DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICAL LEARNING AIDED BY EMBODIMENT THROUGH GESTURE
Open Access
Author:
Wilson, Danielle Jill
Area of Honors:
Psychology (Behrend)
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Victoria A Kazmerski, Thesis Supervisor Victoria A Kazmerski, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Dawn Blasko, Faculty Reader Charisse Nixon, Faculty Reader Victoria A Kazmerski, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
developmental Math Embodiment Gesture
Abstract:
Math education is an important part of American education; however, American children seem to be falling short of their foreign peers. Recent studies such as that of Goldin-Meadow, Cook and Mitchell (2009), have shown that gesture can improve math performance. This study investigates how gesture affects math performance across developmental stages. Participants were exposed to pre- and post-testing with one of three conditions: gesture, partial gesture, and no gesture. It was anticipated that students in the gesturing condition would show the greatest improvement on performance; however, it was found that when verbal instruction was added, the gesturing had no effect on the participants’ math performance. This study suggests that teachers should examine multiple methods of teaching because everyone can learn.