The Role of Gestures in a Teacher-Student-Discourse about Atoms

Autor/in	Abels, Simone
Titel	The Role of Gestures in a Teacher-Student-Discourse about Atoms
Quelle	In: Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 17 (2016) 3, S.618-628 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1756-1108
DOI	10.1039/c6rp00026f
Schlagwörter	Science Instruction; Scientific Concepts; Nonverbal Communication; Interpersonal Communication; Concept Formation; Teaching Methods; Chemistry; Middle Schools; Foreign Countries; Grade 8; Ethnography; Video Technology; Participant Observation; Austria + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Teaching of science; Science education; Natural sciences Lessons; Naturwissenschaftlicher Unterricht; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Chemie; Middle school; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Ausland; School year 08; 8. Schuljahr; Schuljahr 08; Ethnografie; Teilnehmende Beobachtung; Österreich
Abstract	Recent educational research emphasises the importance of analysing talk and gestures to come to an understanding about students' conceptual learning. Gestures are perceived as complex hand movements being equivalent to other language modes. They can convey experienceable as well as abstract concepts. As well as technical language, gestures referring to chemical concepts can be a challenge for students and cause misunderstandings. The study presented here focuses on a chemistry teacher's use of gestures in a discourse about atoms. The questions of interest are how the teacher uses certain gestures, if her intentions can be reconstructed and if students seem to understand the content-related gestures. Analysis is done by applying the steps of the Documentary Method. The results show that the teacher uses imagistic gestures, because of the assumption that students can remember and understand the abstract concepts of chemistry faster by using scaffolding in forms of visualisation. Challenges of using gestures to visualise abstract chemistry concepts are discussed. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Royal Society of Chemistry. Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF, UK. Tel: +44-1223 420066; Fax: +44-1223 423623; e-mail: cerp@rsc.org; Web site: http://www.rsc.org/cerp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01