Using gestures in the classroom

By Ben Rogers2020-09-21T10:01:00

A cartoon showing a mime artist miming four different actions

Source: © Shutterstock

Harness the power of hands to supercharge students’ retrieval and problem solving and assess their understanding

When you watch a chemistry teacher explain something, look at their hands, there’s something miraculous going on. Using gestures, the teacher is providing a complex three-dimensional, animated subtitle while they explain, and students can ‘read’ these gestures, combine them with the words and understand better. Gestures are a powerful tool for communicating complex abstract ideas. They improve students’ retrieval, problem solving and aid teacher assessment. This article explains how to harness the power of gestures in your classroom.

Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.

A photograph of a teacher standing in a white lab coat, speaking with a class of children in a laboratory, is superimposed on a colourful background. Text reads "Teach Chemistry means support for classroom and staff room".

Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access

Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.

Get all this, plus much more:

unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
applications for funding to support your lessons

Set up your Teach Chemistry account

Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.

Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.