Paying Attention to Gesture when Students Talk Chemistry: Interactional Resources for Responsive Teaching

When students share and explore chemistry ideas with others, they use gestures and their bodies to perform their understanding. As a publicly visible, spatio–dynamic medium of expression, gestures and the body provide productive resources for imagining the submicroscopic, three-dimensional, and dyna...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical education 2015-01, Vol.92 (1), p.11-22
Main Authors: Flood, Virginia J, Amar, François G, Nemirovsky, Ricardo, Harrer, Benedikt W, Bruce, Mitchell R. M, Wittmann, Michael C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical Education Research
Chemistry
Collaboration
College Science
College students
Concept Formation
Gestures
Human Body
Interaction
Interviews
Learning
Maine
Nonverbal Communication
Organic chemistry
Science education
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
Students
Teaching
Teaching Methods
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate Study
Verbal Communication
Video Technology
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Summary:When students share and explore chemistry ideas with others, they use gestures and their bodies to perform their understanding. As a publicly visible, spatio–dynamic medium of expression, gestures and the body provide productive resources for imagining the submicroscopic, three-dimensional, and dynamic phenomena of chemistry together. In this paper, we analyze the role of gestures and the body as interactional resources in interactive spaces for collaborative meaning-making in chemistry. With our moment-by-moment analysis of video-recorded interviews, we demonstrate how creating spaces for, attending to, and interacting with students’ gestures and bodily performances generate opportunities for learning. Implications for teaching and assessment that are responsive to students’ ideas in chemistry are discussed.
ISSN:0021-9584
1938-1328
DOI:10.1021/ed400477b