Inclusion of gesture – meaningful movements of the hands –during mathematics instruction is beneficial for teachingnaïve learners novel concepts, and it can affect a learner’sallocation of visual attention. Yet, it is unknown how childrenwith pre-existing knowledge of a math concept approachinstruction that includes gesture. Here, we examine howchildren’s prior knowledge and either the presence or absenceof gesture during instruction drive patterns in visual attentionduring a lesson. We find that prior knowledge does determinevisual attention patterns, independent of type of instruction(i.e. with or without gesture). These findings further ourunderstanding of the attentional mechanisms of gesture andhave implications for real-world classrooms, where levels ofprior knowledge are often mixed.

To learn from others, children rely on cues (e.g., familiarity) toinfer who will provide useful information. We extend thisresearch to ask whether children will use an informant’sinclination to gesture as a marker of whether they are a goodperson to learn from. Children (N=459, ages 4-12 years)watched videos in which actresses made statementsaccompanied by meaningful iconic gestures, beat gestures, orno gestures. After each trial, children were asked “Who do youthink would be a good teacher?” (good teacher- experimentalcondition) or “Who do you think would be a good friend?”(good friend-control condition). Results show children dobelieve that someone who produces iconic gesture would makea good teacher over someone who does not, but this is only laterin childhood and only if a child has the propensity to seegesture as meaningful. The same effects were not found in thegood-friend condition.