Gesture-cueing statistical instruction in a digital video learning environment

Yun, Grace (Yeo Eun)

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120216 Copy

Description

Title

Gesture-cueing statistical instruction in a digital video learning environment

Author(s)

Yun, Grace (Yeo Eun)

Issue Date

2023-03-21

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

• Perry, Michelle
• Lindgren, Robb

Committee Member(s)

D'Angelo, Cynthia

Department of Study

Educational Psychology

Discipline

Educational Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• gesture
• statistics
• embodied learning
• technology
• regression
• online learning

Abstract

Prior research suggests that encouraging students to gesture supports their developing understanding of many complex mathematical concepts. However, there remains a critical need to investigate how gestures can be meaningfully integrated into online instructional contexts, especially considering the sudden shift to online learning due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, I examined how cueing students to perform gestures, even while at home viewing an online video, may help ground their mathematical reasoning in self-generated physical representations. Gesturing may also lead students to reflect on these representations and their meanings more actively. Twenty-seven undergraduate students from a midwestern university were recruited for this study. Students completed a pretest, watched two instructional videos, and completed a posttest reflecting their understanding of least-squares regression. In addition, students were interviewed and asked to explain their understanding of least squares regression (LSR) using their hands. Students were randomly assigned to explain their understanding of LSR before the posttest or not asked to explain their understanding of LSR until the posttest had been completed. This second group was treated as a control or comparison group for learning outcomes and metacognitive judgment accuracy. Due to the low sample size, there was no significant effect of the opportunity to explain on learning outcomes or metacognitive accuracy, however there was a significant difference on learning scores from pre to posttest overall. Qualitative findings of the gesture based self-explanations during the interview indicate that: (1) all students repeated the gesture from the instructional video in their explanation of least-squares regression, (2) most students included a novel gesture to show the mean line or best fit line in their explanation, and (3) the students who spontaneously gestured in the interview, produced more detailed gestures. Results from this study suggest how future digital video learning environments may utilize gestures in an effective manner to teach higher-level mathematical concepts.

Graduation Semester

2023-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Grace Yun

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