Effects of Gestures on Older Adults' Learning from Video‐based Models

Abstract

This study investigated whether the positive effects of gestures on learning by decreasing working memory load, found in children and young adults, also apply to older adults, who might especially benefit from gestures given memory deficits associated with aging. Participants learned a problem-solving skill by observing a video-based modeling example, with the human model using gesture cues, with a symbolic cue, or without cues. It was expected that gesture compared with symbolic or no cues (i) improves learning and transfer performance, (ii) more in complex than simple problems, and (iii) especially in older adults. Although older adults' learning outcomes were lower overall than that of children and young adults, the results only revealed a time-on-task advantage of gesture over no cues in the learning phase for the older adults. In conclusion, the present study did not provide strong support for the effectiveness of gestures on learning from video-based modeling example.

Is the Future Bright? The Potential of Lightboard Videos for Student Achievement and Engagement in Learning

“…Another potential benefit is that since "gestures provide motoric information, they also add another modality, which might have positive effects on learning (i.e. a modality effect)" (Ouwehand, van Gog, & Paas, 2015b). Ouwehand et al (2015b) further state that the motoric information is automatically processed, which does not add load to the limited capacity of working memory.…”

Effects of the instructor's pointing gestures on learning performance in video lectures

“…In this respect, learners need fewer working memory resources to follow the instructor's pointing gestures than nonhuman cues. Furthermore, researchers suggest that the instructor's gestures might socially motivate learners to allocate their visual attention to what was being referred to in the lecture (Ouwehand et al ., ). Thus, we assume that the pointing gestures are likely to play a more important role than nonhuman cues in video lectures.…”

“…However, among previous studies, there are only a few that have compared the effect of the instructor's pointing gestures with that of nonhuman cues in video lectures (De Koning & Tabbers, ; Ouwehand et al ., ). These studies did not obtain consistent results on whether the instructor's pointing gestures play a role superior to that of nonhuman cues.…”

“…However, the result of De Koning and Tabbers was not shared by Ouwehand et al . (). Ouwehand et al .…”

“…There are two kinds of attentional cues, ie, nonhuman cues and hand gestures (Ouwehand, van Gog, & Paas, ). A significant amount of empirical evidence suggests that adding nonhuman cues, such as symbolic and color cues, in video lectures can improve learning (for a review, see Wang, Duan, & Zhou, ).…”