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Children who make hand gestures while learning new concepts appear to retain that knowledge better than children who do not make the hand gestures while learning, according to a study by University of Rochester psychologist Susan Wagner Cook.

The study, reported by MSNBC, took 84 young students (3rd- and 4th-graders) and divided them into three separate groups. One group was taught a math concept and told to speak out loud as they solved the problem. A second group was asked to speak out loud and also make specific hand gestures as they solved the problem. A third group was asked to only gesture. After the instruction, most students were able to ...