Give Me a Hand: Differential Effects of Gesture Type in Guiding Young Children's Problem-Solving

Autor/inn/en	Vallotton, Claire; Fusaro, Maria; Hayden, Julia; Decker, Kalli; Gutowski, Elizabeth
Titel	Give Me a Hand: Differential Effects of Gesture Type in Guiding Young Children's Problem-Solving
Quelle	In: Instructional Science: An International Journal of the Learning Sciences, 43 (2015) 6, S.709-735 (27 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0020-4277
DOI	10.1007/s11251-015-9357-6
Schlagwörter	Nonverbal Communication; Parents; Preschool Children; Young Children; Parent Child Relationship; Puzzles; Problem Solving; Communication Strategies + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Eltern; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Frühe Kindheit; Parents-child relationship; Parent-child-relation; Parent-child relationship; Eltern-Kind-Beziehung; Legespiel; Problemlösen; Kommunikationsstrategie
Abstract	Adults' gestures support children's learning in problem-solving tasks, but gestures may be differentially useful to children of different ages, and different features of gestures may make them more or less useful to children. The current study investigated parents' use of gestures to support their young children (1.5-6 years) in a block puzzle task (N = 126 parent-child dyads), and identified patterns in parents' gesture use indicating different gestural strategies. Further, we examined the effect of child age on both the frequency and types of gestures parents used, and on their usefulness to support children's learning. Children attempted to solve the puzzle independently before and after receiving help from their parent; half of the parents were instructed to sit on their hands while they helped. Parents who could use their hands appear to use gestures in three strategies: orienting the child to the task, providing abstract information, and providing embodied information; further, they adapted their gesturing to their child's age and skill level. Younger children elicited more frequent and more proximal gestures from parents. Despite the greater use of gestures with younger children, it was the oldest group (4.5-6.0 years) who were most affected by parents' gestures. The oldest group was positively affected by the total frequency of parents' gestures, and in particular, parents' use of embodying gestures (indexes that touched their referents, representational demonstrations with object in hand, and physically guiding child's hands). Though parents rarely used the embodying strategy with older children, it was this strategy which most enhanced the problem-solving of children 4.5-6 years. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01