This week I read the article Seeing the graph and being the graph by Susan Gerofsky. The article focused on explaining different studies that have been done that look at the use of gesturing when teaching mathematics. The article moves on to highlight a study that was done in 2008 with 22 high school students. The focus of the study was to see if elicited gestures representing the graphs of mathematical functions are meaningful to learners and if gestures influence engagement. The researcher was interested in where students used the gesture in relation to their body (heart, shoulder, nose level). Some students utilized small movements, another group utilized whole body movements, and some students had difficulty producing any gesture. The researcher was able to determine whether students were top, average, or struggling by viewing videos of student’s use of gestures and graphing. It is important to note that one student was rated as the top student by their classroom teacher and appeared in the struggling group based on their use of gestures with graphing (Gerofsky, 2011).
This was an interesting to study to read and I appreciated that it was locally based (Vancouver). When studies have small sample sizes and results that stand out, I think it is important to think about what further research could be done to draw meaningful conclusions for educators. I was also left wondering about what exactly was meant by elicited gestures. What was the process used to determine the gesture that would be used, was it teacher directed or were the students involved in the decision?
My first stop that came up was thinking about learners that use ASL and how gestures could be meaningful or potentially confusing. In my first year of teaching a student in my class speech was unintelligible. This student was learning ASL with an EA. As I wanted to build a strong classroom community, I would also teach all learners and use ASL in certain situations. In my opinion, integrated gestures in this situation would be confusing for learners as there is a difference between gestures and ASL. I wonder what research has been done to look at the use of gesturing with ASL individuals.
My second stop was about the idea of elicited gestures. Information regarding the process of choosing and what was elicited didn’t seem to be clear. I wonder how student choice could be involved when deciding to integrate gestures into learning tasks. This stopped me as when I reimagine math education, I think about involving students more in the learning and making the topic related to their interests rather than a teacher explaining something in one way that makes sense to them and may not click with others.
This week we also thought about using the body as a form of measurement. As I teach Grade 2 and measurement is part of the BC Curriculum, I decided to integrate this idea in a few different ways. With my class I started by discussing standard and non-standard measurement and built to understanding that a non-standard unit could be measured and utilized to reference to the specific standard measurement. For example, students measured a body part using a ruler and recalled what that measurement was when they went outside to measure in the school garden. Some of the conversations I heard were” oh this is bigger than my foot so it must be over 18cm” and “this is exactly the same size as my hand!”. I was amazed to see the engagement and determination students took on with this task.
Over the last two days Vancouver has been experiencing below average winter temperatures (sorry Pat and Shawn that you must hear me talk about cold temperature when you deal with much worse!). I decided to use the this as an emergent learning opportunity to further look at measurement. Students and I discussed different quantities of water and what would freeze first. We then placed various quantities of water outside and waited to see how long it would take for them to freeze. I noticed many students going over to the window to see what was changing. I heard “I knew it was going to be the one with the small amount of water that froze first!” and “look, you can see ice crystals!”.
These in class experiences remind me of the importance of involving students in the learning in ways that are meaningful to them. Now when they think of measurement, they may think about their time in the school garden or freezing water!
Works Cited
Gerofsky, S. (2011). Seeing the graph and being the graph . Integrating Gestures, 245-256.
Great to see how the students were so engaged with the activities. I think that the use of referents by using their body is a lifelong lesson that they will take with them. My favorite referent to use with the students is asking them to imagine opening a door, and the height of that doorknob is a meter.
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda
ReplyDeleteYes lol, it was colder up here than it typically would be. Although it appears, the temperature is warming up to the negative teens next week.
I appreciate that you strongly connected your questions about the article to your practice. Your insights into a student simultaneously using ASL and gesturing got me thinking. Along with the Ted Talk on gaining insights and new perspective. I am thinking, would having a good grasp of ASL be a great jumping point for knowing how to elicit certain student gestures in math? Alternatively, if lots of your students and you knew ASL would they be better apt to develop their own gestures in math. Along the lines of your experience, “I wonder how student choice could be involved when deciding to integrate gestures into learning tasks. This stopped me as when I reimagine math education, I think about involving students more in the learning”
As well as, your experience of taking advantage of the cold weather. “These in class experiences remind me of the importance of involving students in the learning in ways that are meaningful to them. “ I would be interested in seeing what kind of gestures students might create, if they knew ASL and were interested in using it to develop math gestures.
Thanks Amanda for your good questions and ideas in this post, and to Pat and Shawn for your responses! (And it is hard to complain about cold weather in the Lower Mainland when so many other places are much, much colder...;P)
ReplyDeleteTo respond to some of the questions here: 'elicited gestures' in this case just meant that students were asked to gesture the shape of the graph, any way they liked. They were asked to do three takes of gesturing each graph, and to do the last one without words. The reason I talked about 'elicited gestures' is that many gesture theorists study naturalistic speech-accompanying gestures -- that is, the gestures we make without thinking about them when we talk, even when we talk on the phone and the other person can't see our gestures.
What an interesting discussion of ASL/ sign language used by people with hearing impairment (there are quite a few different sign languages worldwide). I would love to learn how ASL would interact with students learning about graphs using gestures! I've worked for several years with learners with visual impairment, but not auditory impairment, and there are many different situations around gesture, image-making and communication even among those with visual impairment.
Your body measurement and water-freezing experiments sound great and memorable! Pat, I also love your way of letting kids know the height of a metre through standard door handle height. Great work, all.