ERIC Number: ED581355
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Oct
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
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Collaborative Gestures When Proving Geometric Conjectures
Walkington, Candace; Nathan, Mitchell J.; Woods, Dawn M.
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (39th, Indianapolis, IN, Oct 5-8, 2017)
Research in mathematics education has established that gestures--spontaneous movements of the hand that accompany speech--are important for learning. In the present study, we examine how students use gestures to communicate with each other while proving geometric conjectures, arguing that this communication represents an example of extended cognition. We identify three kinds of "collaborative gestures"--gestures that are physically distributed over multiple learners. Learners make echoing gestures by copying another learner's hand gestures, mirroring gestures by gesturing identically and simultaneously with another learner, and joint gestures where multiple learners collectively make a single gesture of a mathematical object using more than one set of hands. The identification and description of these kinds of collaborative gestures offers insight into how learners build distributed mathematical understanding. [For complete proceedings, see ED581294.]
Descriptors: Mathematics Instruction, Nonverbal Communication, Teaching Methods, Geometry, Geometric Concepts, Cognitive Processes, Imitation, Concept Formation, Undergraduate Students, Preservice Teachers, Elementary School Mathematics, Video Games, Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education, Educational Games, Mathematical Logic, Validity, Spatial Ability
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. e-mail: pmena.steeringcommittee@gmail.com; Web site: http://www.pmena.org/
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A