Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, awarded The University of Iowa a $574,558 Project Grant (CFDA 47.075, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences) effective July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029. This research project investigates personalized multimodal instruction and conceptual change dynamics in mathematics learning, specifically examining how gesture-based communication can be tailored to individual learners' needs. The project delivers research services including three instructional intervention types targeting children's understanding of the equal sign: verbal explanation alone, verbal explanation paired with gestures matched to current understanding, and verbal explanation with unmatched gestures.

The research outputs include empirical findings on gesture-facilitated learning through eye-tracking analysis to measure how gestures influence children's attention during mathematics problem-solving, and computational modeling results demonstrating whether gesture-based instruction produces gradual or sudden conceptual shifts. By combining instructional manipulations, attention-tracking methodology, and learning trajectory analysis, the project advances NSF's mission in basic research and education by providing evidence-based guidance on leveraging nonverbal communication to support mathematics learning outcomes for individual learners. The work addresses a significant educational barrier—children's difficulty grasping foundational mathematics concepts like the equal sign—that impedes success in algebra and advanced mathematics topics.