tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29868932.post8396003965242084039..comments2024-02-14T22:50:48.749+10:30Comments on Bill Kerr: what lies behind spatial ability and computer ability?Bill Kerrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00206808014093631762noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29868932.post-15216410663808156862009-05-18T12:26:00.000+09:302009-05-18T12:26:00.000+09:30Hi, this is an interesting thread for me.
I foun...Hi, this is an interesting thread for me. <br /><br />I found "Exploiting mental imagery with computers in mathematics education" and could read a bit with google books (CH1 Dreyfus) http://tinyurl.com/p6d96d<br /><br />My thoughts:<br />Constructing mental images is an important mathematical and scientific skill.<br /><br />They (are typically?)/can be visual rather than linguistic<br /><br />The images can be (are?) dynamic rather than static, they can include causality.<br /><br />They are not photocopies, they are vague and fuzzy and contain abstractions of visual images rather than the visual images themselves(maybe we abstract all visual input to process it)<br /><br />People who are good at thinking mathematically are good at constructing these dynamic visual like images. They are also good at interrogating them, trying "what if" scenarios.<br /><br />Programming (incl. Etoys, Scratch, GameMaker) draws heavily on the ability to construct and interrogate dynamic "visual like" mental images and for that reason could be expected to increase mathematical and scientific skills.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03384288304778972289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29868932.post-2147384867397638002009-05-09T21:34:00.000+09:302009-05-09T21:34:00.000+09:30Of course, that is what I meant and actually what ...Of course, that is what I meant and actually what I did say. In particular, what you say -- that "manual manipulate continues to underlie...." etc. -- is just what Bruner postulated.<br /><br />There has indeed been new research on spatial ability, etc., but all that I'm aware of in regard to this property simply supports both Bruner and Hadamard.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />AlanAlan Kaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29868932.post-70587162565892703412009-05-07T02:52:00.000+09:302009-05-07T02:52:00.000+09:30"Quite a few of the best minds of the past (i..."Quite a few of the best minds of the past (including Hadamard, Jerry Bruner, etc.) would say that "a feeling for cause and effect" and "an increased ability to use abstractions for ideas" actually come out of what can be learned first via manual manipulation and visual and other figurative modes of thought. Many of the tests for "spatial ability" are actually as much about "fitting together" as they are relative locations of things."<br /><br /><br />There has actually been new research and theoretical work on spatial ability and perception in the past 40 years since Bruner and Hadamard and the like.<br /><br />In particular it isn't that we learn something first 'via manual manipulation' and then discard that representation for purely visual or abstract representations. The manual manipulation continues to underlie even visual and abstract reasoning as well. This is based on research on embodied cognition, mental imagery, and perception & action.<br /><br />See for example just one recent paper (there are numerous books on the topic, too):<br />http://cogprints.org/5780/1/ECSRAP.F07.pdfDoug Holtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02740763550543657462noreply@blogger.com