Gesture Based Learning in Action

Finding more effective ways of learning has always been an important topic. What people learn as children can shape the person they become and may lead them to later contribute to growing debates on other important topics in the world. Whether that is in the sciences, politics, or education, they can all contribute to a growing understanding and appreciation of knowledge that affects everyday life. An important topic that revolves around education, is not only what we learn, but how we learn.

In her study, "Learning math by hand: The neutral effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year old children", Elizabeth Wakefield and her colleagues wanted to know if the learning effects of gestures originate from the fact that gesture is a type of action. The researchers analyzed a group of twenty 7-9-year-old children before, during, and after they were taught a math lesson in which they had to make one side of the equation equal to the other. For instance, the children were presented with 6 problems to solve with the for "a+b+c= _+c", so that a+b should be the answer that goes into the blank to make both sides equal to each other. Wakefield and her colleagues split the children into two groups, the speech-alone, and the speech + gesture groups. The speech-alone group learned the phrase "I want to make one side equal to the other", while the speech + gesture group learned the same phrase but had the instructor and children underline the phrase "one side" with the left hand as they said it, and then used their right hand to underline the words "other side" as they said that phrase. In the study, the children were tested with a series of problems that reflected the same format as the math problems seen during the learning and practice periods. The results showed that the children that had learned through gesture and speech displayed significantly greater activation in the parts of the brain that are used to process information during action-based learning, than did children in the speech-alone group. The children that were in the speech + gesture group demonstrated a better understanding of how to solve the problem, suggesting that gestures did actually help in learning and lead to longer-lasting learning effects.

Wakefield's study showed the effect gestures can have on learning and how it can be much more effective than teaching through speech alone. A notion that was recently put to the test by teachers across the country teaching their students through gestures, movements, and pictures to keep their students engaged during the current virtual learning experience, as was seen in a recent news article by Inside Edition. In the news article, there is one teacher, in particular, that was shown saying "2 and 2, that will also make 4" while holding up 2 fingers in each hand and bringing them together as she said "that will also make 4", to help engage the students in what she is talking about, but also to help them visualize what she is talking about. In the video included in the article, this teacher is heard saying that she can see one of her students holding up 2 fingers with each hand when the teacher asked for 4.

Gesturing is something we do naturally, but can also be a great tool to help enhance learning, as was suggested by Wakefield's findings and the short clip seen of the teacher and student using their fingers to visualize the material. It is also important to note that gestures can also be used as a tool to keep students engaged in classes during these new and uncertain times of virtual learning.

Citations:

Wakefield, E.M., Congdon, E.L., Novack, M.A., Goldin-Meadow, S., James, K.H. (2019). Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 81, 2343-2353. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01755-y.

Inside Edition Staff. (2020, September). Teachers Show What it Takes to Keep Kids Engaged During Remote Learning. Inside Edition. https://www.insideedition.com/teachers-show-what-it-takes-to-keep-kids-engaged-during-remote-learning-62037.