Children's Learning in a Computer Microworld for Transformation Geometry

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurie D. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Computer Microworld ◽  
Transformation Geometry ◽  
Children's Learning

Children's Learning in a Computer Microworld for Transformation Geometry

1991 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-137
Author(s):  
Laurie D. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
Visual Feedback ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Symbolic Representation ◽  
School Students ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Computer Microworld ◽  
Transformation Geometry ◽  
Children's Learning

Twelve middle school students working in pairs used a computer microworld to explore an introductory curriculum in transformation geometry. The microworld linked a symbolic representation (a set of simple Logo commands) with a visual display that showed the effects of each transformation. Worksheets were designed with the objective of encouraging the students to find and express mathematical patterns in the domain. The students were successful in constructing an accurate working understanding of the transformations. There was a tendency for symbolic overgeneralization in some activities, but the students were able to use visual feedback from the microworld and discussions with their partners to correct their own errors.

Cultural variation in children's observation during a demonstration

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebeca Mejía-Arauz ◽  
Barbara Rogoff ◽  
Ruth Paradise
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
Primary Analysis ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Children’S Learning ◽  
Mexican Heritage ◽  
European Heritage ◽  
Us Children ◽  
Children's Learning

Ethnographic research indicates that in a number of cultural communities, children's learning is organised around observation of ongoing activities, contrasting with heavy use of explanation in formal schooling. The present research examined the extent to which first- to third-grade children observed an adult's demonstration of how to fold origami figures or observed the folding of two slightly older children who also were trying to make the figures, without requesting further information. In the primary analysis, 10 Mexican heritage US children observed without requesting additional information to a greater extent than 10 European heritage US children. Consistent with the ethnographic literature, these two groups differed in the extent of their family's involvement in schooling; hence, we explored the relationship with maternal schooling in a secondary analysis. An additional 11 children of Mexican heritage whose mothers had extensive experience in formal school (at least a high school education) showed a pattern more like that of the European heritage children, whose mothers likewise had extensive experience in school, compared with the Mexican heritage children whose mothers had only basic schooling (an average of 7.7 grades). The results suggest that a constellation of cultural traditions that organise children's learning experiences—including Western schooling—may play an important role in children's learning through observation and explanation.

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