| Abstract |
This study was a part of research project and development of students’ Mathematical Thinking through Lesson Study and Open Approach*. The open approach was a teaching process in urban school of Khon Kaen by posing the open-ended problem, group working, whole class discussion, and summarizing lesson respectively. It gave more chances for students to interpret the problem and represent various mathematical ideas to solve the problem using both verbal and nonverbal languages. Gesture, nonverbal language, was an important way for communicating mathematical ideas of students. In traditional classroom, mathematics teachers viewed that the gestures were not important. Gestures were completely synchronized with the description of the problem solving technique. They also showed flexible roles in solving problems (Edwards, 2005). McNeill (1992 cited in Edwards, 2005) defined gesture as “movements of the arms and hands … closely synchronized with the flow of speech” and classified gestures in different categories: deictic, metaphoric, iconic, and beat gestures.
The purpose of this study was to analyze the students’ gestures through open approach according to McNeill (1992) three of 4th grade students during the 1st semester of 2007 academic year. There were collaborations in planning, observing, and reflecting among researcher and colleague. The audio and video tape recordings were used during the problem solving sessions. Then, they were transcribed into Protocol Analysis. The participants were interviewed after problem solving session and transcribed into protocol.
Data were analyzed based on McNeill’s (1992) approach. The results indicated that open approach gave more chances for students to interpret the problem and represent various mathematical ideas in expressing various gestures representing their mathematical ideas.
Acknowledgement: CHE-PhD-THA from the Commission on Higher Education and *Center for Research in Mathematics Education (CRME), Khon Kaen University supported this research. |
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