hand gestures and mathiness!

[aesc]

Hee! I came across this last night, and it's great!

Gestures Convey Message: Learning in Progress
Children who talk with their hands do better at math

Neuroscientists have found, for example, that the part of the brain that controls hand movements is often active when people are doing math problems. "As though you're counting fingers," Glenberg said.

[Washington Post article]

This explains a lot, and means there were probably a lot of little kids getting smacked in Rodney's first-grade class. And what a terribly cute mental picture that is, too.



May have to do a Hands of Enthusiastic Explanation picspam, because apparently research has also shown that teachers who incorporate gestures into lecture/explanation are more effective.

ETA: And, as tx_tart points out, the potential to be really, really hot :>

Comments

[aesc.livejournal.com]

Because I've talked with my hands all my life, and I suck at math.

So do I. I haven't read the actual paper (which is still forthcoming), but the impression I get is that there's a correlative relationship only (and what the strength of that correlation is, I don't know), and that some of us with overactive hands will just have to suck at math because of it :>

The same thing holds true for math and languages... I am very good with languages, but I don't learn them the same way people learn math, by patterns and rules.

::pets Orange-Fleeced!Rodney::

He is very pet-able :>