The Types and Features of Gestures in Science Discourse of Elementary Students

초등학생의 과학 담화에서 나타나는 몸짓의 유형과 특징

Gestures are a common phenomenon of human communication. There exists little research concerned with the gestures in science education, and most researches of gestures have focused on individual gestures. However, learning occurs through sociocultural interactions with friends, family, teachers, and others in society. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate and identify the types and features of gestures which were made by elementary students to communicate with peers in science discourse. A group of six fourth-graders was observed in eight science discourses where they talked about ideas related to thermal concepts. The data was collected through interviews and questionnaires. The analysis of the data showed that students' gestures in science discourses could be classified into seven types: signal iconic gesture, illustrative iconic gesture, personal deictic gesture, object deictic gesture, beat gesture, emotional metaphoric gesture, and content metaphoric gesture. It was also found that these gestures had functions of repeating, supplementing, and replacing utterance to communicate with others. Students frequently expressed scientific terms metaphorically as everyday terms through their gestures. Gestures were shared, imitated, and transferred in the communication process, and students' gestures also made influence on other students' ideas through these processes.