PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
The role of gestures in teaching and learning proof by mathematical induction
Page: 320
When talking about mathematics, teachers and learners actively use hand gestures to support their speech as well as to describe ideas that are not expressed verbally. In this study, I investigate the gestures that were utilized by an instructor and his students during a teaching episode on proof by mathematical induction. Alibali and Nathan’s (2012) typology of gestures are employed to code the observed gestures. The study reveals that the use of gestures plays an integral role in teaching and learning induction. I show that pointing gestures helped to reduce ambiguity in classroom discussion, representational gestures were useful in describing specific subcomponents of induction, and, finally, metaphoric gestures were independently introduced by a teacher and students to describe the nature of proof by mathematical induction.