Navigating between the Dimensions
Julian F. Fleron and Volker Ecke
Mathematics Teacher, Vol. 105, Issue 4, NCTM, 2011
In our paper "Navigating Between the Dimensions", we show how to use classroom activities such as the Flatland Game and Creating Sliceforms as innovative and effective pedagogical strategies for engaging students in reasoning and sense making about the interplay between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional high school geometry. We live in the three-dimensional world of "Spaceland" but many of our means of investigation, construction and communication – on paper or monitors – are often limited to two-dimensions. Therefore, this interplay between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional geometry is of essential importance in many modern technological and real-life applications, such as CAT scans and medical imaging, blueprints and computer-aided design, 3D scanners and 3D printers, IMAX movies, computer animation, and virtual reality CAVES. On this web site, we share some background information about these applications and suggest a few classroom activities that can provide an important context for the Flatland Game and Sliceform activities. (See our companion web site.)