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Articles

Embodiment in Mathematics Teaching and Learning: Evidence From Learners' and Teachers' Gestures

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Pages 247-286
Accepted author version posted online: 22 Aug 2011
Published online: 12 Oct 2011
 

Gestures are often taken as evidence that the body is involved in thinking and speaking about the ideas expressed in those gestures. In this article, we present evidence drawn from teachers' and learners' gestures to make the case that mathematical knowledge is embodied. We argue that mathematical cognition is embodied in 2 key senses: It is based in perception and action, and it is grounded in the physical environment. We present evidence for each of these claims drawn from the gestures that teachers and learners produce when they explain mathematical concepts and ideas. We argue that (a) pointing gestures reflect the grounding of cognition in the physical environment, (b) representational gestures manifest mental simulations of action and perception, and (c) some metaphoric gestures reflect body-based conceptual metaphors. Thus, gestures reveal that some aspects of mathematical thinking are embodied.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was funded by Grant No. R305H060097 from the Institute of Education Sciences and by Grant No. DRL-0816406 from the National Science Foundation.

We would like to thank Matthew Wolfgram, Breckie Church, and Eric Knuth for their contributions to this line of research. We are also grateful to many others for their contributions to our thinking about these issues, especially Julia Evans, Arthur Glenberg, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Rogers Hall, Autumn Hostetter, Sotaro Kita, David McNeill, and Ricardo Nemirovsky.