PME-NA

Surface Explorer: Investigating Surfaces in Virtual Reality

• In Event: Undergraduate Geometry

Description

Diagramming in school geometry often does not extend beyond micro and meso-space observations. In immersive virtual environments, such as virtual reality (VR), it is possible to realize representations of mathematical figures at much larger scales than what is possible in classrooms. We created SurfaceExplorer, an immersive environment to explore macro-scale diagrams. Participants were situated on four large-scale (>2000 meter radius) surfaces and were tasked to figure out their topology through balls that they rolled on the surface. We interviewed four undergraduate students to see how they approached this task and what kind of learning opportunities were present. We found that understanding macro-space diagrams requires shifts in perspective and continuous back-and-forth between macro and micro-space representations.

Authors

• Izge Bayyurt, University of Maine

• Justin Dimmel, University of Maine