Mediating an understanding of areas of parallelograms: Exploring Middle-School Students’ Learning from Virtual or Physical Representations

The use of digital learning environments has exploded during recent years, transforming learning at its core. At the same time, we know little about how this transformation affects younger students, still about to grasp basic concepts in STEM-subjects. This study explores the difference between interaction with physical or virtual representations when learning about areas of parallelograms. 94 middle-school students participated in the experiment, designed as an ordinary classroom activity. The students interacted with a physical deck of cards and a plastic frame – or with virtual representations of these objects – during two lessons. After that they took a test. The results reveal that even if there were no significant difference between the two conditions when it comes to applying the correct formula for areas of parallelograms, the students in the physical condition better grasped the concepts of height and base than the students in the virtual condition. This knowledge, in turn, correlated positively to the understanding of the area formula for parallelograms. These findings indicate that specific actions and/or interactions, facilitated by a physical material and the use of pen and paper, may be truly beneficial for acquiring knowledge in geometry and spatial reasoning.