Psychologists at the University of Chicago have been studying how gesturing affects a child’s ability to learn.  What they have found is that children who are told to use their hands during instruction are more likely to find the correct answer to future problems.  For example, children who filled in the following blank incorrectly 6 + 3 + 7 = ___ + 7, but used gestures when explaining their thought process were more likely to learn from instruction about this type of problem.  The gestures appear to be a way to externalize concepts that have not been fully integrated yet.