Painting, folding, cutting and drawing: teaching symmetry and visual arts in mathematics textbooks for the initial Primary School years

In this article we analyze activities which link symmetry and visual arts in books for teaching mathematics in the initial years of primary school. We identified a diversity of artistic modes (drawing, folding, patterns, etchings, painting, architecture) distributed sporadically throughout 17 sets of textbooks. 45% of 200 activities consist of drawing and the other 55% are composed of a variety of other media. We point out theoretical elements linked to the properties of mirror symmetry and translational symmetry in the range of activities explored. A degree of intuitive and pragmatic engagement was observed, but not necessarily an increase in the complexity of artistic engagement from one grade to another, as was originally suggested in the Teaching Guide. The collection and interpretation of data was based upon the content analysis method described by Bardin (2000) and theoretical analysis in Michel Henry (2006).

Interdisciplinary; Symmetry; Visual Arts; Teaching Texts