Quilts, computers and kids learning math

Triangles, squares, symmetry, fractions: Put together a quilt, and you are marinading yourself in mathematics.

So what would happen if you could get children to create "quilts" using computer graphics on a screen?

That is the research question that has propelled K.K. Lamberty in the computer science department at the University of Minnesota at Morris. In a presentation at IDC 08, Lamberty described her studies of how 4th and 5th grade students respond to a software program called DigiQuilt. Teachers in these classrooms challenge the students to, say, create a design for a quilt square using only one line of symmetry. Lamberty has recorded over 500 hours of video showing students grappling with those kinds of math challenges, while making some beautiful, colorful and creative designs in the process.

So did it work to teach math? Lamberty doesn't have data on test scores or mathematical abilities, but her early assessment is that at the very least children were engaged with the projects, talking to each other about the designs they were creating and helping each other over hurdles in understanding geometry and fractions. Call me a sucker for color and shape, but it sure looked like fun.