The Effects of COVID-19 on Gesture-Learning

When it comes to understanding how our minds work, we often fail to consider the motor system and its connection to our cognitive processes. A common misconception is that these two entities: both the motor system, and cognitive processing, are two separate things. This is actually the contrary; several neuroscience studies uncover the deep connections that are found within these two systems, and have determined that motor systems both facilitate and enhance various cognitive processes such as learning. For example, recent studies have found that using gestures (a movement of a part of the body to express an idea), helps make learning a language easier. In addition, through Elizabeth Wakefield’s research, it is discovered that gestures improve one's ability to learn mathematics compared to those that don’t use gestures as a facilitator. Gestures provide more emphasis and meaning to the words we say, hence it allows for more understanding and engagement with others when communicating. For this reason, it has a lot of potential to improve even our learning mechanisms. 

    Elizabeth Wakefield and researchers through the scientific article, “Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children” uncovers the neural circuitry involved in solving mathematical problems. Through the use of fMRI technology, two conditions, and twenty participants that were between 7 to 9 years of age, Dr. Wakefield and her team were able to investigate just how gestures promote learning. One condition was a speech+gesture group, while the second was a speech-only group. Both groups watched videos pertaining to their specific condition (videos explaining math problems with gestures and those with speech only) and were then required to complete a set of math problems. Through collecting data and undergoing specific calculations, it was determined that those in the condition where speech and gesture were utilized performed better than those in the speech-only condition. In addition, the results from the fMRI revealed that multiple regions within the brain associated with motor movement were activated in those using action-based learning compared to those who did not. This study proves not only that gesture enhances learning and comprehension, but also that there are stronger connections between motor systems and cognitive processing than previously assumed. Due to the present global health crisis, we must now live in a world where we are exposed to less and less of these gestures, thus we must understand the possible repercussions that could arise with doing so. 

     As the world faces an unprecedented moment in history, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, there has been much hardship, a lot of uncertainty, and major setbacks. The virus has affected nearly all facets of human life, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally. Through a transition to living life remotely, there have been significant effects in terms of learning development for students undergoing e-learning. In a Los Angeles Times article, “Op-Ed: Why remote learning is hard — and how to make it easier”, the author discusses how Covid-19 is perpetuating a stunt in learning growth among students taking online classes due to a lack of social cues, making it increasingly difficult to both focus and understand material better. Some of these social cues include eye contact, as well as gestures, noting that gestures have a much larger effect on learning. Further supporting Dr. Wakefield’s work, the author notes that gesturing serves as an aid for students’ learning comprehension, however due to classes switching over to online platforms, those aids are absent. In most cases the teachers have to sit near their mouse and computer to control everything and ensure the lecture is running smoothly, as a result students oftentimes only see their faces. Without these gestures, it is significantly more difficult to not only keep students engaged and learn their material, but they will also have more trouble understanding the material as well. There are some ways however, that teachers try to combat this issue, whether it is by pointing to something with their mouse, or by even indicating where they want students to look ( a type of auditory gesture). Though it may seem like a minor issue in a heap of larger issues that arose as a result of Covid-19, this effect may accumulate over time and thus, can lead to larger developmental and cognitive issues in future years. For that reason, it is imperative that there are methods established to combat this in a way that does not both put students at risk both physically and cognitively. 

    Gestures are very important as they can enhance not only our communication with others, but can also help with our learning and comprehension. This is because these movements can guide us and can keep us more attentive. Without gestures, especially in this current pandemic, it can lead to lower levels of engagement whether in work or in school, and can lead to fatigue and lower performance in daily tasks. Therefore, it is important to find ways to combat this issue so that it does not lead to more detrimental effects later down the line. 

Sources: 

Morgan, N. (2015, February 10). Why Gesture Is Important - And What You're Not Doing About It. Retrieved October 17, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2015/02/10/why-gesture-is-important-and-what-youre-not-doing-about-it/ 

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(7), 2343–2353. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01755-y 

 

Willingham, D. T. (2020, September 18). Op-Ed: Why remote learning is hard - and how to make it easier. Retrieved October 17, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-09-18/remote-learning-hard-make-easier