From action to abstraction: using the hands to learn math.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Children benefit from physical actions during math instruction.
• The precise mechanism by which gesturing aids learning is debated: is it the physical action itself, or its symbolic representation?

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether gesturing aids learning by being a physical action or by representing abstract ideas.
• To compare the effects of direct physical action, concrete miming gestures, and abstract gestures on learning and knowledge transfer in mathematics.

Main Methods:

• Third-grade children were taught a strategy for mathematical-equivalence problems using three different methods: physical action on objects, a concrete gesture, or an abstract gesture.
• Learning was assessed on trained problems, and knowledge transfer was assessed on untrained, generalizing problems.

Main Results:

• All three methods (physical action, concrete gesture, abstract gesture) improved children's ability to solve trained mathematical-equivalence problems.
• Only the gesture conditions (both concrete and abstract) led to successful generalization of the learned strategy to new problems.

Conclusions:

• Gesture promotes the transfer of mathematical knowledge more effectively than direct physical action on objects.
• The beneficial effects of gesture on learning, particularly for knowledge transfer, may stem from its symbolic and representational qualities, rather than merely being a physical action.