Students’ cross-sectioning in the math-art studio

Abstract

This study presents a case study on students’ cross-sectioning in an informal and innovative learning environment designed based on Studio Thinking and Artful Thinking Frameworks. Participants were four seventh-grade students. Students’ documents and video recordings were analysed at different structures of the studio (analysing works of art, creating artwork, and critiquing) and the approach to data analysis was interpretive microanalysis. The findings of the study indicated that the studio work designed in the current study made students’ cross-sectioning visible through diverse tasks, requiring an understanding of the relation between 2D and 3D (identification of the slices of 3D geometric figures and construction of 3D figures from the 2D slices) at different structures of the studio. This study suggests new avenues for the design of tasks on cross-sectioning for middle school students and the design of learning environments by presenting detailed information about what is going on in these environments.