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Article published In:
Gesture
Vol. 22:1 (2023) ► pp.1–38

Weakest link or strongest link?

The effects of different types of linking gestures on learning

ORCID logo | University of Wisconsin Madison,
| University of Wisconsin Madison,
| University of Wisconsin Madison,
Teachers often use gestures to connect representations of mathematical ideas. This research examined (1) whether such linking gestures help students understand connections among representations and (2) whether sets of gestures that include repeated handshapes and motions – termed gestural catchments – are particularly beneficial. Undergraduates viewed one of four video lessons connecting two representations of multiplication. In the control lesson, the instructor produced beat gestures that did not link the representations. In the link-only lesson, the instructor used gestures to link representations, but the gestures did not form a catchment. In the consistent-catchment lesson, the instructor highlighted corresponding elements of the two representations using identical gestures. In the inconsistent-catchment lesson, the instructor highlighted non-corresponding elements of the two representations using identical gestures. Participants who saw the lesson with the consistent catchment – which highlighted similarities between representations – were most likely to understand the novel representation and to report learning from the lesson.
Keywords: linking gesture, gestural catchment, mathematics learning, representations, connections
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Connecting representations in mathematics learning
    • Linking gestures in math instruction
    • Gestural catchments
    • Catchments as linking gestures
    • Teachers’ gestures and students’ metacognition
    • The current study
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Design
    • Materials
      • Warm-up worksheet
      • Video lesson
      • Posttest
    • Procedure
      • Warm-up
      • Lesson
      • Multiplication representations interview
      • Posttest
      • Additional task
      • Final interview and self-evaluation of learning
      • Demographic survey
    • Coding
      • Participant interview
        • Verbal links
        • Gestural links
      • Written work
        • Symbolic-expression-to-area-model item
        • Area-model-to-line-model and symbolic-expression-to-line-model items
        • Line-model-to-symbolic-expression items
        • Place value items
        • Coding self-evaluations of learning
  • Results
    • Overview of analyses
    • Preliminaries
    • Did the instructor’s gestures influence participants’ descriptions of links between the area and line models?
    • Did the instructor’s gestures influence participants’ performance on the written posttest?
      • Symbolic-expression-to-area-model item
      • Area-model-to-line-model items
      • Symbolic-expression-to-line-model items
      • Line-model-to-symbolic-expression items
      • Place value items
    • Did the instructor’s gestures influence participants’ judgments about their learning of multi-digit multiplication and place value?
  • Discussion
    • Summary of results
    • Theoretical significance
    • Practical significance
    • Limitations
    • Future directions
    • Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 14 November 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.21021.don
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Alibali, Martha W., Rui Meng, Andrea Marquardt Donovan, Meixia Ding & Amelia Yeo
2024. How teachers make connections among ideas in mathematics instruction. In Natural Behavior [Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 66], ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo

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