Research Overview
The overarching goal of research in the Cognitive Development and Communication Laboratory is to understand mechanisms of change in children's mathematical reasoning. We address issues that are fundamental to understanding change in both learning and cognitive development: How do children integrate new knowledge with old? How do children generate new approaches to solving problems? What factors influence the course of knowledge change? What roles do language, gestures, and communication play in learning and development?To address these issues, our studies use microgenetic designs to examine processes of knowledge change directly, and experimental designs to test specific hypotheses about mechanisms of change. Our research investigates two classes of mechanisms that underlie knowledge change: (1) mechanisms that involve causal links between knowledge of concepts, problem representations, and knowledge of problem-solving strategies, and (2) mechanisms that involve the expression and communication of knowledge. Our studies focus on change in children's understanding of mathematical concepts (e.g., equivalence, quantity comparison), external representations (e.g., symbolic equations), and problem-solving skills (e.g., equation and story problem solving).
In investigating knowledge change, we use a methodology that allows insights into both verbalized and non-verbalized knowledge: examining children's gestures as well as their speech. Past research has shown that people sometimes convey information in gestures that differs from the information they convey in the accompanying speech (e.g., Alibali & Goldin-Meadow, 1993). These gestures are not random movements of the hands, but instead reflect substantive knowledge about the topic being explained (e.g., Garber, Alibali, & Goldin-Meadow, 1998). Furthermore, the knowledge children express in gesture in such cases is often unique to gesture, in the sense that they do not express it in speech at that point in time (Goldin-Meadow, Alibali, & Church, 1993). Gestures provide a unique and revealing window on knowledge as it changes - and may even play a causal role in the process of knowledge change.
© 2000 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Psychology
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