Grounded and embodied cognition (GEC) serves as a framework to investigate mathematical reasoning for proof (reasoning that is logical, operative, and general), insight (gist), and intuition (snap judgment). Geometry is the branch of mathematics concerned with generalizable properties of shape and space. Mathematics experts (N ϭ 46) and nonexperts (N ϭ 44) were asked to judge the truth and to justify their judgments for four geometry conjectures. Videotaped interviews were transcribed and coded for occurrences of gestures and speech during the proof production process. Analyses provide empirical support for claims that geometry proof production is an embodied activity, even when controlling for math expertise, language use, and spatial ability. Dynamic depictive gestures portray generalizable properties of shape and space through enactment of transformational operations (e.g., dilation, skewing). Occurrence of dynamic depictive gestures and nondynamic depictive gestures are associated with proof performance, insight, and intuition, as hypothesized, over and above contributions of spoken language. Geometry knowledge for proof may be embodied and accessed and revealed through actions and the transformational speech utterances describing these actions. These findings have implications for instruction, assessment of embodied knowledge, and the design of educational technology to facilitate mathematical reasoning by promoting and tracking dynamic gesture production and transformational speech. Educational Impact and Implications StatementHow do mathematical intuitions arise, and how can they help with advanced forms of reasoning such as geometry proofs? One idea is that intuitions arise from body movements that allow people to directly experience mathematical ideas and relationships. We analyzed videotaped interviews of 46 mathematics experts and 44 nonexperts and found they are each more likely to show correct mathematical intuitions and generate mathematically valid proofs when they produced gestures while speaking. The research findings contribute to theories of embodied cognition by showing that people can tap into nonverbal ways of mathematical thinking. This work is important for education in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) because it demonstrates that embodied cognition applies beyond basic mathematics such as counting and computation to conceptual forms of reasoning involved in geometry proofs.

Theories of grounded and embodied cognition offer a range of accounts of how reasoning and body‐based processes are related to each other. To advance theories of grounded and embodied cognition, we explore the cognitive relevance of particular body states to associated math concepts. We test competing models of action‐cognition transduction to investigate the cognitive relevance of directed actions to students’ mathematical reasoning in the area of geometry. The hypotheses we test include (1) that cognitively relevant directed actions have a direct effect on performance (direct cognitive relevance hypothesis), (2) that cognitively relevant directed actions lead to more frequent production of gestures during explanations, which leads to improved performance (mediated cognitive relevance hypothesis), and (3) that performance effects of directed actions are influenced by the presence or absence of gesture production during mathematical explanations (moderated cognitive relevance hypothesis). We explore these hypotheses in an experiment where high school students (N = 85) evaluated the truth of geometry conjectures after performing cognitively relevant or cognitively irrelevant directed actions while playing a movement‐based video game. Contrary to the direct and mediated cognitive relevance hypotheses, we found no overall differences in performance or gesture production between relevant and irrelevant conditions. Consistent with the moderated cognitive relevance hypothesis, cognitive relevance influenced mathematical performance, as measured by the accuracy of students’ intuitions, insights, and the validity of their proofs, provided that students produced certain kinds of gestures during mathematical explanations (i.e., with explanatory gestures as the moderator). Implications for theories of grounded and embodied cognition and the design of embodied forms of educational interventions are discussed.

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