Poster #1 - Different experiences from the same lesson: how individual differences impact children's interpretation of action and gesture during instruction

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

In the classroom, teachers often augment spoken instruction with different types of hand movements that improve learning outcomes. Two of these movement tools are concrete actions, performed on manipulatives, and co-speech gestures, which represent information. Action and gesture can support learning by embodying strategies for solving problems and understanding concepts (Goldin-Meadow, Levine, & Jacobs, 2014). However, not all children benefit equally from these tools. Individual differences, such as previous knowledge or working memory capacity impact learning outcomes. Here, we ask whether these individual differences systematically predict how children interpret instrumental actions and co-speech gestures, which may in-turn influence how well they learn from these forms of movement.

In the current study, we asked 202 children (8-10 year-olds) to interpret gesture-and action-based instructional videos on mathematical equivalence, a foundational pre-algebraic concept. During a Zoom session, children watched two videos of a teacher presenting an equalizer strategy for solving a mathematical equivalence problem in speech (e.g., 2+3+9=_+9; "I want to make one side equal to the other side. Two, plus three, plus nine equals fourteen and five plus nine equals fourteen, so one side is equal to the other side") and a grouping strategy in action or gesture –picking up number tiles over the two and three and holding them in the blank (action), or producing a V-point to the two and three and then pointing to the blank (gesture) (see Novack et al., 2014). They were asked several questions about the videos, such as "Can you tell me what happened in that video?" and "What was she doing with her hands?" We also collected individual difference measures (working memory, general gesture processing, and prior knowledge of math equivalence) that may influence a child’s interpretation of mathematical equivalence instruction.

Our results show that although gesture and action promote learning, children rarely spontaneously mention gestures or actions when describing instruction. However, children who saw gesture instruction were more likely to incorporate the grouping strategy into their explanation of instruction than those in the action condition (Figure 1). We also found that when asked directly about a teacher’s movements, children with high knowledge of math equivalence were more likely to say a teacher was trying to show something special with her hands than those with low math equivalence knowledge (p < .02; Figure 2). The opposite effect was found among children who saw action instruction; those with low math knowledge showed a trend towards identifying actions as showing something special (p = .07). Interestingly, we found no relation between either verbal or visuospatial working memory and interpretation of gesture instruction, although we did find a positive association between verbal working memory and math knowledge. Analyses are ongoing, but current findings suggest there are systematic differences in how children interpret gesture and action instruction, which may lead to differences in how they learn from these forms of movement, supporting the need to tailor teaching strategies to individual students rather than using a one-style-fits-all classroom intervention approach.

Authors

• Eleanor Bessner, Loyola University Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Wakefield, Loyola University Chicago

• Alyssa Kersey

• Cristina Carrazza, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago