Manifestations of Middle School Learners' Problematization Activity Using 'Flatland' as a Case of Alternative Perspective

In order to address concerns with the underrepresentation of spatial thinking in K-12 curricula, (National Research Council, 2006), Valentine and Kopcha (in press) designed and implemented a learning environment integrating cases as alternative perspective (Jonassen, 2011) in the context of eighth-grade mathematics. The design aimed to provide learners opportunities to investigate multiple representations of space and dimension concepts. Among the seventy cases, "Flatland: The Movie" (Caplan, Wallace, Travis, & Johnson, 2007) and "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" (Abbott, 1885/1991) operated as sources for learners' mathematization activity. This paper shares phenomenological manifestations of learners' experiences, focusing on their problematization of space and perspective concepts. Learners' problematization was captured as classroom discourse, student blog postings, and phenomenological interviews. Data indicates that both versions of "Flatland" acted as provocation tools, led to impasses, and operated as a source for questions and conjectures.