Multiplicative reasoning through two-handed gestures

Sean Chorney (1) , Canan Gunes (1) , Nathalie Sinclair (1)

1 SFU.ca - Simon Fraser University = Université Simon Fraser

This exploratory study focuses on two-handed gestures when using an innovative iPad application called TouchTimes. We suggest that the use of the two hands is relevant to multiplicative reasoning as it provides a way of expressing multiplication as a coordination of two quantities, rather than simply as repeated addition. We report on the use of TouchTimes by two third-grade girls; we first exemplify the designed two-handed gestures the girls used and then identify some emergent gestures that we see as being relevant to multiplicative thinking, particularly in terms of the relation between the multiplicand and the multiplier in a multiplication expression.

Mots clés: Two-handed gestures; multiplicative thinking; touchscreen technology

Domaines: Mathématiques [math]; Education

Sean Chorney, Canan Gunes, Nathalie Sinclair. Multiplicative reasoning through two-handed gestures. Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Utrecht University, Feb 2019, Utrecht, Netherlands. ⟨hal-02422197⟩