Does Restricting Hand Gestures Impair Mathematical Reasoning?

Autor/inn/en	Walkington, Candace; Woods, Dawn; Nathan, Mitchell J.; Chelule, Geoffrey; Wang, Min
Titel	Does Restricting Hand Gestures Impair Mathematical Reasoning?
Quelle	(2019), (43 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	Weitere Informationen
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Teaching Methods; Nonverbal Communication; Mathematics Instruction; College Students; Recall (Psychology); Intuition; Geometric Concepts; Cognitive Processes; Mathematical Logic; Problem Solving; Language Processing; Barriers; Student Characteristics; Language Fluency; Speech Communication; Kit of Reference Tests for Cognitive Factors + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Mathematics lessons; Mathematikunterricht; Collegestudent; Abberufung; Elementare Geometrie; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Mathematical logics; Mathematische Logik; Problemlösen; Sprachverarbeitung; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz
Abstract	Gestures are associated with powerful forms of understanding; however, their causative role in mathematics reasoning is less clear. We inhibit college students' gestures by restraining their hands, and examine the impact on language, recall, intuition, and mathematical justifications of geometric conjectures. We test four mutually exclusive hypotheses: (1) gestures are facilitative, through cognitive off-loading, verbal support, or transduction, (2) gestures are not facilitative, but being inhibited from gesturing increases cognitive demands, (3) gestures are a byproduct of reasoning processes that would take place with or without the gestures' overt presence, and (4) gestures can cause learners to focus on concrete, salient representations, inhibiting abstraction. We find support for the third hypothesis, concluding that learners making or being inhibited from making gestures does not seem to impact their problem-solving, cognitive, or language processes. This suggests that being unable to overtly perform personally-generated gestures is not a hindrance to learners; however this would not necessarily hold for directed or structured gestures. [This paper was published in "Learning and Instruction" v64 2019.] (As Provided).
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01