A mathematical and didactical analysis of the concept of orientation

Abstract

The development of spatial ability, in particular the development of spatial orientation is one of the aims of mathematics education. In my work, I examine the concept of orientation, especially concepts of between, left, right, below, above, front, back, clockwise and anticlockwise. I analyze answers given for a simple orientation task prepared for elementary school pupils. I would like to call attention to the difficulties pupils have even in case of solving simple orientation problems. We have different ways to know more about the crucial points of a concept, especially of the concept of orientation. In this study I bring out one of them. I analyze and make some didactical conclusions about the origin and the axiomatic structure of orientation.