Sensory Perception & Interaction Research Group

University of British Columbia

Full citation: 
Gerofsky, S., Savage, M., and MacLean, K. E. (2009). "'Being the Graph': Using Haptic and Kinesthetic Interfaces to Engage Students Learning About Functions." in The Ninth International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching (ICTMT 9), Metz, France, 5 pages, July 6-9 2009.
Abstract: 
This paper reports on a multidisciplinary collaborative project at UBC developing haptic/kinesthetic HCI for mathematics learning. It allows students to design landscapes using functions, and then to ‘ride over’ these landscapes via a forcefeedback haptic device and, in future, with a programmed exercise bicycle. The project’s rationale comes from the following hypothesis arising from Gerofsky’s (2008) empirical research on gesture in the pedagogy of functions: That the ‘top’ (most capable and imaginative) mathematics students engage with graphs of mathematical functions in tactile/kinesthetic modes, rather than an exclusively visual mode.
SPIN Author: 
Year Published: 
2009