Cook Susan Wagner, Mitchell Zachary, Goldin-Meadow Susan
University of Rochester, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Meliora 425, Rochester, NY 14627-0268, USA.
Cognition. 2008 Feb;106(2):1047-58. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.04.010. Epub 2007 Jun 11.
The gestures children spontaneously produce when explaining a task predict whether they will subsequently learn that task. Why? Gesture might simply reflect a child's readiness to learn a particular task. Alternatively, gesture might itself play a role in learning the task. To investigate these alternatives, we experimentally manipulated children's gesture during instruction in a new mathematical concept. We found that requiring children to gesture while learning the new concept helped them retain the knowledge they had gained during instruction. In contrast, requiring children to speak, but not gesture, while learning the concept had no effect on solidifying learning. Gesturing can thus play a causal role in learning, perhaps by giving learners an alternative, embodied way of representing new ideas. We may be able to improve children's learning just by encouraging them to move their hands.
孩子们在解释一项任务时自发做出的手势能够预测他们随后是否能学会该任务。为什么呢？手势可能仅仅反映了孩子学习特定任务的准备状态。或者，手势本身可能在学习任务中发挥作用。为了探究这些可能性，我们在教授一个新的数学概念时，通过实验操纵了孩子们的手势。我们发现，要求孩子们在学习新概念时做手势有助于他们记住在教学过程中获得的知识。相比之下，要求孩子们在学习概念时说话但不做手势，对巩固学习没有影响。因此，手势可能在学习中起到因果作用，也许是通过为学习者提供一种替代的、具身化的方式来呈现新想法。我们或许只需鼓励孩子们动手就能提高他们的学习效果。
