Teachers' Gestures and How They Matter

R Breckinridge Church; Michelle Perry; Melissa A Singer; Susan Wagner Cook; Martha Wagner Alibali

doi:10.1111/tops.12755

Teachers' Gestures and How They Matter

Top Cogn Sci. 2024 Oct 14. doi: 10.1111/tops.12755. Online ahead of print.

Authors

R Breckinridge Church¹, Michelle Perry², Melissa A Singer³, Susan Wagner Cook⁴, Martha Wagner Alibali⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Northeastern Illinois University.
² Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
³ Department of Psychology, Bridgewater State University.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Iowa.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

PMID: 39401068
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12755

Abstract

How do teachers' gestures influence students' learning? This article reviews research investigating the role of gestures in communication, focusing on teachers' communication with their students, primarily in mathematics and science instruction. We first briefly consider gesture's role in communication more generally as a backdrop for considering teaching as a special context for communication. We then describe teachers' spontaneous gesturing in teaching contexts, and we consider how teachers' spontaneous gestures might influence students' learning. We then consider experimental studies that provide causal support for the effects of teachers' gestures on students' learning. We conclude by discussing future directions and implications for educational practice.

Keywords: Education; Gesture; Instruction; Learning; Teachers.