Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Asia Pacifc Education Review (2022) 23:311–323 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-022-09755-8 Mathematics learning as embodied making: primary students’ investigation of 3D geometry with handheld 3D printing technology Oi‑Lam Ng 1  · Huiyan Ye 1 Received: 27 May 2021 / Revised: 22 February 2022 / Accepted: 4 March 2022 / Published online: 21 March 2022 © Education Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea 2022 Abstract This paper reports on a mixed-methods, design-based study conducted with fve classes of Primary 6 (age 11–12 years) students learning the properties of 3D solids. The researcher and participating teachers designed mathematics lessons that integrated the hands-on construction of artifacts (i.e., making) with a class set of 3D printing pens to introduce various prop- erties of prisms and pyramids in two primary schools in Hong Kong. Quantitative results show that the designed learning activities with 3D printing technology greatly supported student learning on all questions related to working with vertices (0D), edges (1D), and faces (2D). Qualitatively, one researcher observed that the students produced hand movements and language that were conducive to learning the properties of 3D solids while they interacted with 3D printing pens. This study draws attention to the unity of mind–body and body–tool interactions in the act of making something (i.e., mathematics learning as embodied making). Keywords Making · 3D printing · Mathematics · Embodied learning · Gestures Competence in early mathematics is crucial for later school success (Clements & Samara, 2009). Related to this, a body of research has recently addressed mathematical cognition as situated not only in mental processes but also in physical actions, where providing rich perceptual, tactile, and kines- thetic experiences can greatly support learning mathemati- cal concepts (see, for example, Hall & Nemirovsky, 2012; Radford, 2009). Findings from these studies have updated a long-held mental-oriented view of cognition as infuenced by René Descartes’s mind–body dualism. Specifcally, the theory of embodied cognition argues that cognition com- prises body-based sensorimotor information that occurs outside of the brain (Shapiro, 2011). One way we use our bodies to incorporate sensorimotor information is in how we use our hands to touch, move, and refer to things about the world. The link between enhancing students’ sense making and their gesturing has drawn increasing attention to math- ematics education (Alibali & Nathan, 2011; Krause, 2016; Núñez, 2006; Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). Authors of extant studies have claimed that gestures, beyond merely being “windows into the mind,” serve both communicative (a gesture’s efects on listeners) and cognitive (a gesture’s efects on speakers themselves) functions, that is, gestures afect how we think and reason in visuospatial terms (Gol- din-Meadow & Cook, 2012). Making draws on the innate human desire to make things with our hands (Fleming, 2015); the notion of making as a powerful and transformative form of educative practice does not require technology-enhanced tools or a technocentric perspective of how it takes place (Vossoughi et al., 2016). A subdomain of making that focuses on creating technologi- cally enhanced artifacts (Chu et al., 2015) utilizes modern technologies such as 3D printing to ofer tactile experimen- tation or “tinkering,” thereby supporting embodied ways of doing and learning about the science, technology, engineer- ing, and mathematics disciplines (Weisberg & Newcombe, 2017); this form of making empowers humans to utilize their hands and spatial sense to construct in 3D realities. Although research has indicated that a hands-on, spatial approach to learning improves young learners’ engagement and mathematics skills (Mix & Cheng, 2012), this approach has been difcult to implement in mathematics education, especially in Hong Kong. This is partly due to Hong Kong’s * Oi-Lam Ng oilamn@cuhk.edu.hk 1 Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR