Brief article Gesturing makes learning last instruction in a new mathematical concept. We found that requiring children to gesture while

www.elsevier.com/locate/COGNIT Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Cognition 106 (2008) 1047–1058learning the new concept helped them retain the knowledge they had gained during instruc-tion. In contrast, requiring children to speak, but not gesture, while learning the concept had no effect on solidifying learning. Gesturing can thus play a causal role in learning, perhaps by giving learners an alternative, embodied way of representing new ideas. We may be able to improve children’s learning just by encouraging them to move their hands