Monday, 15 January 2024

 

Reflection on the Research Report “Gesturing Gives Children New Ideas About Math”

by Susan Goldin-Meadow, Susan Wagner Cook, and Zachary A. Mitchell

 

Mathematics is often considered as a difficult subject for most students I have seen. As a math teacher, I have witnessed this situation where students have difficulty in solving problems and analyzing math concepts. This research “Gesturing Gives Children New Ideas About Math” is based on the significance of gestures in math teaching and learning. The study mainly focused on fourth-grade students, and they were provided with a set of problems. Researchers studied students' responses, hand movements, gestures, and ways of solving problems by placing their fingers. Some of the students used different correct gestures for solving the problem and they got the correct answers, some of the students were not showing the correct gestures and even if they got answers, the others did not show any gestures and did not get the answers. Students who showed correct gestures learned more than others in the class. Moreover, these experimenters state that gestures are not only useful for communication but also beneficial for mathematical learning. The study's implications extend beyond the traditional learning methods, and it proposes that by instructing learners on how to move their hands, educators may lay the foundations for new knowledge.



Stop 1

“Can the children’s hand movements really be considered gestures? Gestures tend to be meaningful movements produced along with speech” (Goldin-Meadow, 2003; McNeill, 1992,p.271).



When I read the article, I was struck with this question. Sometimes it is difficult to consider students' gestures as we do not know the nature of gestures. Traditionally, it is strongly connected to the spoken language. In this part, we as math teachers need more clarification about the nature of gestures.


Stop 2

“When comprehending an action word that is semantically related to a body part (e.g., lick,pick, kick), the motor area in the brain that is associated with that part (the face, hand, or leg area, respectively) is routinely activated (Pulvermuller, 2005; see also Pulvermuller, Hauk, Nikulin,& Ilmoniemi, 2005; Pulvermuller, Shtyrov, Ilmoniemi,2005). (Goldin-Meadow et al., 2009, p. 271).



 

When I read about this, it had some connection with my life as a math teacher. One of my students in grade 6 was always active in class and always solving problems by shaking legs and hands. In the first week of the class, I was quietly surprised by his actions. But he found correct answers. As I previously learned in my BEd class, learning always involves different bits of intelligence like spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence and so on. When I read this article, the learning involves gestures that can connect with kinesthetic intelligence, and it is especially useful for mathematics learning. However, as a math teacher, we face difficulties in implementing and teaching math with useful gestures. Only a small percentage of the class effectively uses gestures while others see math as just an abstract subject which does not involve any movements, gestures and so on.

 My questions are:

·       How might the findings of this study be incorporated into our mathematics teaching to enhance every student's engagement, promote a deeper understanding of math concepts, and contribute to a positive learning environment for every student?

·       Can you recall any instances in your classroom where gestures played a significant role in your understanding of the lesson?

Reference

Goldin‐Meadow, S., Cook, S. W., & Mitchell, Z. A. (2009). Gesturing gives children new ideas about math. Psychological Science, 20(3), 267–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02297.x

3 comments:

  1. During a math walk with my students at my school garden, I did a lesson about estimation. To assess my students' understanding of the concept of estimation, I used the triangulation method which involves using products, observations, and conversations. During the lesson, I paid close attention to my students' body language and gestures as they communicated with me. I was able to learn a lot about their understanding of the concept through their gestures, and this helped me guide the conversation to probe deeper.

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  2. After reading this research, I believe that the main objective and takeaway is to comprehend the mechanism of gestures and their significance in teaching and learning mathematics. It is crucial for teachers to plan and integrate activities where they can actively use effective and inclusive gestures while explaining mathematical concepts. This approach can make abstract concepts more tangible and understandable for students, especially for those who may face language barriers or have different learning styles.

    Moreover, drawing on Albert Bandura's social learning theory, it is evident that children tend to emulate the behaviour of adults and peers in their environment. Therefore, students often follow the same pattern of learning style of how the concepts were introduced or taught to them. Hence, it is crucial for teachers to introduce proper gestures and reinforce them accordingly.

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  3. Actually, when I taught before,I have integrate some gestures into my teaching, but I have no awareness this method played such vital function. When I taught quadratic functions, I used gesture to explain concave up/down, I found it easier to express parabola than 4 words"开口向上"in Chinese, especially for international students to say it. That's so interesting and efficient to remember and deliver the meaning.

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