Stereo orthogonal axonometric perspective for the teaching of Descriptive Geometry

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a software for stereo visualization of geometric solids, applied to the teaching/learning of Descriptive Geometry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the traditional method commonly used in computer graphic stereoscopic vision (implemented in C language) and the proposed method (implemented in GeoGebra software). The proposed method is a new methodology for stereo spatial visualization. It uses the orthogonal axonometric perspective obtained from the mongean projections of the object, both concepts studied in Descriptive Geometry course. Findings – The use of stereoscopic techniques has great potential for the improvement of spatial visualization ability, because they allow the understanding of spatial situations presented in complex exercises. The students who tested the proposed method said that it offered a superior stereo vision depth in relation to the traditional matrix method. Research limitations/implications – For future work, the paper suggests to carry out a statistical study to evaluate the educational benefit of the tool, and to investigate the proposed method using the conical axonometric perspective. Practical implications – Create a virtual environment to support the process of teaching/learning Descriptive Geometry and contribute to the development of students ' spatial visualization skills. The software will be available on the Internet, in the GeoGebra libraries. The objective is to increase e-learning, where a greater number of students will study. Social implications – The current goal in Brazil universities is to greatly increase the number of poor students entering as a social inclusion strategy. University courses need more efficient teaching techniques to attend the students, so the e-learning techniques are recommended. Originality/value – This paper’s innovative characteristic comes from the implementation of stereoscopic vision from traditional methods used in Descriptive Geometry, so the proposed method improves both the visualization ability and the Descriptive Geometry basic concepts, which points out to its educational role.