Work

From Action to Abstraction: Using the Hands to Learn Math

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: Previous research has shown that children benefit from gesturing during math instruction. We asked whether gesturing promotes learning because it is itself a physical action, or because it uses physical action to represent abstract ideas. To address this question, we taught third-grade children a strategy for solving mathematical-equivalence problems that was instantiated in one of three ways: (a) in a physical action children performed on objects, (b) in a concrete gesture miming that action, or (c) in an abstract gesture. All three types of hand movements helped children learn how to solve the problems on which they were trained. However, only gesture led to success on problems that required generalizing the knowledge gained. The results provide the first evidence that gesture promotes transfer of knowledge better than direct action on objects and suggest that the beneficial effects gesture has on learning may reside in the features that differentiate it from action.

Source: Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1177/0956797613518351

Authors: Miriam A. Novack, Eliza L. Congdon, Naureen Hemani-Lopez, Susan Goldin-Meadow

Institution: University of Chicago

Language: English

Topic: Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Association for Psychological Science, National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development