Gestures--hand movements that accompany speech and express ideas--can help children learn how to solve problems, flexibly generalize learning to novel problem-solving contexts, and retain what they have learned. But does it matter who is doing the gesturing? We know that producing gesture leads to better comprehension of a message than watching…

Science disciplines are inherently multimodal, involving written and spoken language, bodily gestures, symbols, diagrams, sketches, simulation and mathematical formalism. Studies have shown that explicit multimodal teaching approaches foster enhanced access to science disciplines. We examine multimodal classroom practices in a physics extended…

Recent research indicates that using multimodal learning experiences can be effective in teaching mathematics. Using a social semiotic lens within a participationist framework, this paper reports on a professional learning collaboration with a primary school teacher designed to explore the use of metaphors and modalities in mathematics…

To make complex mathematics concepts accessible to students, teachers often rely on visual representations. Because no single representation can depict all aspects of a mathematics concept, instruction typically uses multiple representations. Much research shows that multiple representations can have immense benefits for students' learning.…

Students with visual impairments (SVIs) are often dehumanized in mathematics education, based on deficit perspectives, the assumption that mathematics learning must be visual, and a lack of tools that allow students on the entire spectrum of vision to collaborate mathematically. The current advent of assistive learning technologies (ALTs) holds…

Modern schoolchildren are the new digital generation and their preferences for working with information are based on of the dominant sensory modality which can be visual, auditory, and tactile/ kinesthetic. Therefore, to organize effective mathematics teaching it is necessary to use a personalized system of teaching techniques, instructional…

In this article, we use multimodality to examine how bilingual students interact with an area task from the National Assessment of Educational Progress in task-based interviews. Using vignettes, we demonstrate how some of these students manipulate the concrete materials, and use gestures, as a primary form of structuring their explanations and…

Elementary students' difficulties with angles in geometry are well documented, but we know little about how they conceptualize angles while solving problems and how their thinking changes over time. In this study, we examined 26 third and fourth grade students completing a body-based angle task supported by the Kinect for Windows. We used…

This paper aims to contribute to discussions on the multimodal nature of cognition through an elaboration of the ways multimodal aspects of thinking are exploited by learners doing mathematics. Moving beyond the fact "that" multimodality occurs, this paper focuses on "how" it occurs, with particular attention drawn to the…

Computers have become an important piece of technology in classrooms for implementing academic interventions. Often, students' responses to these interventions are used to help make important educational decisions. Therefore, it is important to consider the effect of these interventions across multiple contexts. For example, previous research has…

The complementary use of the theories of instrumental genesis and shifts of attention enabled me to obtain insights into students' understandings of the concepts of eigenvector and eigenvalue. My analysis suggests that the use of different dragging modalities can provide evidence of shifts in structure of a student's attention and consequently can…

Inclusion and differentiation--hallmarks of the current educational system--require a paradigm shift in the way that educators run their classrooms. This article enumerates the need for techno-kinesthetic, visually based activities and offers an example of a calculator-based programming activity that addresses that need. After discussing the use…

Much of the evidence provided in support of the argument that mathematical knowing is embodied/enacted is based on the analysis of gestures and bodily configurations, and, to a lesser extent, on certain vocal features (e.g., prosody). However, there are dimensions involved in the emergence of mathematical knowing and the production of mathematical…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of two different learning modes; namely, a computer animation self-directed learning approach and a paper version of the self-directed learning approach, to 5th-graders' number sense development. Two 5th-grade classes, 30 students each, were selected from a public elementary…

Manipulatives have been used in many mathematics classrooms across many age groups with the aim of helping students to understand abstract concepts through concrete, kinesthetic, and visual experiences. In this paper, after we provide a background for the use of physical and virtual manipulatives in teaching and learning of mathematics, we will…