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Learning Through and from Drawing in Early Years Geometry

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Visualizing Mathematics

Part of the book series: Research in Mathematics Education ((RME))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the relations between spatial reasoning, drawing and mathematics learning. Based on the strong link that has been found in educational psychology between children’s finished drawings and their mathematical achievement, and the central importance of diagramming in mathematics thinking and learning, we wanted to study children’s actual drawing process in order to gain insight into how the movements of their hands and eyes can play a role in perceiving, creating, and interpreting geometric shapes and patterns. We pay particular attention to the interplay between children’s drawings and their gestures, to the role of language in modulating children’s perceptions, and to the back and forth that drawing seems to invite between two-dimensional and three-dimensional perceptions of geometric figures. We seek to forge new ways of including drawing as part of the teaching and learning of geometry and offer new ways of thinking about and analyzing the types of spatial/geometric reasoning young children are capable of.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the original Quick Images, students were then shown the image and asked to comment on it and their drawings. As stated below, this was done in the interviews as well.

  2. 2.

    Neva says “R” because the letters R and L had been placed near the middle of the right and left sides of the square, respectively, to help provide orientation for the children.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Nathalie Sinclair

  2. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Joan Moss, Zachary Hawes & Carol Stephenson

Authors
  1. Nathalie Sinclair
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  2. Joan Moss
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  3. Zachary Hawes
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  4. Carol Stephenson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathalie Sinclair .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Kelly S. Mix

  2. Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Michael T. Battista

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Sinclair, N., Moss, J., Hawes, Z., Stephenson, C. (2018). Learning Through and from Drawing in Early Years Geometry. In: Mix, K., Battista, M. (eds) Visualizing Mathematics. Research in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98767-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98767-5_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98766-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98767-5

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