{"id":6307,"date":"2021-10-05T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=6307"},"modified":"2021-09-26T08:38:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T13:38:37","slug":"teachers-gestures-can-help-students-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/teachers-gestures-can-help-students-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Teachers’ Gestures Can Help Students Learn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I’ve written about the importance of “embodied cognition.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In other words: we know with our brains,\u00a0and<\/em> we know with and through our bodies.<\/p>\n

Scholars such as Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow<\/a> and Dr. Sian Beilock<\/a> have done splendid and helpful work in this field.<\/p>\n

Their research suggests that students might learn more when they make the right kind of gesture.<\/p>\n

Other scholars have shown that — in online lectures — the right kind of pointing<\/a> helps too.<\/p>\n

What about the\u00a0teachers<\/em>‘ gestures? Can we help students learn in the way we use our hands?<\/p>\n

Dr. Celeste Pilegard wanted to find out<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Steamboats, East and West<\/h2>\n

Pilegard invited college students to watch brief video lectures. The topic: the differences between Eastern and Western steamboats. (You think I’m joking. I’m not joking.)<\/p>\n

These students watched one of four versions:<\/p>\n

In the first version, the teacher’s gestures focused on the surface<\/strong> features of the steamboats themselves (how deep they sit in the water, for instance).<\/p>\n

In the second version, the gestures focused on the structure<\/strong> of the lesson (“Now I’m talking about Eastern steamboats, and NOW I’m talking about Western steamboats.”).<\/p>\n

Third version: gestures emphasized BOTH surface<\/strong> AND structural<\/strong> features.<\/p>\n

Fourth version: a control<\/strong> group saw a video with neutral, content-free gestures.<\/p>\n

Did those gestures make a difference for learning?<\/p>\n

Pilegard, in fact, measured learning in two ways:<\/p>\n

Did the students remember<\/em> the facts?<\/p>\n

Could the students apply<\/em> those facts by drawing inferences<\/em>?<\/p>\n

So, what did she discover?<\/p>\n

No, but Yes<\/h2>\n

Researchers typically make predictions about their findings.<\/p>\n

In this case, Pilegard predicted that neither the surface gestures (about steamboats) nor the structural gestures (about the logic of the lesson) would help students\u00a0remember facts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But, she predicted that the structural<\/strong> gestures would help students draw inferences<\/em>. (“If a steamboat operates on a shallow river, what does that tell you about the pressure of the steamboat’s engine?”)\u00a0Surface<\/strong> gestures, she predicted, would not improve inferences.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, Pilegard was 2 for 2.<\/p>\n

Watching gestures didn’t help students remember facts any better. However, students who watched structural gestures <\/em>(but not surface gestures) did better on inference questions.<\/em> (Stats types: the Cohen’s d was 0.39; an impressive bonus for such a small intervention.)<\/p>\n

When Pilegard repeated the experiment with a video on “innate vs. acquired immunity,” she got the same results.<\/p>\n

Implications and Cautions<\/h2>\n

As teachers, we know that\u00a0every little bit helps<\/em>. When we use gestures to reinforce the underlying logical structure of our explanations, doing so might help students learn more.<\/p>\n

As we plan, therefore, we should be consciously aware of our lesson’s logical structure, and think a bit about how gestures might reinforce that structure.<\/p>\n

At the same time, regular readers know that all the usual cautions apply:<\/p>\n

We should look at groups of studies, not just one study.<\/p>\n

Pilegard’s research focused on college students. Will this strategy work with other students? We don’t know for sure.<\/p>\n

These video lessons were quite short: under two minutes<\/em> each. Will this strategy work over longer periods of time? We don’t know for sure.<\/p>\n

In other words — this research offers a promising strategy. And, we need more research\u00a0with students who resemble our own classrooms<\/em>\u00a0and lessons that last longer\u00a0<\/em>to have greater confidence.<\/p>\n

I myself do plan to think about gestures for upcoming lessons. But I won’t ignore all the other teaching strategies (retrieval practice, cognitive load management, etc.). Here’s hoping that future research can point the way…<\/p>\n

\n

By the way:<\/p>\n

Teachers often ask how they can get copies of research to study it for themselves.<\/p>\n

Easy answer #1: Google Scholar.<\/p>\n

If that doesn’t work, I recommend easy answer #2: email the researcher.<\/p>\n

In this case, I emailed Dr. Pilegard asking for a copy of the study — and she emailed it to me\u00a011 minutes later<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In honor of her doing so, I’m creating the Pilegard Award for Prompt Generosity in Sharing Research with People who Email You Out of the Blue.<\/p>\n

No doubt it will be much coveted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the years, I’ve written about the importance of “embodied cognition.” In other words: we know with our brains,\u00a0and we know with and through our bodies. Scholars such as Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow and Dr. Sian Beilock have done splendid and helpful work in this field. Their research suggests that students might learn more when they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15,69,170],"class_list":["post-6307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-classroom-advice","tag-embodied-cognition","tag-gesture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6307"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6312,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6307\/revisions\/6312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}