Study of the Effect of Using Interactively Manipulable 3D Objects on the Students' Understanding of Linear Algebra

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24501077
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Science education
• Research Institution: National Institute of Technology, Toyota College
• Principal Investigator: Nishizawa Hitoshi 豊田工業高等専門学校, 電気・電子システム工学科, 教授 (40249800)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YOSHIOKA Takayoshi 豊田工業高等専門学校, 電気・電子システム工学科, 教授 (30270268) ; NIWA Takahiro 八戸工業高等専門学校, 総合科学科, 准教授 (50611349)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 自然科学教育 / 線形代数 / 空間図形 / ベクトル方程式 / 理解度

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Learning the connection between symbolic and visual representations is a key to conceptual understanding of three-dimensional (3D) vector equations. Such a connection is especially valuable for the introductory stage, where students will have an overview of the subjects and start learning them with some confidence. With the overview and confidence, even slow learners tended to avoid black-box approach, where they memorized key formulas blindly and concentrated on the repeated trainings of calculation. The interactive learning contents using 3D objects, however, did not deepen the learners’ understanding automatically even if they motivated the learners to learn more meaningfully. Calculating exercises with paper and pencil were still necessary.

Free Research Field

科学教育