Creativity and Technology in Mathematics: from Story Telling to Algorithmic with Op'Art

Christian Mercat, Pedro Lealdino Filho, Mohamed El-Demerdash

Abstract: This article describes some of the results of the European project mcSquared (http://mc2-project.eu/) regarding the use of Op'Art and optical illusion pieces as a tool to foster modeling and creative mathematical thinking in students. We present briefly the c-book technology and some results we got experimenting it. The Op'Art movement, with artists such as Victor Vasarely, Julio Le Parc or Bridget Riley, uses algorithms to create geometric patterns. It is a goldmine for mathematical thinking, from early ages, with the use of narratives to describe the paintings and produce new ones in a controlled way, up to higher education with generative art produced by the implementation of algorithm. The outcome is that technology, far from hindering the creative process actually can be used to help putting it on firm grounds, narrowing the diverging phase into a converging one by giving means to objectify the description and creation of the artwork itself and making explicit the choices made, allowing for the creative exploration of new original ways: “what if…”. This objectivation is done differently by different audiences but comprises the same phases of identifying the relevant variables (disks, squares, colors, position), describing their relationships (the color of the disks depends on their position in such a way) and exploring the space of configurations the modeling gives rise to.

Keywords: Mathematics Education, Creativity, Creative Mathematical Thinking, Digital Resources, Technology Enhanced Learning, Op Art

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