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Gesture during math instruction specifically benefits learners with high visuospatial working memory capacity
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Gesture during math instruction specifically benefits learners with high visuospatial working memory capacity

Mary Aldugom, Kimberly Fenn and Susan Wagner Cook
Cognitive research: principles and implications, Vol.5(1), pp.27-27
06/09/2020
DOI: 10.1186/s41235-020-00215-8
PMCID: PMC7283399
PMID: 32519045
url
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-020-00215-8View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Background Characteristics of both teachers and learners influence mathematical learning. For example, when teachers use hand gestures to support instruction, students learn more than others who learn the same concept with only speech, and students with higher working memory capacity (WMC) learn more rapidly than those with lower WMC. One hypothesis for the effect of gesture on math learning is that gestures provide a signal to learners that can reduce demand on working memory resources during learning. However, it is not known what sort of working memory resources support learning with gesture. Gestures are motoric; they co-occur with verbal language and they are perceived visually. Methods In two studies, we investigated the relationship between mathematical learning with or without gesture and individual variation in verbal, visuospatial, and kinesthetic WMC. Students observed a videotaped lesson in a novel mathematical system that either included instruction with both speech and gesture (Study 1) or instruction with only speech (Study 2). After instruction, students solved novel problems in the instructed system and transfer problems in a related system. Finally, students completed verbal, visuospatial, and kinesthetic working memory assessments. Results There was a positive relationship between visuospatial WMC and math learning when gesture was present, but no relationship between visuospatial WMC and math learning when gesture was absent. Rather, when gesture was absent, there was a relationship between verbal WMC and math learning. Conclusion Providing gesture during instruction appears to change the cognitive resources recruited when learning a novel math task. Significance statement This work is a collaborative effort to better understand the individual difference factors that predict mathematical learning with gesture. One of the laboratories has expertise in gesture and mathematical learning and the other studies individual differences in learning. This work was supported by a collaborative grant from the National Science Foundation, which is interested in uncovering the factors that contribute to successful STEM learning and education. It is well-established that when learners observe gesture, learning is enhanced (Cook, Duffy, & Fenn, 2013; Cook, Friedman, Duggan, Cui, & Popescu, 2016); however, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain largely unexplored. We used our combined expertise to better understand how variation in working memory capacities across learners might support mathematical learning, with a focus on visuospatial working memory capacity (WMC). Understanding how gesture works at the individual level can improve our theories of gesture processing and is also important for capitalizing on gesture to enhance mathematical education. Our findings reveal a link between visuospatial working memory and mathematical learning with gesture at instruction, and knowledge of this link could be used to enrich mathematical learning in the real world.
 Working memory Original Gesture Math learning

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