Simple Gesturing Helps Students Learn The difference between
success and failure in school could be as simple as the flick of
a wrist. Children taught to gesture with their hands as they
learn new concepts perform far better at solving similar
problems weeks later than children who don't gesture, a new
study finds. Previous studies have shown that people who
spontaneously gesture as they learn tend to remember new
concepts better, but it has been unclear whether gesturing
simply accompanies the process of learning or if it actually
facilitates the process. Susan Wagner Cook, a University of
Rochester psychologist, along with colleagues at the University
of Chicago decided to test whether children who tend not to
gesture on their own—but who are taught to gesture while
learning a new concept—comprehend and remember the concept
better than kids who are not taught to gesture. They split 84
third- and fourth-grade students into three groups and taught
each of them how to solve math problems they were initially un