Skip to main content
COMMUNITY:
Peer-reviewed article

Playing Mathematical Instruments: Emerging Perceptuomotor Integration with an Interactive Mathematics Exhibit

January 1, 2013 | Exhibitions
Research in experimental and developmental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, suggests that tool fluency depends on the merging of perceptual and motor aspects of its use, an achievement we call perceptuomotor integration. We investigate the development of perceptuomotor integration and its role in mathematical thinking and learning. Just as expertise in playing a piano relies on the interanimation of finger movements and perceived sounds, we argue that mathematical expertise involves the systematic interpenetration of perceptual and motor aspects of playing mathematical instruments. Through 2 microethnographic case studies of visitors who engaged with an interactive mathematics exhibit in a science museum, we explore the real-time emergence of perceptuomotor integration and the ways in which it supports mathematical imagination.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Ricardo Nemirovsky
    Author
    San Diego State University
  • Molly Kelton
    Author
    San Diego State University
  • Bohdan Rhodehamel
    Author
    San Diego State University
  • Citation

    Publication Name: Journal for Research in Mathematics Education
    Volume: 44
    Number: 2
    Page Number: 372

    Funders

    NSF
    Resource Type: Research Products
    Discipline: Education and learning science | Health and medicine | Life science | Mathematics
    Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | Middle School Children (11-13) | Youth/Teen (up to 17) | Museum/ISE Professionals | Scientists | Evaluators
    Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

    If you would like to edit a resource, please email us to submit your request.