Polyhedral Computing. A New Framework for Teaching Spatial Abilities in Young Students
Abstract
Polyhedral Computing is a platform that allows students and teachers to manipulate geometric solids with various level of complexity. The goals of these activities are: improving spatial cognition and train for spatial intelligence. A project starts from a collection of Platonic and Archimedean solids and applies transformations and connecting operations to create complex ensembles of polyhedra. The system was implemented both physically (www.x-colony.com/xcolony) and virtually (www.x-colony.com/PoCo). Spatial education programs, based on this platform, engaging fifth and sixth graders, showed that participants improved their spatial abilities and mathematical understanding. The scores improved by 26% for spatial reasoning, 15% for solution finding and 7% for comprehension. The increase in math scores in the next year of the students (now sixth graders) was 12% in standard evaluation tests.
A free registration of the PoCo software is available for the participants at CRM9, 2019.
