Katie Yankey EDUC 316 3/19/13 Dr.

Hill Gestures in Mathematics In Teaching Childrens Mathematics magazine, by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics was an article by Jonnie Wilson titled Show Me a Sign. The article focused on a teacher, Armin Martin, who used hand gestures to help him teach his first graders math. The school in which he taught was an international school, which allows students to learn in their native language. This means that the students in Martins classroom may not all speak English. Martin, who speaks five languages, brings in sign language gestures into his classroom to help the students learn math. He would look up new signs to bring into the classroom and use it as a reinforcing tool while teaching. Using the hand gestures for him were not substitutes for pictures and other kinds of models. The students would watch Martin trace geometric shapes in the air or use his fingers to demonstrate the corners of the shapes to help them visualize the shape when he verbally described them. The students could also demonstrate this process when they tried to have other students guess what shape they were describing. The students during this process were able to reconstruct Martins original hand gestures into their own hand gestures, which helps the students understand the shapes in their own way. The article then describes a test that was conducted which had three test groups: one where hand gestures were used as a reinforcing, the second where hand gestures were used to mislead the students, and the third group did not use hand gestures at all. The study found that the first group where the students were given hand gestures in an addition problem actually helped them complete the problem the best. The second group was given misleading hand gestures and yet, they completed the addition problem better

than the students who were not given hand gestures at all. This student concluded that hand gestures do help foster learning in mathematics better than not using them at all. I think that using the hand gestures was a very creative idea. I know for myself I talk with my hands all the time, but I never knew that it could actually foster learning. However, my hand gestures are done with no educational background in mind, but this would be an easy tool for me to use in my classroom. I think that this helps students visualize new ways to see shapes, and when it comes to test time they can use this tool, because hands are allowed on tests. I think that most teachers would think that this would require no prior thought, but in reality it requires just as much preparation as creating the lesson. The hand gestures need to not be misleading and need to be easy to understand and see. I could easily incorporate this into my classroom, and after seeing the test results conducted in this article I know it is something I need to do.