Children are the foundation of our future and giving them the best education possible is one of the most important tasks for current educators. Though, the method of which style of teaching is most beneficial for children, has been debated for decades. Fortunately, current research in the field of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience has suggested a style of learning that may be the most powerful tool for facilitating learning in children. One current study titled, “Learning math by hand: The neural effects of gesture-based instruction in 8-year-old children”, composed by Elizabeth M. Wakefield et al., attempts to gain a better understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms of learning, specifically concerning gesture-based learning in children and their ability to retain math skills (Wakefield et al., 2019). To further illustrate, another article titled, “Learning Foreign Language Vocabulary with Gestures and Pictures Enhances Vocabulary Memory for Several Months Post-Learning in Eight-Year-Old School Children”, also shows the benefits of gesture-based learning, as well as picture-based learning, in retaining foreign language in children (Andrä et al., 2020). Together, these two studies shine light on what method of learning allows children to better retain the information in school, ultimately leading to a more educated generation of children to lead the future.
In the first study, researchers utilized functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI), a brain imaging tool that exploits the way hydrogen atoms act as a small magnet, which can be utilized to compose a signal that can be recorded through the brain imaging software to produce a functional spatial image of the brain (University of San Diego School of Medicine, 2020). In addition to fMRI, the researchers analyzed their behavioral findings in a collection of twenty children, seven to nine years old. The authors separated the children into two experimental groups, one group where the children learned through speech with gesture strategy, and the other with speech-alone strategy (Wakefield et al., 2019). After the experimental procedure, the researchers analyzed their findings and formulated multiple conclusions to their study. One of their findings suggest that children who were taught the speech and gesture strategy more actively recruited their motor regions, as well as their sub-threshold activation in regions of the brain that are not typically used in the action-learning network (Wakefield et al., 2019). This suggests the children that learned through this speech-gesture method actively used more areas of their brain to better retain the material, specifically the activation of the motor regions. This activation allows the children to not only utilize their prefrontal cortex to retain and learn information, but to simultaneously activate the motor regions, ultimately fortifying the connection between their learning and memory (Wakefield et al., 2019). Overall, through the researchers data and analysis, they suggest that when children learn through the speech-gesture strategy, it leads to a more fortified and embedded neural trace of motor system involvement, where neural mechanisms are activated when children attempt to solve math problems with a gesture associated with the problem (Wakefield et al., 2019). This study is one example of how researchers are actively studying the most efficient, beneficial way to educate children, in order to create a more structured base of knowledge when continuing their educational career.
The second study further evaluates the findings of the Wakefield et al., and further studies the effects of gesture-based learning, as well as picture-based learning in children. Andrä and colleagues attempt to discover the advantages of not only gestures, but pictures on eight-year-old children’s ability to retain foreign vocabulary (Andrä et al., 2020). The researchers employed three distinct experiments, with a total of fifty-four German children enrolled in primary school in Leipzig, Germany (Andrä et al., 2020). Constant in each experiment, the children underwent training over a period of five successive days, though in in the first group, the children were presented the foreign word auditorily with self-performed gestures, whereas the second group received the word without the accompanied gesture (Andrä et al., 2020). In the third group, gesture-based learning was used, along with picture-based learning, where the words are presented auditorily with pictures, instead of the gesture (Andrä et al., 2020). The first and second groupings allow for a comparison between gesture-based and picture-based learning, whereas the second group acts as a control or baseline when comparing the data in the analysis. After all of the test sessions, the children are assed on their ability to recall and translate to learned foreign words in three days, two months, and six months following the learning (Andrä et al., 2020). The researchers were surprised to find the gesture-based and the picture-based learning both enhanced the children’s scores on the post-learning assessment, as compared to non-enriched learning, with retention of the words lasting till the six-month assessment (Andrä et al., 2020). Interestingly enough, the authors hypothesized that the gesture-based learning method would yield higher scores on the assessments, due to previous literature such as the study mentioned above, although they found that both methods of learning produced statistically similar results and benefits to the children’s learning (Andrä et al., 2020).
Thus, these two studies, both equally important, shed light into the question of which learning method is best employed when educating young children, specifically eight-year-old children. In the study conducted by Wakefield et al., the authors provide an insight to how beneficial gesture-based learning is to children. This novel study provided the foundation for many future researchers, such as the study conducted by Andrä et al. Although, this study also showed that picture-based learning is equally as useful in educating children. With this in mind, these findings may suggest the most beneficial and efficient way to educate and build a strong foundation of knowledge in children is to utilize a combination of gesture based and picture-based learning, for maximum retention and recall. These studies are crucial in solving these global dilemmas such as child education and development, due to the alarming rate of children who suffer learning and attention issues, which is cited in literature to be one in five children in the United States alone (The State of LD: Understanding the 1 in 5, 2019). Further research is required to determine the true best method of educating children, though studies such as these provide the framework into which we may potentially discover the most beneficial method, ultimately allowing for a more educated, knowledgeable future for our children.
References
Andrä, C., Mathias, B., Schwager, A., Macedonia, M., & von Kriegstein, K. (2020). Learning Foreign Language Vocabulary with Gestures and Pictures Enhances Vocabulary Memory for Several Months Post-Learning in Eight-Year-Old School Children. Educational Psychology Review, 32(3), 815–850. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09527-z
The State of LD: Understanding the 1 in 5. (2019, October 23). NCLD. https://ncld.org/news/newsroom/the-state-of-ld-understanding-the-1-in-5
University of San Diego School of Medicine. (2020). What Is FMRI? - Center for Functional MRI - UC San Diego. Center for Functional MRI. https://cfmriweb.ucsd.edu/Research/whatisfmri.html
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
