Gestures for Miller Indices
Barb Dutrow (Louisiana State University), Kinnari Atit (Temple University), and Carol Ormand (SERC at Carleton College)
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection
Resources in this top level collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as "Exemplary" in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
- First Publication: October 23, 2013
- Reviewed: August 4, 2022 -- Reviewed by the On the Cutting Edge Activity Review Process
Summary
Using gesture to represent crystallographic axes
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Provenance: Kinnari Atit, Temple University
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
In this exercise, students use one hand to gesture crystallographic axes and the other hand to represent planes designated by Miller Indices. This technique uses embodied learning to reinforce how Miller Indices are used to convey spatial information.
Topics
Crystallography Grade Level
College Lower (13-14), College Upper (15-16)
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Learning Goals
At the conclusion of this exercise, students will be able to use gestures to communicate about crystallographic axes and Miller Indices.
Context for Use
This exercise follows a short lecture on axial ratios and Miller Indices and an assignment to determine Miller Indices of forms on wooden blocks, in an undergraduate Mineralogy course. It is intended to give students practice using Miller Indices to communicate about the orientations of crystal faces.
Description and Teaching Materials
In this exercise, students use one hand to gesture crystallographic axes and the other hand to represent planes designated by Miller Indices. This uses embodied learning to reinforce how Miller Indices are used to convey spatial information.
Student handout for Miller Indices gesture exercise (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 487kB Mar11 13)
Assessment
I walk around the room and verbally quiz students as they are doing the exercise to assess their understanding. Students should be able to relate Miller Indices to planes on a crystal.
References and Resources
Goldin-Meadow, Susan (2011). Learning Through Gesture. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, v. 2, n. 6, pp. 595–607.
Using Gesture to Support Spatial Thinking highlights the value of gesture in communicating spatial information. It consists of two short exercises, and can be used in preparation for any other exercise in which students will be asked to use gesture to communicate spatial information.
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