Coordinating Gesture, Word, and Diagram: Explanations for Experts and Novices

Successful explanations are a symphony of gesture, language, and props. Here, we show how they are orchestrated in an experiment in which students explained complex systems to imagined novices and experts. Visual-spatial communication-diagram and gesture-was key; it represents thought more directly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Spatial cognition and computation 2015-01, Vol.15 (1), p.1-26
Main Authors: Kang, Seokmin, Tversky, Barbara, Black, John B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
adult expert
Cognition
Complex systems
Computation
Conveying
diagram
Enrichment
explanation
gesture
PRoP
Students
young novice
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Summary:Successful explanations are a symphony of gesture, language, and props. Here, we show how they are orchestrated in an experiment in which students explained complex systems to imagined novices and experts. Visual-spatial communication-diagram and gesture-was key; it represents thought more directly than language. The real or virtual diagrams created from gestures served as the stage for explanations, enriched by language and enlivened by deictic gestures to convey structure and iconic gestures to enact the behavior and functionality of the systems. Explanations to novices packed in more information than explanations to experts, emphasizing the information about action that is difficult for novices, and expressing information in multiple ways, using both virtual models created by gestures and visible ones.
ISSN:1387-5868
1542-7633
DOI:10.1080/13875868.2014.958837