2023 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 366-373
The purpose of this study is to analyze gestures, which are expressions generated by learners in mathematics classrooms, from the viewpoint of visual mediators in the theory of commognition, and to clarify the characteristics of communication when the role of visual mediator functions. For this purpose, we analyzed how the visual mediator in a lesson in the 6th grade unit “How to research materials” functions in the interaction between learners, how it influences other learners, and how it constitutes knowledge. The results showed that, first, gestures expressed by the learners could generate multiple visual mediators in the classroom through communication and could be an opportunity to promote other learners’ understanding of the subject, and second, visual mediators could continue to mediate the object to be learned among learners throughout the unit. As a suggestion for teaching, it is important to create lessons with awareness of the characteristics of learners’ communication by such visual mediators.
