The interplay between gestural communication and analytical questioning in Learning Management System (LMS) assisted group discussions remains an under explored area in educational literature. Gestures serve as critical markers of cognitive developmental levels and provide a window into the human understanding of the thinking process. However, their contribution as a link between non-verbal communication and students’ analytical thinking in classroom interactions has often been overlooked. This study examined the types of gestures employed by presenters and non-presenters in an LMS supported collaborative setting and explored how these bodily expressions operate in tandem with analytical inquiry. In this framework, the LMS served as a preparatory platform for asynchronous material sharing, while face-to-face interaction acted as the synchronous space for discourse. Adopting a qualitative case study design, this research observed 18 second-year Mathematics Education students in a Number Theory course through video recordings and interactional analysis. Data were analyzed using gesture coding (deictic, iconic, metaphorical, and beat) alongside a taxonomy of analytical questioning. The findings demonstrate that gestures play a substantial co-expressive role alongside analytical questions. Specifically, presenters’ representational gestures, including iconic and metaphoric movements, frequently co-occurred with deeper inquiry, while non-presenters’ regulatory gestures accompanied the flow of academic conversation. These multimodal interactions enriched the collective cognitive process through varied and complex questioning. While limited by its specific context and sample size, this study underscores the importance of embodied cognition in blended learning environments. Further research with larger cohorts is recommended to enhance transferability.
Wijaya et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: