Gordon Raychel, Ramani Geetha B
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States.
Front Psychol. 2021 Apr 9;12:650286. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.650286. eCollection 2021.
Children learn and use various strategies to solve math problems. One way children's math learning can be supported is through their use of and exposure to hand gestures. Children's self-produced gestures can reveal unique, math-relevant knowledge that is not contained in their speech. Additionally, these gestures can assist with their math learning and problem solving by supporting their cognitive processes, such as executive function. The gestures that children observe during math instructions are also linked to supporting cognition. Specifically, children are better able to learn, retain, and generalize knowledge about math when that information is presented within the gestures that accompany an instructor's speech. To date, no conceptual model provides an outline regarding how these gestures and the math environment are connected, nor how they may interact with children's underlying cognitive capacities such as their executive function. In this review, we propose a new model based on an integration of the information processing approach and theory of embodied cognition. We provide an in-depth review of the related literature and consider how prior research aligns with each link within the proposed model. Finally, we discuss the utility of the proposed model as it pertains to future research endeavors.
儿童学习并运用各种策略来解决数学问题。支持儿童数学学习的一种方式是通过他们对手势的运用和接触。儿童自己做出的手势能够揭示出其言语中所没有的、与数学相关的独特知识。此外，这些手势通过支持诸如执行功能等认知过程，能够帮助他们进行数学学习和解决问题。儿童在数学教学过程中观察到的手势也与支持认知相关。具体而言，当关于数学的信息在教师言语所伴随的手势中呈现时，儿童能够更好地学习、记住并推广这些数学知识。迄今为止，尚无概念模型概述这些手势与数学环境是如何关联的，也没有说明它们如何与儿童的潜在认知能力（如执行功能）相互作用。在本综述中，我们基于信息加工方法与具身认知理论的整合提出了一个新模型。我们对相关文献进行了深入综述，并思考先前的研究如何与所提出模型中的每个环节相契合。最后，我们讨论了所提出模型对于未来研究工作的实用性。
