Reading 2
Goldin-Meadow et al (2009). Gesturing gives children new ideas about math.
Summarization
The study by
Goldin-Meadow, Cook, and Mitchell investigates how gesturing influences
children’s math learning. Researchers compared three groups of third- and
fourth-grade students: those instructed to produce correct gestures, partially
correct gestures, or no gestures during a math lesson. Results showed that
children who used correct gestures learned the most, followed by those using
partially correct gestures, and then those who did not gesture. This
improvement was mediated by whether children incorporated the grouping
strategy—conveyed only through their gestures—into their spoken explanations
after the lesson. The findings suggest that gestures do more than aid
communication; they help learners extract and create new knowledge by embodying
problem-solving strategies. In short, guiding children’s hand movements can
enhance conceptual understanding in mathematics.
Reflection
One point that
really stood out to me while reading the article was the statement: “So,
perhaps people gesture for themselves” (p. 267). The author notes that
people often gesture even when no one is watching, which made me reflect on my
own experience. I realized that I frequently use gestures while talking on the
phone. This suggests that gestures are not only for others but also help us
organize our thoughts and speech. From my perspective, many gestures don’t
carry specific content; sometimes we point when saying “you” or gesture toward
ourselves when saying “I,” but often, especially when there is no physical
reference like a whiteboard, gestures become random movements. In these cases,
I believe gestures function like punctuation: they help structure our ideas,
emphasize important points, and convey attitude. This process makes our
expression clearer and helps us remember what we want to say.
I’ve also
noticed that when someone is simply reading or memorizing a speech, gestures
are minimal. For example, in my students’ presentations, when they read
directly from slides or recite memorized text, gestures almost disappear. This
happens because they don’t need to organize ideas in real time and may lack
confidence in the content since it’s not coming from their own thinking. That’s
why we often associate gestures with confidence—gestures reflect conviction and
engagement with the message.
Another point
that caught my attention was the article’s conclusion that gestures can create
new knowledge. Compared to the earlier idea of gestures as a sign of confidence
and attitude, this finding highlights a different role: gestures combined with
meaningful content can be a powerful tool for communication. They help guide
the audience’s attention, making it easier to follow the speaker’s ideas. In
this way, gestures reduce cognitive load for listeners and enhance clarity.
Overall, I think gestures serve two important roles in our lives: they help
speakers organize their thoughts and express confidence, and they help
audiences understand and retain information more effectively.
Question
l What role does gesture play in your teaching and everyday
communication?
l How do you perceive and respond to gestures when you are in the
audience?
I really resonated with the point you made about gestures helping organize thought and functioning as a powerful communication tool, as this was something I also reflected on while reading Susan’s paper. Before this, I hadn’t given much thought to the role of gesture in my own teaching, but the article made me realize how often I use large gestures - for example, when drawing or explaining graphs of different functions. I think I do this not only to communicate ideas clearly to my students, but also to organize my own thinking as I explain concepts in real time. What stood out to me, though, is that despite relying on gesture so much myself, I rarely thought about asking students to use gestures to show their understanding. As an audience member, I also find gestures engaging and helpful. They make it easier to follow a speaker’s thinking process and keep me more attentive, as explanations feel more alive.
ReplyDeleteHi Li, your comment about gestures functioning like punctuation really struck me—what a powerful way to frame it. I am a very expressive person, not only through facial expressions, but also through gesture. I think that because of my smaller stature, I often use gestures as an extension of my body. Much like how a bear stands up to make itself appear larger and more intimidating, I use gestures to extend my presence and emphasize key teaching moments and points of conversation.
ReplyDeleteAs an audience member, I find myself less engaged when a speaker remains stationary. It feels almost like an attention-span phenomenon: when what I am watching is in motion, my eyes and mind move with it. When a speaker is still—and especially if what is being said is not particularly invigorating—I am much more likely to zone out. As teachers, we are often likened to actors on a stage (a comparison I heard frequently during my undergraduate studies). Our lessons become a kind of performance, and we are taught not to remain rooted in one place. Even during class presentations, movement has long been encouraged.
This idea of sustaining audience attention through movement is not new. It reminds me of Haydn’s music, particularly his use of a sudden, surprising timpani stroke to wake a drowsy audience. The importance of maintaining attention—through variation, surprise, and movement—has clearly been understood for a long time. If students can be paralleled to an audience, then perhaps teaching, like performance, requires a sensitivity to timing, movement, and emphasis. As you noted in your reflection and paper summary, embodied presence becomes not an embellishment, but an essential tool for keeping students cognitively and emotionally engaged.