Experiential Education of Mathematics: Art and Games for Digital Natives

As attitude-researches point out, students tend to sustain an aversion to mathematics, while remaining largely ignorant of how deeply embedded it is in the world around them. Most students however are able to recognize patterns and numerous research and empirical evidence indicates that they become easily motivated when mathematical connections are presented in ways which relate to their experiences by triggering their natural curiosities. PISA and TIMSS results and recommendations are that students should find education enjoyable, develop self-belief and stamina to address challenging problems and situations. Experience-centered education of mathematics through arts and playful activities might be an effective way to grasp the complex relationship between mathematics attitudes and joy of learning and support the students in their study achievements. In this article we show that creating visual illusions, paradox structures and ‘impossible’ figures through playful and artistic procedures, holds an exciting pedagogical opportunity for raising students’ interest towards mathematics and natural sciences and technical aspects of visual arts. There are certain digital games as well, which employ visual illusions as a part of their game mechanic. Most of these games were not designed as an educational game, but they may be used for educational purposes, to clarify mathematical concepts behind and related to visual illusions (symmetry, perspective, isometric projection etc.).