Project Activities
Structured Abstract
Setting
Sample
Research design and methods
Control condition
Key measures
Data analytic strategy
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: The products from this study include a better understanding of the relation between teachers' visual scaffolding and student learning, and published reports.
Book chapter
Alibali, M.W., and Nathan, M.J. (2009). Teachers' Gestures as a Means of Scaffolding Students' Understanding: Evidence From an Early Algebra Lesson. In R. Goldman, R. Pea, B. Barron, and S. J. Derry (Eds.), Video Research in the Learning Sciences (pp. 349-365). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Alibali, M.W., Nathan, M.J., and Fujimori, Y. (2008). Gestures in the Mathematics Classroom: What's the Point?. In N. Stein, and S.W. Raudenbush (Eds.), Developmental and Learning Sciences Go to School (pp. 219-234). New York: Routledge.
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
Alibali, M.W., and Nathan, M.J. (2010). Conducting Research in Schools: A Practical Guide. Journal of Cognition and Development, 11(4): 397-407.
Alibali, M.W., and Nathan, M.J. (2012). Embodiment In Mathematics Teaching and Learning: Evidence From Learners' and Teachers' Gestures. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(2): 247-286.
Alibali, M.W., Nathan, M.J., Church, R.B., Wolfgram, M.S., Kim, S., and Knuth, E. (2013). Teacher's Gesture and Speech in Mathematics Lessons: Forging Common Ground by Resolving Trouble Spots. ZDM-International Journal on Mathematics Education, 45(3): 425-440.
Alibali, M.W., Nathan, M.J., Wolfgram, M.S., Church, R.B., Johnson, C.V., Jacobs, S.A., and Knuth, E.J. (2014). How Teachers Link Ideas in Mathematics Instruction Using Speech and Gesture: A Corpus Analysis. Cognition and Instruction, 32(1): 65-100.
Alibali, M.W., Young, A.G., Crooks, N.M., Yeo, A., Ledesma, I., Nathan, M.J., Church, R.B., and Knuth, E.J. (2013). Students Learn More When Their Teacher has Learned to Gesture Effectively. Gesture, 13(2): 210-233.
Nathan, M.J., and Kim, S. (2009). Regulation of Teacher Elicitations in the Mathematics Classroom. Cognition and Instruction, 27(2): 91-120.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Purpose: What factors influence whether students comprehend and learn from instructional language? One potential factor is the nonverbal support for language comprehension provided by teachers' use of visual scaffolding, including pointing, representational gestures, diagrams, and other methods of highlighting visual information. Previous studies in noneducational settings have shown that visual scaffolding may facilitate listeners' comprehension of speech, particularly when the verbal message is ambiguous or highly complex. These findings suggest that visual scaffolding may be particularly important in instructional settings, in which students' comprehension is often challenged by new concepts and unfamiliar terms. However, little is known about how teachers actually use visual scaffolding in instructional communication or about whether such gestures influence students' comprehension and learning. The intervention aims to: (1) document how teachers use visual scaffolding in naturalistic instructional communication; (2) investigate whether visual scaffolding promotes students' comprehension of instructional language, and therefore their learning; and (3) investigate a possible mechanism by which visual scaffolding may promote learning-namely, by facilitating students' encoding of visual information. The researchers will examine these issues in the context of middle school mathematics learning in early algebra.
The approach involves both naturalistic observation of teachers' use of visual supports during mathematics lessons, and experimental studies of the role of visual scaffolding in learning.
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