Mathematical learning and gesture: Character viewpoint and observer viewpoint in students’ gestured graphs of functions

Gerofsky, Susan

doi:10.1075/gest.10.2-3.10ger

Article published In: Gesture and Multimodal Development
Edited by Jean-Marc Colletta and Michèle Guidetti
[Gesture 10:2/3] 2010
► pp. 321–343

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Mathematical learning and gesture

Character viewpoint and observer viewpoint in students’ gestured graphs of functions

Susan Gerofsky | University of British Columbia

Published online: 25 February 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/gest.10.2-3.10ger

This paper reports on a research project in mathematics education involving the use of gesture, movement and vocal sound to highlight mathematically salient features of the graphs of polynomial functions. Empirical observations of students’ spontaneous gesture types when enacting elicited gestures of these graphs reveal a number of useful binaries (proximal/distal, being the graph/seeing the graph, within sight/within reach). These binaries inform an analysis of videotaped gestural and interview data and appear to predict teachers’ assessments of student mathematical engagement and understanding with great accuracy. Reframing this data in terms of C-VPT and O-VPT adds a further layer of sophistication to the analysis and connects it with deeper findings in cognitive and neuroscience and gesture studies.

Keywords: mathematics education, graphing, gesture, embodiment, viewpoint

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.