Hands on programming: Teachers’ use of Metaphors in gesture and Speech make Abstract concepts tangible

Abstract

Metaphors in gesture and speech play a pivotal role in the way that programming concepts are presented in the classroom. However, little is known about the function of teachers’ metaphors in practice. This study aims to explore teachers’ use of metaphors in gesture and speech in a lecture on programming. Based on video observations of three upper secondary teachers, we employ Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) and Metaphor Identification for Gesture Guidelines (MIG-G) as methodological tools for identifying metaphoric speech and gestures related to programming concepts. The results of the study reveal that the gestures of the three teachers mainly function in two ways: (1) to add spatial properties to a programming concept and (2) to provide additional imagery for a programming concept. Consequently, the gestures identified in this study reduce the communicative burden of teachers’ speech. Furthermore, the study reveals that teachers’ gestures serve as means for making abstract concepts more tangible. For example, gestures concerning the abstract term “data” can generally be related to an object that could be received or moved. Hence, despite its metaphorical origin, data could be considered a graspable aspect of programming. Furthermore, spatial gestures enable the teachers to communicate programming processes in a tangible way, for example assigning programming processes a forward direction. Theoretical implications, potential implications for teaching and future research are discussed in the paper.

Eliciting Empathy Embedded in Design Conversations: Empathic Perspective‐Taking of Design Teachers Towards Design Students, Users and Materials

“…Including symbolic functions, gestures convey meaning and appeal to the cognitive state of the addressee (Visser 2009). Serving as a bodily representation of the source domain of a metaphor, gestures are ‘cognitive vehicles for connecting experience and abstract phenomenon’ (Larsson & Stolpe 2022). They are not merely used for referencing or indexing to an object, but as a means of facilitating intersubjectivity in communication (Oh et al .…”

“…In architectural design studios, these are embraced as 'architectural ways' of communication between design teachers and students (Mewburn 2009). Gestures considered 'invisible drawing actions' are significant communication modalities in design conversations that reduce the communicative burden of teachers' speech (Oh et al 2013;Larsson & Stolpe 2022). Including symbolic functions, gestures convey meaning and appeal to the cognitive state of the addressee (Visser 2009).…”

”Vi går in och tittar i mappen” -En lärares språkliga strukturering av rumslighet i programmeringsundervisning

“…Ett centralt koncept är "data", som i undervisningssammanhang talas om i relation till fysiska objekt, till exempel att data kan tas emot (Larsson & Stolpe, 2022). Genom att uttrycka det så här erbjuds åhöraren att tolka data som något konkret som man kan hålla i. Ett annat exempel är att prata om att man "hoppar mellan kodrader", något som kan förstås i relation till att förflytta sin kropp från en position till en annan (Colburn & Shute, 2008).…”

“…Filmen är förinspelad och läraren har ingen interaktion med några elever medan han pratar. Tidigare studier har även visat att metaforer förekommer inom programmeringsundervisning, men inte heller i dessa studier har fokus legat på interaktionen i klassrummet (Larsson & Stolpe, 2022;Solomon et al, 2020). Vidare forskning måste därför göras för att kunna svara på om de mönster som vi har sett här återupprepas även i en klassrumssituation.…”

“…Däremot ser vi att metaforiskt språk blir synligt i relation till webbserverprogrammering i vår studie, vilket bekräftas i tidigare forskning (Colburn & Shute, 2008;Hidalgo-Céspedes et al, 2018;Larsson, 2022;Larsson & Stolpe, 2022;Manches et al, 2020). Det kan alltså konstateras att det för eleverna inte bara handlar om att lära sig ett programmeringsspråk, som till exempel Python eller C++, utan också ett språk för att prata om programmering (se även Becker, 2019).…”