Introduction
A study was conducted on how learning and comprehension is enhanced by gesturing. Many people use various hand and facial gesturing when they are engaged in a conversation with another person. People from all ages, races, and cultural backgrounds use movements of their hands and body when they talk to another person. Although theory states that gesturing is nothing more than hand waving, researchers believe there is more meaning than simple hand waving. The study wanted to see the reason behind the gesturing and how it affects what is learned or remembered from the conversation.
Nonverbal communication can be as loud as verbal communication. The way a person moves their body or the facial gestures that they make while talking can say many things. Nonverbal communication can denote comprehension, boredom, excitement, sympathy, or an array of many other feelings. People even use nonverbal gestures when the listener cannot see them, such as when they are talking on the telephone. Nonverbal communication can speak louder than words. However, does nonverbal communication and gesturing aid in remembering important information that was relayed in the conversation? Does gesturing increase cognition? How can gesturing assist a student in learning and remembering mathematical skills? This research project aimed to answer those questions.
Gesturing 2
Method of Study
The goal of this study was to determine the impact of gestures on the speaker's cognitive load. Two principal areas were studied: The impact of gesturing when explaining a math problem and how it affects performance and the impact of gesturing when remembering a list of words or letters.
Forty children were tested individually on twenty addition problems and thirty-six adults were tested on twenty-four factoring problems. After they completed the math problems, they were given a list of items to remember. The children were given words to remember and th...