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Christian Greiffenhagen
Christian
Greiffenhagen
Wes Sharrock
Wes
Sharrock
Gestures in the blackboard work of mathematics instruction
Loughborough University
2014
Mathematics
Scientific practice
Ethnomethodology
Workplace studies
Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified
Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified
2014-03-13 09:57:02
Conference contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/conference_contribution/Gestures_in_the_blackboard_work_of_mathematics_instruction/9479129
Lectures in mathematics consists almost entirely of the lecturer writing
definitions, theorems, and proofs on the blackboard (often reproducing word-by-word
what is distributed in advance in lecture notes) while simultaneously commenting on
what is being written. The writing, talking, and gesturing conjointly formulate the
cohesive logic of the mathematical argument that the formulae instantiate. In the first part
we examine the blackboard organization of the exposition: what is written is not just
written ‘anywhere’, but the physical structure of the blackboard is organized into
segregated fields so as to re-order the formulae on the board in a way that displays their
mathematical role amongst the interrelated constituents of the mathematical argument put
forward. The second part focuses on how gestures are used in conjunction with and
coordination of what is being written on the blackboard and what is being said.