• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.273-291
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• 2018

Gestures accompanied by scientific discourses play an important role in constructing mental models and making model-based inferences. According to embodied cognition literature, gestures can be a source of recognition of the mental models of students and help them in changing naive beliefs about science. This study intends to compare the gestures of scientists with that of middle school students in explaining scientific phenomena and to explore the relationship between gestures and scientific discourse. In the study, 10 scientists and 10 middle school students participated in clinical interviews and the tests of knowledge and self-efficacy. Participants engaged in one-on-one clinical interviews with semi-structured questions about three tasks regarding the molecular movement and the state change of matter. Four researchers carried out open coding and applied a constant comparison method in order to analyze video-recorded gestures. This study found four themes (feature of gesture, use of gesture, content of gesture, function of gesture) about the differences of gestures between scientists and middle school students. Scientists used more diverse and elaborate gestures systematically and frequently in the interview. Although students used gestures in their scientific talk and reasoning, the gestures of students were not well grounded on scientific knowledge and had different functions from those of scientists. The findings revealed that gestures can represent underlying cognition and strengthen scientific thinking. We should encourage students to use gestures as a tool to understand scientific concepts and make inferences.