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Related Experiment Videos

Gesturing makes learning last.

Susan Wagner Cook1, Zachary Mitchell, Susan Goldin-Meadow

  • 1University of Rochester, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Meliora 425, Rochester, NY 14627-0268, USA. swcook@bcs.rochester.edu

Cognition
|June 15, 2007
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Children

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Educational Psychology

Background:

  • Children's spontaneous gestures during task explanation correlate with learning outcomes.
  • The precise role of gesture in learning remains unclear: a reflection of understanding or a causal mechanism?

Purpose of the Study:

  • To experimentally investigate whether gesture plays a causal role in children's learning.
  • To differentiate between gesture as a reflection of readiness versus gesture as an active learning tool.

Main Methods:

  • Children were experimentally instructed in a novel mathematical concept.
  • Gesture production was manipulated during instruction: some children were required to gesture, others to speak without gesturing.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Requiring children to gesture during learning significantly improved knowledge retention.
  • Speaking without gesturing did not enhance learning or retention compared to control conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Gesture production can causally contribute to learning and knowledge consolidation in children.
  • Embodied cognition principles suggest that gesture provides an alternative representational system for new concepts.
  • Encouraging children's gestural expression may be a viable strategy to enhance learning.