Kinesthetic Symbols: Harnessing the Power of Gesturing

DR. SPENCER KAGAN

To cite this article: Kagan, S. Kinaesthetic Symbols: Harnessing the Power of Gesturing San Clemente, CA: Kagan

Publishing. Kagan Online Magazine, Spring/Summer 2014. www.KaganOnline.com

Great ideas originate in the muscles.

—Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

For quite a few years we have been training teachers in the use of Kinaesthetic Symbols. Teachers have students

symbolize content with their hands, bodies, and gestures. Functions of a president, parts of speech, steps of an

algorithm, and stages of cell life, are all samples of content taught not just with words, but also with gestures.

Teachers in the classrooms and trainers in their workshops consistently report very positive results. Teachers are

boosting their vocabulary test scores from an average of 75 to an average of 95 by having students create and

practice a kinaesthetic symbol for the meaning of each word. I am amused by one result: A boy shyly admitted to his

teacher that he had cheated on the vocabulary test. She asked how. "I put my hands in the desk and did the

kinaesthetic symbols to remember."

Most teachers encourage students to use Kinaesthetic

Symbols as memory aides during recall. Sarah Backner, a

Kagan Trainer, recalls that as a teacher,

I had a high population of second language learners in my

classroom and found that Kinaesthetic Symbols had a big

impact on helping students raise their test scores. I knew

that Kinaesthetic Symbols played a role in raising scores

because during their weekly vocabulary quiz, I could see

students doing the Kinaesthetic Symbols at their desk as

they were going through the quiz to remind themselves

what the words meant.

Amal Mahmoud Al Shariti at Liwa International School in Al

Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, teaches her English-as-

a-second-language students a kinaesthetic symbol for each

vocabulary word. For example, when introduced to the word "reliable" students learn to say the word while giving

themselves a pat on the shoulder. As they say "sociable" they intertwine their fingers like many people interacting.

As they say "astounded" students put both hands under their jaws and open their mouths wide in an exaggerated

expression of surprise. The students now receive very high marks on their vocabulary words whereas prior to using

Kinaesthetic Symbols their performance was substantially lower. Amal writes,

After attending one of Mrs. Laurie Kagan's workshops in which she used Kinaesthetic Symbols in training Kagan

Structures, I decided to use them in my class. I started using them with vocabulary lessons, and the results were

awesome — one of the students whose average score was 11 out of 20 showed a great improvement and could

achieve a score of 19 out of 20. After that, I started using Kinaesthetic Symbols in all my classes. I am teaching

grade seven right now, but I have used Kinaesthetic Symbols with all levels, and the results are

always unbelievable. Using the Kinaesthetic Symbols is full of fun and it is effective in keeping energy levels high

and in recalling information on tests. The part I enjoy most is when all the students are involved in creating their

own kinaesthetic symbols and giving me ideas to make the actions either easier or harder, as that stimulates their

critical thinking.

Ways to Use Kinaesthetic Symbols

There are various ways teachers are using Kinaesthetic Symbols, differing in who makes up the symbols and how

they are used.

Who Makes Up the Symbols? The teacher may make up the symbols and then teach them to the students.

Alternatively, each team may make up its own symbols. Or in some cases, teachers have students each create their

own unique symbols. There is something to be said for each approach. If the class uses the symbols as response

modes, it is important the whole class has the same set of symbols. The process of having teams make up their own

symbols serves as teambuilding. Individuals making up their own unique symbols gives them practice in cross

translating from a verbal symbol system to a kinaesthetic symbol system. Given the advantages of each approach,

age permitting, I would recommend that teachers incorporate each approach at different times.

How to Use Kinaesthetic Symbols. There are many ways Kinaesthetic Symbols are used including as response

modes, for isolated content, for sequences of content, as signals, and to reinforce verbal instruction. They serve

primarily, for students to practice content and as a memory aide in recall.

Kinaesthetic Symbols as Response Modes. Kinaesthetic Symbols are handy (literally) as response modes. After

students have practiced the symbols and are fluent with them, the teacher can then post or project a sentence with

missing punctuation marks, point to each missing punctuation in turn, and on cue have students respond with the

appropriate kinaesthetic symbol. For example, the teacher might post the following:

Kinaesthetic Symbols for Punctuation

Period Fist

Colon Two fists, one above the other

Comma Hand curved in shape of letter C

Semi-Colon Fist above + hand curved below

Exclamation Mark Fist below of raised forearm

If Jonny has enough money ___ he will buy a new bike___ The teacher says, "When I snap my fingers, everyone

give me the kinaesthetic symbol for the punctuation that belongs in the blank"

Kinaesthetic Symbols for Isolated Content. Sometimes the symbols are used in isolation as when a symbol is created

for each vocabulary word, the names of types of rocks, the names of elements, the names of geometric forms, or the

branches of government. Some teachers have used the symbols to help students remember the class rules: Misty

Higgins, another Kagan Trainer, taught high school biology at Anderson County High School in Lexington, Kentucky.

When I asked her how she used Kinaesthetic Symbols, she responded, "I used Kinaesthetic Symbols for class rules at

the beginning of the year." Misty, used the symbols for a range of content during the school year: including

anatomical terminology in anatomy and physiology. In her words

The most important thing I believe the Kinaesthetic Symbols did was to give students something to anchor their

thinking, to connect with the content. It helped then to conceptualize abstract concepts. Basically, providing for

more linkages in the brain around specific content.

While coaching in a middle school science classroom, Sarah Backner, a Kagan Trainer, saw a teacher using

Kinaesthetic Symbols to help students remember the part of a cell.

For each part of the cell students had a kinaesthetic symbol that reminded them of the function. For example

when they talked about the mitochondria as the power of the cell, students flexed their muscles. When they

talked about the nucleus, students tapped their brains.

Melissa Wincel provides a powerful example of how teaching Kinaesthetic Symbols for isolated content improved

both reading and writing. She taught her kindergarten students at Trafalgar Elementary School in Cape Coral, Florida,

the 70 sounds associated with the letters in the alphabet. She describes the results,

Kinaesthetic Symbols were key to the children remembering the sounds of the letters. Every one of my students

walked out of my kindergarten class reading. I had some kindergarteners reading at a 3rd grade level! When my

students came to a word they couldn't read by sight I would see them using the kinaesthetic symbols to decode

unknown words.

Not only did it impact reading significantly, but also their writing. The program gave them the confidence to sound

words out and write the sounds they heard. Having Kinaesthetic Symbols made it less inhibiting to their

writing and creativity. Students didn't constantly ask "how do you spell…?"

Kinaesthetic Symbols for Sequences. Often the symbols are used to remember a sequence of items in order as

when the students are memorizing the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights, the steps of how a bill becomes a law,

the parts of a letter, or the steps of a math algorithm. By practicing the sequence repeatedly, it becomes automatic

and even fairly long sequences can be recalled in order perfectly. Misty used the symbols for sequences like

chromosomal movement during the stages of cell division, stages of photosynthesis, and cellular respiration.

Angela Pinkerton, a Kagan Trainer, used Kinaesthetic Symbols with her first grade students to help them remember

the steps of an algorithm called CUBES for tackling word problems. In her words:

I taught my students a problem solving strategy for word problems called CUBES. Before solving the word

problem, we would stand up and review each letter's meaning with a corresponding kinaesthetic symbol.

Circle the numbers (we drew a large circle in the air as we said the phrase).

Underline the key words (we drew a straight line across our bodies horizontally as we said "underline",

as we said "key" we pretended to put a key in the door, then twisted the key as we said "words").

Box the question (we drew a box in the air, saying one word or syllable at a time as we drew each side of

the square).

X out Extra info (we put our arms in an X across our bodies for X, then dropped them down on "out,"

then threw our right thumbs over our right shoulders when saying "extra info."

Show your work (we drew a giant S in the air as we said the phrase).

Then students sat down and followed each step with a word problem in their math journal. We did this as a daily

math warm up, and my first graders never forgot the strategy.

Kinaesthetic Symbols as Signals. Some teachers teach their students to silently convey information to the teacher. “I

need help” “Please slow down” “I need a restroom break” and “I don’t understand” are some common examples. The

flip side of the coin is the teacher may use Kinaesthetic Symbols to signal the class. “Please work quieter” “You are

working really well” or “Please come see me” are examples. Without disturbing the other students, a teacher can

silently signal an individual or a team.

Kinaesthetic Symbols as Coaching Tips. Sarah Backner provides an example of how her students used Kinaesthetic

Symbols to scaffold support for each other within the Quiz-Quiz-Trade structure:

I used Kinaesthetic Symbols in my second grade classroom at Martinez Elementary School in North Las Vegas, NV

each week for my vocabulary words. On Monday, I would introduce the class to the words with kinaesthetic

symbols. Then as the week went on and we reviewed our vocabulary words using structures, students had their

coaching tips ready to go. For example in Quiz-Quiz-Trade, if your partner is stuck on the definition, Tip #1:

demonstrate the kinaesthetic symbol.

Kinaesthetic Symbols to Recall Steps of Structures. Some teachers have used Kinaesthetic Symbols to have students

remember the steps of a cooperative learning structure. Kindergarten students easily recall the steps of Mix-Pair-

Share once they have learned the symbol for each step.

Common Kinaesthetic Symbols. In the chart below, are content examples – academic content taught with

Kinaesthetic Symbols.

Academic Content Taught with Kinaesthetic Symbols

Language Arts Math Social Studies Science

• Simile v.

Metaphor

• Punctuation

Marks

• Proofreading

Marks

• Parts of

Speech

• Literary

Techniques

• Vocabulary

Words

• Figures of

Speech

• Forms of Linear

Equations

• Angles

• Geometric

Figures

• Math

Symbols: (Plus,

Minus, Equal,

Divide,

Multiply,

Exponent…)

• Order of

Operations

• Patterns

• Steps of An

Algorithm

• Land Forms

• Branches of

Government

• Accomplishments

of

• Historical Figure

• Bill of Rights

• Events in

Sequence

• Functions of the

President

• Steps: Bill

Becomes a Law

• Geologic

Regions

• Types of Rocks

• States of

Matter

• Classes of

Animals

• Body Systems

• Measurement

Units

• Stages of Cell

Life

Kinaesthetic Symbols for Kinaesthetic Learners. Although I strongly advocate teaching all students with Kinaesthetic

Symbols, Kinaesthetic Symbols can have an amazingly liberating impact on students who are especially strong in the

bodily/kinaesthetic intelligence. One of a number of examples is Paula’s story.1 Early in her school career Paula was

assessed as learning disabled; she developed a very low self-esteem, and a dislike for school. By fifth grade Paula was

several grade levels behind her classmates. Paula attempted suicide in the summer before sixth grade.

Her sixth grade teacher noticed Paula moved with poise and dignity. Following her hunch that Paula would benefit

from kinaesthetic instruction, Paula’s teacher asked her to create a “movement alphabet” — movements to form

the letters of the alphabet. Paula responded. Not only did she create letters, she sequenced them into a dance.

Paula went on to dance her name, the words on the blackboard, spelling words, and even entire sentences. She

performed for her class. Paula’s self-esteem and liking for school increased. By the end of sixth grade, Paula reached

grade level in reading and writing. In seventh grade, she was mainstreamed in all classes and received above-average

grades!

Had her teacher not recognized Paula’s unique learning style, Paula’s academic career (and possibly her life) would

not have been saved. Paula’s story is one of many that illustrate the power of adapting how we teach to how

students best learn.

Gestures and Kinaesthetic Symbols Accelerate Learning

Teachers use Kinaesthetic Symbols and gestures while teaching. Whereas the hand symbols created during the

Kagan Structure Kinaesthetic Symbols are deliberately created and often involve considerable thought, gestures are

spontaneous symbolization of ideas, often created unconsciously.

There is a growing body of research indicating gestures and Kinaesthetic Symbols used by teachers are powerful

symbol systems that promote learning, retention, and transfer of learning. Gesturing is extremely important in

cognition, problem solving, and cognitive development. Students who are taught to gesture as they learn, learn

more. Merely observing the teacher gesturing during instruction increases achievement. Before presenting that

research let’s list some of what is known about gesturing:

• Gesturing is not merely imitation and does not need

to be learned by watching others. Congenitally blind

individuals gesture.2

• Young children spontaneously use hand gestures

while telling stories,3 solving problems,4 and during

conversation.5

• Memory for action words is increased when the

corresponding action is performed as the word is

said.6

• Making a gesture that improperly represents a

subsequent action, interferes with ability to perform

that action quickly or accurately.7

• Watching someone make a gesture while explaining

an action determines how the viewer will perform

the action.8

• If we have performed an action, when we hear that action described in words, our premotor cortex becomes

active. The more we have performed the action, the more our premotor cortex activates upon hearing the

word. The implication: Comprehension of action speech is facilitated by the motor cortex.9

• Training gesturing is associated with improved skills in mental rotation and spatial transformation.

Spontaneous gesturing during mental rotation tasks predicts higher performance.10

• Gesturing not only represents thought, it influences thought, and may express thought of which we are

unaware.11

• Gesturing represents an independent cognitive symbol system that enriches understanding and increases

learning and retention.12

• Teachers who gesture while giving instructions increase the probability of students’ gesturing which in turn

leads to increased learning.13

• When the same verbal lecture is given with and without gestures, students in the gesture condition rate the

lecture as more understandable and are more confident they have answered correctly the test questions on

the lecture.14

Gesturing and Executive Function. Executive function is more important than general intelligence with regard to

problem solving and cognitive development. Executive function refers to the cognitive processes that we use to

control our thinking and behavior when trying to achieve a goal or solve a problem. It is dependent on four factors:

1) short-term memory: holding content in memory, 2) working memory: manipulating content mentally, 3) impulse

control: inhibiting interfering thoughts and impulses, and 4) cognitive flexibility: shifting from one perspective to

another or from one problem solving strategy to another. In short, executive function is smarts. Whereas general

intelligence includes the information we have accumulated and is dependent on learning and culture, executive

function describes the most important pure cognitive abilities. As such it is better than IQ in predicting a person’s

ability to learn and problem solve. Executive function develops from infancy through late adolescence.15

The use of gestures predicts the development of executive function even better than does age! In an extraordinarily

revealing study, children ages 2.5 to 6 years of age were given a test of executive function, and their gesturing was

carefully videotaped and analyzed.16 Results indicated that gesturing predicted executive function better than did

age: “…both gesturing and age contributed significantly to task performance. However, gesturing was the stronger

predictor of accuracy….” Further, spontaneous gesturing predicted accuracy better than spontaneous verbalization:

“Whereas 97% of the spontaneous gestures on a given trial resulted in correct sorts on that trial, only 69% of

spontaneous verbalizations resulted in correct sorts.” Interestingly, those children who used gestures most did

better on the cognitive tasks even when they were not using gesturing. It is possible that gesturing, like speech, is

internalized. When children learn to read, they move from subvocal speech to internalized speech or silent reading.

Perhaps children who have learned to gesture internalize the gestures, moving from performing the gestures to

merely visualizing them or remembering them nonverbally in the pre-motor cortex, without a need to carry out the

action.

Gesturing Predicts Cognitive Leaps. Gesturing predicts that students are ready to make a cognitive leap. In a classic

Piaget conservation task, water is poured from a short, wide beaker into a tall, thin beaker and children are asked

where there was more water. Those that have acquired conservation of liquid say the amount of water is the same;

those that have not, say the tall thin beaker held more water. Gesturing predicts which children will show more

improvement when they are subsequently taught! Among the children who lacked quantity invariance, when asked

to explain their reasoning, those who spontaneously showed with their hands the decrease in width of the taller

beaker, showed the greater improvement following subsequent training.17

Teacher Gestures Improve Student Achievement. Instruction that includes speech and gestures produces more

learning than speech alone.18 Students who mimic their teacher’s hand gestures while solving math problems are

more likely to obtain correct solutions.19 Preschool children who watch an instructor produce meaningful gestures

while teaching about symmetry obtain the symmetry concept better than those who receive the same instruction

without gestures.20 First grade students obtain conservation better from a videotaped lesson if the instructor uses

gestures.21 Observing teacher gestures facilitates different types of learning.22

Teacher Gestures Facilitate Student Retention and Transfer. Not only do teacher gestures improve immediate

acquisition of content, they also improve consolidation and retention of content and transfer of concepts to new

problems. In a very tightly controlled gesturing study, experimenters gave second and third grade students

instruction in mathematical equivalence via videotaped lessons in which the instructor either used gestures while

teaching or gave the equivalent audio instruction without gestures.23 Students were given a pretest, and those who

could not solve the math equivalence problems were included in the study. Students were tested immediately after

instruction and then 24 hours later. To test retention and transference, the delayed post-test included not only

problems like those on which the students were instructed, but also problems that required transferring the concept

of equivalence to a different type problem.

Many students mistake the equal sign as a sign to add numbers.24 When students are taught to add with problems

like 8 + 6 = ___ many interpret the equal sign as a merely a sign to display a sum, not understanding that it is a sign

to show equivalence. Many students obtain the correct answer, but they have only procedural knowledge; they lack

conceptual knowledge. That is, they do not understand the equal sign is a sign to make the two sides of the equation

equivalent. To test for acquisition of conceptual knowledge, the researchers used problems like 8 + 6 + 2 = ___ + 2.

In the instruction video the instructor said, “I want to make one side equal to the other side. Eight plus six plus two is

sixteen, and fourteen plus two is sixteen. So, one side is equal to the other side.” For audio only instruction, the

instructor kept her hands to her sides. For the audio plus gesture instruction, whenever the teacher said the words

“one side,” she swept her left hand back and forth beneath the left side of the equation, and whenever she referred

to “the other side” she swept her right hand back and forth beneath the right half of the equation.

When gestures are added to instruction, students not only learn better, they retain the concept better, and are

better able to apply the concept in a new context.

Results: Students who were instructed with gestures performed better than those who received the same

instruction without gestures. They performed significantly better on the immediate posttest, delayed posttest (24

hours later), and on transfer tests. See graph: Teacher Gestures Improve Achievement & Transfer.

There are two very important implications to note about these results beyond simply that gestures boost

achievement. The results strongly support the conclusions that: 1) gestures foster consolidation of new learning

during sleep, or at least retention of new learning, and 2) gestures foster concept attainment.

“Students instructed with gestures perform better on the immediate posttest, delayed posttest, and on transfer

tests.”

Gestures Increase Retention. The brain consolidates new learning during sleep.25 It may be that gestures help in this

consolidation process: The audio plus gesture group showed higher performance following sleep whereas the audio

only group did not. (Difference between the two groups at immediate testing was p < .01; Difference after sleep, p <

.0001). We cannot say with certainty that sleep consolidation is the cause of the increased retention in the gesture

group, but it seems likely. At minimum we can say with certainty: Gestures increase retention.

Gestures Foster Concept Attainment. The results of the transfer test are particularly telling. During instruction and

during the immediate posttest, equations contained the same numbers on the right and left side of the equation.

Problems were of the following type: 7 + 2 + 9 = 7 + ___. Students could learn to solve these problems with

procedural, but not conceptual knowledge. That is, they could learn to ignore the numbers that were the same on

both sides of the equation (the 7’s in the example) and simply add the remaining numbers to get an answer. They

could obtain the right answer without having grasped the concept of equivalence. To test for transfer of the

equivalence concept, the second grade students were given problems in which no number was repeated on both the

right and left sides of the equation. For example, their problems were of this type: 4 + 5 + 7 = 3 + ___. Further, the

third grade students were given a test of even further transference. They were given multiplication problems of this

type: 6 x 2 x 3 = 6 x ___. That gestures facilitated transference to both types of new problems indicates that gestures

are not merely a procedural aide; gestures actually foster concept acquisition!

Tip: Teach with gestures. Use Kinaesthetic Symbols to demonstrate a concept. Teach students your kinaesthetic

symbols and how to create their own.

Student Gestures Accelerate Achievement. Children learn more if they gesture while learning.26 It is not simply that

better students gesture: Controlled research proves that teaching students to gesture while acquiring new

information and skills improves comprehension and retention.27 Students who are instructed to move their hands

like their instructor’s gestures are better able to verbalize the mathematical reasoning behind the gestures, even

when that reasoning is never verbalized by the instructor.28

Symbolization of Content v. Hand Movements. Researchers designed an experiment to test if the positive effect of

gesturing is due to simply creating more active engagement via hand movements or if it is due to symbolization of

the content. They instructed third and fourth graders in a math problem-solving strategy using three conditions: No

gestures, hand movements that did not gesture the problem solving strategy, and hand movements that gestured

the problem solving strategy. Students who were instructed with the correct hand movement gestures learned more

than children required to produce partially correct gestures or no gestures.29 The interpretation is clear: Gains from

gesturing are caused by symbolizing the concept kinaesthetically, not just by hand movements. The researchers

concluded, “We may be able to lay foundations for new knowledge simply by telling learners how to move their

hands.”

Hand movements are processed in a very different way than gestures. The brain integrates gestures with speech to

enhance meaning; hand movements during speech are not integrated with speech.30

Student Gestures Increase Retention of Learning. By having students gesture during the acquisition of a math

concept, the concept is retained longer. In the same experiment just described, on immediate recall following

instruction, the group that did not gesture learned the concept as well as the group that did gesture. However, at a

4-week follow-up test, those who were taught to use gestures performed better than those who were not, indicating

gestures help consolidate learning into long-term memory.30This finding using student gestures parallels the finding

that teacher gestures also lead to more retained learning.

Why Gestures and Kinaesthetic Symbols Boost Comprehension and Retention

Gestures represent a parallel communication system. Whereas language is processed primarily in the left

hemisphere, gestures are processed primarily by the right hemisphere.32 To say it crudely, gestures say it another

way. They use a different symbol system, enriching the communicative message. Kinaesthetic Symbols communicate

aspects of the curriculum that are difficult or even impossible to communicate with words alone.

Short-term memory can retain only a limited amount of information. By practicing a sequence of gestures, the

sequence is moved from short-term to procedural memory. We say there is “memory in the muscles.” Actually

muscle memory is merely procedural memory. When first learning a sequence of actions there is considerable

activity in the motor and somatosensory cortices of the brain to encode and carry out those actions. There is also

considerable action in the prefrontal and frontal areas of the brain as we have to direct and maintain our attention

on the task. As the task is repeatedly practiced, however, activation in those areas decreases and we see an

increased activation of the basal ganglia and cerebellum, sites responsible for procedural memory. At that point, we

can run off the sequence of actions without prefrontal activation, without thinking. We say the behavior is

“overlearned” or that we have obtained “unconscious competence.” To use a computer analogy, we move the

behavior from RAM to hard drive where it can be run off without occupying short-term memory.

We all have experienced this process when we learned to ride a bike, drive a car, or use a computer keyboard. At

first we had to think about those actions, but now we can perform those actions without thought or while thinking

about something else. So too is it with Kinaesthetic Symbols. Because kinaesthetic symbols are associatively linked to

verbal content, a student triggers semantic recall as they enact a set of kinaesthetic symbols.

To ensure that link, it is important that when students first acquire a kinaesthetic symbol for a word or concept, we

have students verbalize the meaning of the symbol while they are performing it. Neurons that fire together wire

together. By having students make the symbol while simultaneously verbalizing its meaning, we ensure dendrite

connections are formed between the motor cortex movement and the temporal lobe verbalization.

After the kinaesthetic symbol is associated with the meaning of the symbol, our content is literally stored in more

places in the brain. It is in the motor cortex (the movement of the symbol), the temporal lobe (the verbal meaning of

the symbol), as well as in the visual cortex (the sight of the symbol). Not only is our content stored in those three

places, it is stored in the dendrite interconnections among them! Through the use of Kinaesthetic Symbols we are

actually rewiring the brain in ways that make our content more memorable!

In Conclusion

We have known for years that teaching with Kinaesthetic Symbols is powerful, promoting learning and retention.

The research on gesturing provides empirical evidence proving that teacher and student gestures provide increased

comprehension, recall, and transfer of concepts. For years, educators have relied almost exclusively on the verbal

and visual symbol systems to communicate concepts. We can improve student outcomes dramatically by

communicating also with gestures and teaching with Kinaesthetic Symbols.

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