in the Classroom. In G. Stam, M. Ishino (Eds.) , Integrating Gestures: The Interdisciplinary Nature of Gesture (pp. 257-265). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins.

Paichi Pat, S. (2012). Seeing With Two Eyes: A Teacher's Use of Gestures in Questioning and Revoicing to Engage English Language Learners in the Repair of Mathematical Errors. Journal For Research In Mathematics Education, 43(2), 182-222.

ReferencesPing, R., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2010). Gesturing Saves Cognitive Resources When Talking About Nonpresent Objects. Cognitive Science, 34(4), 602-619. doi:10.1111/j. 1551-6709.2010.01102.x

Roth, W. (1996). Thinking with Hands, Eyes, and Signs: MultiModalScience Talk in a Grade 6/7 Unit on Simple Machines. Interactive Learning Environments, 4(2), 170-87.

Roth, W. (1996). The Co-evolution of Situated Language and Physics Knowing. Journal Of Science Education And Technology, 5(3), 171-91.

Roth, W. (2001). Gestures: Their role in teaching and learning. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 365-392.

Roth, W., & Welzel, M. (2001). From activity to gestures and scientific language. Journal Of Research In Science Teaching, 38(1), 103-136.

ReferencesSassenberg, U., & Van Der Meer, E. (2010). Do we really gesture more when it is more difficult?. Cognitive Science, 34(4), 643-664. doi:10.1111/j.1551-6709.2010.01101.x

Singer, M. A., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2005). Children Learn When Their Teacher's Gestures and Speech Differ. Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), 16(2), 85-89. doi:10.1111/j. 0956-7976.2005.00786.x

Valenzeno, L., Alibali, M. W., & Klatzky, R. (2003). Teachers' gestures facilitate students' learning: A lesson in symmetry. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28(2), 187-204.

Williams, R. F. (2008). Gesture as a Conceptual Mapping Tool. In A. Cienki, C. Muller (Eds.) , Metaphor and Gesture (pp. 55-92). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Benjamins.