While asking a question during a whole-class discussion, a teacher holds a representational gesture for a long 7.0 seconds as she waits for students to respond.

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Kinetically-Held Questions:

Teachers use “kinetically-held” questions by freezing representational gestures (hand shapes and movements that illustrate and animate entities and processes) and holding them during whole-class discussions.

Kinetically-held questions help teachers mobilize participation while also sustaining helpful imagery related to the question and topic at hand.

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Flood, V. J., & Harrer, B. W. (2023). Kinetically-held questions: Representational gesture post-stroke holds in whole-class interactions in STEM. Linguistics and Education, 101164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2023.101164