SBP:Using Gesture to Augment web-based Mathematics Instruction for Children and Adults

本研究以在线/远程教学为背景，探讨手势在听力和聋儿数学学习中的作用，以及手势在听力和聋人成人中的作用是否与其在儿童中的作用相同。新冠肺炎的流行放大了让计算机在线教学成为一种可行的教育替代方法的必要性。然而，学校--尤其是低收入地区的学校--一直在努力适应远程和在线教学，这损害了教育目标，并对边缘化和低收入家庭的儿童和大学生产生了深刻影响。这一挑战表明，对于在线教育中什么是有效的，在线教育为谁工作，以及如何改进这一教育工具，缺乏系统的证据。本研究探讨：(1)包含手势的教学如何促进在线环境下儿童的数学学习；(2)手势是否可以作为成人数学学习的工具；(3)手势影响学习的机制是否对儿童和成人学习者是相同的。该项目侧重于两个基本的STEM概念--数学等价性，这是后来儿童复杂数学和科学概念的基本组成部分；标准差，成人统计理解和复杂数量推理的基本概念。这个项目的总体目标是利用手势科学来改进儿童和成人在线数学课程的设计。在线学习材料正在迅速激增，但往往缺乏人类互动的特性，如手势(人们在说话或手势时做出的手势，为信息添加视觉/空间图像)。这项研究有三个具体目标：(1)确定数学教学中的手势是否可以用于在线/远程场所，供听力和聋人使用。(2)确定为什么手势能促进学习。手势在学习中起作用是因为它是由身体产生的吗？它对学习有影响吗，因为它是与语言同时产生的？它不仅仅是引导学习者的注意力吗？(3)确定手势对学习产生影响的机制在儿童和成人中是否相同。针对儿童和成人的议定书包括对参与者对概念的理解的评估；对概念的指导；以及与第一次类似的第二次评估。孩子们在网络环境中学到了数学等价性；在数学课上，手势在“及时”反馈中被系统地改变。该项目由发现研究PREK-12计划(DRK-12)共同资助，旨在通过研究和开发新的创新和方法来加强科学、技术、工程和数学的教与学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research focuses on the role that gesture can play in hearing and deaf children’s math learning in an online/remote instructional context, and asks whether gesture plays the same role in hearing and deaf adults as it plays in children. The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified the need to make computer online instruction a viable alternative method for dispensing education. Yet, schools—especially those in low-income areas—have struggled to adapt to remote and online instruction, compromising educational goals and deeply affecting marginalized and low-income children and college students. This challenge points to the lack of systematic evidence on what works in online education, who online education works for, and how to improve this vehicle for education. This research explores: (1) how instruction that includes gesture enhances math learning in children in an online context; (2) whether gesture can be used as a tool for math learning in adults; (3) whether the mechanisms underlying gesture’s impact on learning are the same for child and adult learners. The project focuses on two foundational STEM concepts––mathematical equivalence, an essential building block for later complex math and science concepts in children; standard deviation, an essential concept for statistical understanding and complex quantitative reasoning in adults. The overall goal of this project is to harness the science of gesture to improve the design of online mathematics lessons for children and adults. Online learning materials are proliferating rapidly, but often lack properties of human interactions such as gesture (the hand movements people make while speaking or signing that add visual/spatial imagery to the message). The research has 3 specific aims: (1) To determine whether gestures in math instruction can be employed in an online/remote venue for hearing and deaf individuals. (2) To determine why gesture works to promote learning. Does gesture play a role in learning because it is produced by the body? Does it have an impact on learning because it is produced simultaneously with speech? Does it do more than direct a learner’s attention? (3) To determine whether the mechanisms responsible for gesture’s impact on learning are the same in children and adults. The protocol for both children and adults contains an assessment of the participant’s understanding of the concept; instruction in the concept; and a second assessment comparable to the first. Children are taught mathematical equivalence in an online context; gesture is systematically varied in “just-in-time” feedback during a mathematics lesson. Adults are taught standard deviation in an in-person context in which gesture is systematically varied.This project is co-funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to enhance preK-12 teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics through the research and development of new innovations and approaches.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.