Jen, a young girl sits at her desk with her mathematics homework in front of her. “Train X is leaving the station and is traveling towards the East at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour.” she says to herself, while moving her right arm to the right. After that, she says “At the same time, Train Y is leaving the same station but is travelling West at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour.” as she moves her left arm towards the left. “After two hours, how far apart will Train X and Train Y be?” she ponders as she moves both hands in opposite directions at the same time.
What Jen is doing is called ‘gesturing’, and many individuals do so either consciously or not. Gesturing occurs in many situations such as when one is communicating with a friend, …show more content…
It is a motor task. They have the ability to represent something, which means that it enables one to put emphasis on aspects of an action that are relevant to a task, whilst de-emphasizing those that are not.
“People’s hand movements more than just help communicate their thoughts. They actually help them learn.” said developmental psychologist, Susan Goldin-Meadow, who has conducted numerous research studies regarding how gesturing is beneficial to learning a task. “Those who gesture during instruction are more likely to learn, especially when it is coupled with speech.”
Why does it help in learning?
Firstly, gesturing can aid in a child’s learning as it encourages experimentation. It serves as a problem-solving strategy that they can use to answer questions.
Secondly, it can help children to extract meaning from their actions.
Thirdly, gesturing can be thought of as a two-way street. Studies have found by observing how children’s gesture, instructors can gain an idea of the extent of their understanding, and obtain insight into how a problem-solving situation is represented. Hence, they will change their teaching methods accordingly to help them learn
What Jen is doing is called ‘gesturing’, and many individuals do so either consciously or not. Gesturing occurs in many situations such as when one is communicating with a friend, …show more content…
It is a motor task. They have the ability to represent something, which means that it enables one to put emphasis on aspects of an action that are relevant to a task, whilst de-emphasizing those that are not.
“People’s hand movements more than just help communicate their thoughts. They actually help them learn.” said developmental psychologist, Susan Goldin-Meadow, who has conducted numerous research studies regarding how gesturing is beneficial to learning a task. “Those who gesture during instruction are more likely to learn, especially when it is coupled with speech.”
Why does it help in learning?
Firstly, gesturing can aid in a child’s learning as it encourages experimentation. It serves as a problem-solving strategy that they can use to answer questions.
Secondly, it can help children to extract meaning from their actions.
Thirdly, gesturing can be thought of as a two-way street. Studies have found by observing how children’s gesture, instructors can gain an idea of the extent of their understanding, and obtain insight into how a problem-solving situation is represented. Hence, they will change their teaching methods accordingly to help them learn