Major
Neuroscience
Anticipated Graduation Year
2026
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Gestures are hand movements that accompany speech and convey information. We know that gesture can help children learn. What we don't know is how individual differences affect the efficacy of gesture. In the proposed study, I will address two questions: (1) how does an individual's VSWM capacity and fluid intelligence impact whether they will benefit from gesture instruction? (2) does the impact of these individual differences depend on whether a learner is observing or producing gesture? I will do this by measuring these individual differences and seeing how they impact children's ability to benefit from gesture instruction on a mathematical measurement task. I anticipate that these individual differences will contribute to how effective gesture is, both on their own and in combination.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Elizabeth Wakefield, Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Do Individual Differences Impact whether a Child Learns from Seeing or Doing Gesture?
Gestures are hand movements that accompany speech and convey information. We know that gesture can help children learn. What we don't know is how individual differences affect the efficacy of gesture. In the proposed study, I will address two questions: (1) how does an individual's VSWM capacity and fluid intelligence impact whether they will benefit from gesture instruction? (2) does the impact of these individual differences depend on whether a learner is observing or producing gesture? I will do this by measuring these individual differences and seeing how they impact children's ability to benefit from gesture instruction on a mathematical measurement task. I anticipate that these individual differences will contribute to how effective gesture is, both on their own and in combination.