Abstract
Aiming to enhance understanding of visual obstacles inherent in two-dimensional (2-D) sketches used in high school spatial geometry instruction, we propose a measure of visual difficulty based on two attributes of the sketches: potentially misleading geometrical information (PMI) and potentially helpful geometrical information (PHI). The difficulty of 12 normatively oriented cube-related sketches was theoretically ranked according to their ratios, #PHI/#PMI. The ranking was compared to the actual visual difficulty as measured by the percentage of correct or desired comprehension, individual spatial ability, and study-time allocation. This procedure was repeated for unnormatively oriented sketches, obtained by vertically flipping the original sketches. In both cases, the findings substantiate #PHI/#PMI as an a priori measure of visual difficulty. Practical, theoretical, and methodological implications are inspected and discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 489-528 |
Number of pages | 40 |
Journal | Journal for Research in Mathematics Education |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2019 |
Keywords
- High school
- Measuring spatial visual difficulty
- Normative and unnormative orientation of sketches
- Prototypes
- Spatial geometry instruction
- Study-time allocation
- Visual obstacles
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Education
- Mathematics (miscellaneous)