Students may learn better if they connect the learning to hand gestures according to a study involving math and 84 third and fourth graders.
Children taught to gesture with their hands as they learn new concepts perform far better at solving similar problems weeks later than children who don't gesture, a new study finds.
Previous studies have shown that people who spontaneously gesture as they learn tend to remember new concepts better, but it has been unclear whether gesturing simply accompanies the process of learning or if it actually facilitates the process. Susan Wagner Cook, a University of Rochester psychologist, along with colleagues at the University of Chicago decided to test whether children who tend not to gesture on their own—but who are taught to gesture while learning a new concept—comprehend and remember the concept better than kids who are not taught to gesture.
"Gestures engage the body, the mind and the environment, all at the same time," Cook said. "I think that all of these aspects, as well as the simultaneity, are probably part of the reason we see the effects of gesturing that we observed."
This study reminds me of songs I learned as a child that involved specific hand and feet movements. Those songs are forever stuck in my memory. I wonder if there is a stage where kids think they are just way too cool for this kind of learning experience. I do know a few former sixth graders that would have had a lot of fun coming up with their own gestures during math class. :)