Enhancing and Assessing Spatial Cognition through Computational Craftwork

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

When professional mathematicians and scientists discuss the nature and origins of their own creativity, they often mention the central role played by visual and spatial thinking. But despite the apparent importance of visual/spatial cognition in mathematics and science education, there is still relatively little research aimed at understanding, enhancing, and assessing spatial reasoning in math and science students. Even more, there are few efforts that seek to blend novel computational media with the sorts of spatially and mathematically rich hands-on crafting activities that influenced and motivated earlier generations of scientists. We believe that progress can be made on both these fronts--on both basic cognitive research and pedagogical development--by an effort at integration. That is: by designing playful, creative, and technologically sophisticated educational materials for exercising and enhancing spatial cognition, we can use those materials as the means to explore and understand fundamental issues in spatial cognition as well. In the course of this project, then, we plan to: * Characterize the nature of spatial expertise in the understanding of three-dimensional forms, while creating flexible assessment techniques to measure development of that expertise; * Devise a practical spatial curriculum of materials designed to enhance and exercise spatial cognition. This curriculum will be based on a combination of both hands-on work and creative computational papercrafting activities. * Extend our current software research environments (HyperGami and JavaGami) to incorporate online spatial advisors that assist students in reflecting upon, understanding, playing with, and interpreting three-dimensional polyhedral forms; and * Create new software to explore both traditional and novel realms of mathematical papercrafting, such as pop-ups, flexagons, anamorphic art, and surface models. In exploring these areas, we seek to expand the landscape of traditional mathematical papercrafts by exploiting the creative potential of computational media.