Chapter 4: Analytic-Structural Functions of Gestures in Mathematical Argumentation Processes

In our research on gestures in mathematical understanding, we start by assuming that gestures, along with other body aspects (e.g., gazes), are an important component of emotional and cognitive manifestations and an inseparable component of speech discourse, as research in psychological and related domains have shown (e.g., Goldin-Meadow, 2003; McNeill, 1992, 2005). From our own observation in the classrooms and from recent literature, we have become increasingly convinced that gestures play important roles in the mathematics classroom when: students solve problems (Radford, 2010), students and teachers interact (Arzarello, Paola, Robutti, & Sabena, 2009), students explain a mathematical concept (Edwards, 2009), or the teacher lectures (Pozzer-Ardenghi & Roth, 2008). In all such cases, gestures are considered not as isolated variables but rather as part of the multisemiotic arsenal at the students’ disposal to bridge the gap between everyday experience and formal mathematics.